In Christopher Nolan‘s "Interstellar," Matt Damon plays an astronaut stuck all alone on a distant planet. In Ridley Scott‘s "The Martian," Matt Damon plays an astronaut stuck all alone on Mars. So, basically the same movie right? Well, Damon himself had some concerns about starring the upcoming sci-fi flick, though he makes it clear in a chat with Yahoo, the aforementioned pictures are each distinct ventures.
“I went in to meet [Ridley Scott], then I signed on really quickly. I went in and I said, I really love this script, but my only hesitation is I’ve just done ‘Interstellar’, in which I played a dude stranded on a planet, it might be weird if, after taking a year and a half off, I played another dude stranded on a planet," Damon said. "I explained ‘Interstellar’ to him, and he said ‘The movies are totally f***ing different, this is going to be f***ing fun. Let’s do this!’ He was so infectious, I couldn’t really say no to him.”
Based on the book by Andy Weir, and penned by Drew Goddard ("World War Z," "Cabin In The Woods"), Damon goes on to explain that "The Martian" is unlike any previous Mars adventure movie. “One of the biggest differences is it’s primarily me on my own for a lot of it,” he said. “That’s the big challenge. It has all the bells and whistles of NASA and the b-side of the story, the rest of the world trying to get this guy back. But the other half of the movie is me and Ridley on Mars, so that part’s different. You start there, there’s that mystery-what happened, how did he get left there? The mission part is the b-side, trying to figure out how to get back. So, structurally it’s different to [anything] that’s ever been done.”
It sounds like something unique and 20th Century Fox certainly thinks this one has potential, recently moving the film’s release date up to October 2nd. Let us know if you’re ready to go to Mars below.