Trailer
Plot summary
Ares III astronauts are exploring Acidalia Planitia on Mars when a severe dust storm forces them to abandon the surface. Mark Watney is hit by flying debris as the crew reaches the Mars Ascent Vehicle, and the sensors show no life sign, so the five others lift off for the Hermes and the voyage home. Watney wakes alone in the surface habitat with his injuries and starts a video diary. His food will not last until the next Mars mission, so the botanist plants potatoes in Martian soil fertilized with the crew's waste and makes water from leftover rocket fuel. On Earth, satellite planner Mindy Park notices movement at the site, and NASA director Teddy Sanders announces that Watney is alive.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Martian (2015)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Newsweek said NASA collaborated more with The Martian than most other space-themed films, with staff from many departments consulting from script development through principal photography. The production's NASA liaison even put the front page of the script in the payload of the spacecraft Orion for Exploration Flight Test 1 on December 5, 2014.
- The Media Action Network for Asian-Americans criticized the casting of white actress Mackenzie Davis as Mindy Park, whom it said author Andy Weir had described as Korean-American, and the casting of Chiwetel Ejiofor as Vincent Kapoor, whom the group said Weir described as an Asian Indian character.
- NASA turned down a request for Interstellar to be screened on the ISS, but The Martian was screened on board, 402 km (250 miles) above the Earth's surface, on September 19, 2015.
- Solanum watneyi, a species of bush tomato from Australia, has been named after the character of Mark Watney, to honor the fictional heroic botanist portrayal.
- When his rations begin to run low, Watney builds an improvised garden using Martian soil and the crew's feces as a fertilizer. Martian soil has since been found to be toxic to both plant and animal life.
- Naomi Scott was cast and filmed as Ryoko, a member of the JPL team, but her scenes were removed from the final cut.
