Andy Weir’s acclaimed sci-fi novel is creeping ever closer to its big-screen debut, with Empire releasing a trio of images from Ridley Scott’s The Martian that sees Matt Damon stranded on the red planet and an awful long way from home.
Stepping into the dusty, NASA-approved shoes of one Mark Watney, Damon will play a member of a manned mission to Mars who is inadvertently left behind after he is presumed dead following a raging storm. Billed as a survival story, Watney, armed with little more than his wit and will, must engineer a means of contacting mission control in order to find a way back to our pale blue dot.
It’s a story not unlike his bit part role in Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, though on this occasion Damon will have plenty more dramatic material to chew over come November.
Joining the esteemed actor for the galactic voyage are Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Kate Mara, Michael Pena, Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Donald Glover. The Martian will arrive in Earth’s orbit in time for November 27.
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.
