Jason Statham’s first action role was in Ghosts of Mars, which was itself a stealth remake of a John Wayne Western. Released in 2001, Ghosts of Mars marked the final John Carpenter movie for a decade, with the legendary filmmaker taking a long break after feeling burnt out with the industry. The film itself is a fusion of sci-fi, action and horror, with a dash of Western thrown into the pot. Ghosts of Mars was also one of a run of films set on Mars during this period, including Val Kilmer’s Red Planet and Mission to Mars.
The movie feels like a mixtape of Carpenter’s previous work; Ghosts of Mars takes the cop shop setting of Assault on Precinct 13, the paranoia of The Thing with a main character who feels very much like Kurt Russell’s Snake Plissken. There was even a debunked rumor Ghosts of Mars was almost the third Escape From… movie. The film also marked the action debut of one Jason Statham, following his breakout with Guy Ritchie gangster movies like Snatch.
Jason Statham’s Ghosts Of Mars Secretly Remade John Wayne’s Rio Bravo
Carpenter got to make a Western in outer space
Carpenter first fell in love with cinema thanks to watching sci-fi B-movies and Westerns as a boy, and claims he got into the business to helm Westerns. Sadly, by the time his career began in the 1970s, the genre was all but dead. While Carpenter never got to direct a true Western, most of his work contains elements of that genre. Vampires is basically a Sam Peckinpah film with vampires, while Assault on Precinct 13 is very much a Western siege movie.
John Carpenter’s favorite Western is Rio Bravo, where John Wayne’s sheriff has to hold onto a dangerous prisoner in his jail while surrounded by killers looking to break the man out. Ghosts of Mars itself is a remake of Rio Bravo with supernatural elements thrown in, where a team of police sent to escort a prisoner from a remote town find themselves besieged by miners possessed by the spirits of long-deceased Martian warriors. This unit is led by Natasha Henstridge’s Ballard, who is forced to team up with Ice Cube’s criminal Williams to survive the night.
Ghosts of Mars lacks the friendly banter or occasional sing-songs of Howard Hawks’ Rio Bravo, but there’s a definite kinship between them. Hawks himself helmed a whole Rio Bravo trilogy, with El Dorado and Rio Lobo remixing the same core themes and story beats. Statham himself plays Sergeant Jericho, Ballard’s second in command and somebody who proves very useful in a fight.
Statham Was Supposed To Play Ghosts Of Mars’ Main Character
Ghosts of Mars made the wrong choice with its lead actor
Ice Cube has often labeled Ghosts of Mars as the worst movie he’s appeared in (via Contactmusic), claiming the production didn’t have the budget it needed to work; he also refused to promote it. Cube’s unhappiness with the project feels apparent in his aloof and oddly sullen performance too. In hindsight, it feels obvious that Ghosts of Mars would have worked better with Statham as Williams, but it needs to be underlined that it was only the actor’s fourth film. While Carpenter wanted Statham to play Williams, the studio didn’t see it that way.
It was decided Ghosts of Mars needed some star power, so Jason Statham was out while producers turned to Ice Cube…
It was also Statham’s first action role, so the movie’s financiers had no preconceived notion of how he would function in a leading role. It was decided Ghosts of Mars needed some star power, so Statham was out while producers turned to Ice Cube, who was coming off the back of hits like Three Kings and Next Friday. The rapper himself was also a big fan of Carpenter’s work and took the film to work with the famed director.
Carpenter still wanted to work with the young Statham too, so he beefed up the Jericho character, giving him more scenes and essentially making him the third lead. Ghosts of Mars gives Statham plenty of action too, where his martial arts background makes him appear way more natural than Henstridge or Cube in their fight scenes.
John Carpenter Previously Remade Rio Bravo As Assault On Precinct 13
Ghosts of Mars wasn’t Carpenter’s first time playing with Rio Bravo’s template
While Dark Star is Carpenter’s first directing credit, he considers Assault on Precinct 13 his first true movie. This low-budget thriller finds a cop and a criminal holding out against an almost supernatural gang while trapped inside a decommissioned jail. It’s a unique blend of action and horror, with many of Carpenter’s directing trademarks already apparent, including his self-composed synth score. Since Carpenter couldn’t find the financial backing for a Western, he made a modern-day “Oater” with Assault on Precinct 13 instead.
Carpenter plays homage to certain Rio Bravo scenes too, such as one character tossing a shotgun to another, who then instantly shoots down a group of attackers. In one sense, Ghosts of Mars feels about as close as Carpenter ever got to a true Western. It’s got the vast open desert (albeit, a red desert), stylized Western-style dialogue, a remote town and even an attack on a moving train. All that was missing were some horses and the heroes wielding six-shooters.
Ghosts Of Mars & The One Almost Killed Jason Statham’s Action Career Before It Began
Statham’s sci-fi action double bill got his Hollywood career off to a shaky start
Jason Statham has worked with Jet Li a total of five times, including the first three Expendables and 2007’s War. Their first collaboration was The One, a sci-fi actioner where Li’s character is stalked by a murderous doppelganger from a parallel universe. Statham is the interdimensional cop chasing the evil Li down and the film is notable for the actor’s wobbly American accent and being one of the few movies with his original hairline. The film itself is a nostalgic but painfully 2000s-era action flick, complete with The Matrix-inspired setpieces.
2001 wasn’t a great year for Jason Statham’s bid to move into action, with both The One and Ghosts of Mars being critical and commercial underperformers…
2001 wasn’t a great year for Statham’s bid to move into action, with both The One and Ghosts of Mars being critical and commercial underperformers. While the latter was an outright bomb and only grossed $14 million worldwide on a budget of $28 million (via Box Office Mojo), The One did modest business, but it didn’t signal that Statham was the next big action star either. Thankfully, his follow-up The Transporter put all his talents to use and became a surprise hit that kicked off an action career that is healthier than ever over 20 years on.
While it would never happen, it would be fascinating to see a Ghosts of Mars remake that put Statham in the lead role just to see how it would change the movie; a bigger budget and better special effects wouldn’t hurt either. Statham has largely steered clear of horror and sci-fi in the years since too. That said, his Meg duology ticks both genre boxes and feels better suited to his particular skill sets.