To date, 20th Century Fox has supplemented its riveting full-length trailers for Ridley Scott’s The Martian with a trio of viral clips, designed to introduce the cast and crew of the Ares-3 before they embark on their daring mission to the Red Planet. Chief among those has been the character psych tests, allowing us to gain a gist of the personalities of the leading members of the crew, specifically Matt Damon’s cocksure Mark Watney and Jessica Chastian’s commander, Melissa Lewis.
Adopting a slightly different tactic this time around, the studio has unveiled an informative clip that stars famed American astrophysicist and cosmologist, Neil deGrasse Tyson, who channels his screen presence from the Carl Sagan-inspired Cosmos series to guide you from our pale blue dot across the solar system and onto Mars. It’s a neat, if self-indulgent, tease for The Martian, with Tyson documenting all of the potential threats and hazards lying between Ares-3 and their goal – cosmic radiation, solar flares and much, much more.
As fans of Andy Weir’s eponymous novel will know, The Martian will see Matt Damon’s botanist cast astray when a ferocious martian storm rains down on the crew. Abandoning the mission, Chastian and Co. unintentionally leave Damon’s lead behind after he is presumed dead, but some time later a rudimentary satellite signal creeps onto the airwaves to reveal that he is, in fact, still alive.
What comes next is a gruelling waiting game where Watney must salvage and produce enough food to survive until Ares-3 returns to Mars and completes the newfound rescue mission. Alongside Damon and Chastian for the interplanetary drama are Michael Peña, Naomi Scott, Kristin Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Donald Glover, Kate Mara, Aksel Hennie, Sean Bean, Chiwetel Ejiofor and The Winter Soldier’s Sebastian Stan.
The Martian is to have its worldwide premiere at next month’s Toronto International Film Festival, before a theatrical release on October 2.
During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive. Millions of miles away, NASA and a team of international scientists work tirelessly to bring “the Martian” home, while his crewmates concurrently plot a daring, if not impossible rescue mission. As these stories of incredible bravery unfold, the world comes together to root for Watney’s safe return.
