Kerry Conran (Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow) is in line to helm Alphaville’s SF adventure-action movie A Princess of Mars for Paramount, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Conran entered the picture after former Princess director Robert Rodriguez resigned from the Directors Guild of America earlier this year, making him ineligible to direct the Paramount movie.

Director James Cameron told SCI FI Wire that he has put plans on hold for a fictionalized film about a manned expedition to Mars until NASA gears up space exploration again in the wake of the Columbia shuttle accident. But the director added that the movie is still in his plans. “I only need to make that film sometime before we actually go [to Mars],” Cameron said in an interview.