fight their way out of the city together. Cast Natasha Henstridge as Lieutenant Melanie Ballard Ice Cube as James "Desolation" Williams Jason Statham as Sergeant Jericho Butler Clea DuVall as Officer Bashira Kincaid Pam Grier as Commander Helena Braddock Joanna Cassidy as Dr. Arlene Whitlock Richard Cetrone as Big Daddy Mars Eileen Weisinger as Woman Warrior Liam Waite as Officer Michael Descanso Duane Davis as "Uno" Williams Lobo Sebastian as "Dos" Rodney A. Grant as "Tres" Peter Jason as McSimms Wanda De Jesus as Akooshay Robert Carradine as Rodale Rosemary Forsyth as Inquisitor Doug McGrath as Benchley Rick Edelstein as Zimmerman Rex Linn as Yared Marjean Holden as Young Woman Charlotte Cornwell as The Narrator Production It has been widely reported that the script to Ghosts of Mars originally started off as a potential Snake Plissken sequel. However, this rumor has been publicly dispelled by the film's producer, Sandy King Carpenter. Michelle Yeoh, Franka Potente and Famke Janssen were the first choices for the role of Melanie Ballard, but they turned it down. Courtney Love was originally cast, but she left the project after her boyfriend's ex-wife ran over her foot in her car while she was in training for the picture. Natasha Henstridge replaced her by the suggestion of her boyfriend Liam Waite. Jason Statham was originally going to play Desolation Williams, but he was replaced by Ice Cube because the producers needed some star power for the part, and Statham instead played the character of Jericho Butler. Although Mars has a day/night cycle almost identical in length to Earth's, most of the film is set at night. Mars is shown only once in the daytime, in a flashback when a scientist describes how she found and opened a tunnel, unleashing the alien spirits. Filming began on August 8, 2000, and ended on October 31, 2000. Production had to be shut down for a week when Henstridge fell ill due to extreme exhaustion, as she had just done two other films back-to-back before joining production at the last moment. Much of the film was shot in a New Mexico gypsum mine. The pure white gypsum had to be dyed with thousands of gallons of red food dye to recreate the red Martian landscape. John Carpenter revealed after the movie's failure that he had become inspired and driven after he had made Ghosts of Mars, and decided to leave Hollywood