Willem Dafoe blasts off to 'Mars'

Willem Dafoe is looking to the sky for his next role.

Dafoe has signed on to play a leader among warring races on the Red Planet for "John Carter of Mars," according to the trades.

The movie, based on the stories of Edgar Rice Burroughs, follows a Civil War soldier transported to Mars, where he finds himself caught in a civil war between humanoids and four-armed Green Martians.

"Friday Night Lights" star Taylor Kitsch has already signed on to play the title role, with his "Wolverine" co-star Lynn Collins cast as a Martian princess.

Dafoe will be spending plenty of time under the night sky for his next live-action role in 2010's vampire flick "Daybreakers."

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