Daily Dispatch

Race against time stranded on Mars

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MATT Damon got to relive his childhood fantasies of being an astronaut in Ridley Scott’s 3D space epic The Martian, where he portrays a character left for dead on the Red Planet.

The film is an adaptation of Andy Weir’s 2011 book about fictional Nasa astronaut Mark Watney (played by Damon) becoming stranded by a sudden storm on Mars and the heroic efforts to bring him home.

To stay alive, Watney must use all of his scientific knowledge and limited materials inventivel­y to secure water, grow food and reach out for help, and hope nothing else goes wrong while waiting for a possible rescue.

Jessica Chastain worked with Nasa consultant­s and visited its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California to prepare for her film role as the mission commander.

Chastain’s character presumes Watney is dead and leaves the Nasa botanist behind on a Martian plateau.

The movie’s other stars include Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Michael Pena (“the first Mexican in space”), Sean Bean and Kate Mara.

It follows other recent space faring blockbuste­rs, including Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, and Christophe­r Nolan’s Interstell­ar , starring Matthew McConaughe­y and Anne Hathaway.

“The fantasy of space, which is now a reality, is a marvellous platform ... where almost anything goes,” said Ridley Scott.

This film, he said, “leans heavily on science, the way the Nasa people are, the way the JPL people are”.

“This was a much more realistic movie.”

It was really about “the reality of Nasa and what goes on,” said the director of Blade Runner and Prometheus.

The book, ironically, pays homage to Scott’s science fiction legacy, referencin­g the tagline from his 1979 hit film Alien: “In space nobody can hear you scream.”

But the line was inexplicab­ly cut from the film.

Described by certain media as a “galactic spin on Saving Private Ryan (in which Damon played the titular role), the movie pays tribute to space explorers and to mankind’s enduring thirst for discovery. — AFP

 ??  ?? BIDING TIME: Matt Damon stars in ‘The Martian’ which opens in East London on Friday
BIDING TIME: Matt Damon stars in ‘The Martian’ which opens in East London on Friday

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