After turning heads with her Emmy-nominated work as Zoe Barnes on the Netflix series House of Cards, Kate Mara has experienced a rather meteoric rise to fame, landing the coveted part of Sue Storm in Fox’s new Fantastic Four pic and snagging the lead in buzzy true-life thriller Captive. Now, she’s wanted for another high-profile project – Ridley Scott’s space thriller The Martian.
20th Century Fox has reportedly taken Scott’s advice and offered Mara a key (though currently undisclosed) role in the film, which was adapted from Andy Weir’s bestselling book of the same name by The Cabin in the Woods co-writer/director Drew Goddard. Matt Damon is already set to star as Mark Watney, an astronaut who becomes stranded on the Red Planet. Thought dead by his crew and with rapidly depleting resources, Mark can only call upon his engineering skills, intellect and basic drive to survive.
Kristen Wiig and Jessica Chastain are reportedly circling roles in The Martian, though Chastain’s involvement seems a little more concrete at this point than Wiig’s. Scott is known for his strong female protagonists, and though Mark is the undisputed center of The Martian, it’s exciting to see that the director is calling upon such talented actresses for the project.
The Martian will touch down on November 25th, 2015. Here’s the official Amazon synopsis for Weir’s book:
Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars.
Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there.
After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.
Chances are, though, he won’t have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old “human error” are much more likely to kill him first.
But Mark isn’t ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills—and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit—he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?
