Matt Damon to attend premiere of The Martian

“The Martian” is also about an ambitious Mars Mission but more importantly it’s about the human spirit”. In what might have been a deliberate barb, Weir gave his Mars missions names like Ares I, Ares II and so on, like the Apollos of old. “It’s happening”, says Jessica Chastain.

Damon uses “Behind the Candelabra” as his lesson.

Sure, you can quibble about the movie’s Martian meteorology: The author of the book on which the movie was based, Andy Weir, acknowledges that he whipped up a fictional windstorm as a “deliberate concession for dramatic purposes”. In his latest box office outing, he plays an astronaut stranded on Mars, pitting his brains against the Red Planet’s inhospitable environs.

Facing the prospect of waiting four years until a spaceship could get back to him, he is constantly thinking about what could kill him and how to avoid it – that is, when he is not dancing to the disco music left behind by his commander or vowing, “I am going to have to science the shit out of this”, in order to survive.

“I’ve never really seen anybody do something like that quite as effectively as he does”, Damon said. “He can build anything from scratch”.

“That’s probably why it appealed to me on an intuitive level, because it really wasn’t like anything I’d done before”, Damon said.

Before shooting his last scene at the Korda Filmpark, outside Budapest in Hungary, CultureLab caught up with Matt Damon, who plays Watney.

I think it is one of the funniest moments of the book, and it didn’t make it into the movie.

Where “Castaway” had its Wilson volleyball as an outlet for its hero to share his inner thoughts and feelings, “The Martian” has a system of video journals through which Watney shares his frustrations, failings and victories. Both Kelly, who had hit his 180th day in space, and Lindgren, got to say hello to their families who were present during the discussion. “He would then start addressing it as though it was a friend”.

“He was really gracious about “Behind the Candelabra” – he loved it”, Damon said of Weinstein.

A slot in the Oscar Race? The cast are fantastically honest in their performances, and Ridley Scott and Drew Goddard make for an exciting filmmaking team who clearly understand how to combine great character development with stunning scope.

On Thursday, the cast and filmmakers of THE MARTIAN walked the red carpet for the European premiere in London.

It was really the character.

Variety called it an “epic homage to the nerd”.

But when he brags that he grew hundreds of potatoes in his “own shit”, he takes a bit of creative license, said Bruce Bugbee, director of the plants, soils and climate department at Utah State University. Right now, Johnny Depp (Black Mass) Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs), Eddie Redmayne (The Danish Girl), Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant) and Bryan Cranston (Trumbo) are bubbling to the top. But when “The Martian” had its big premiere at the start of the festival, the movie was nearly universally adored.

“Since the earliest days of cinema, movies have been inspired by stories of space and science, and in return films inspire people to stretch further and reach higher in pursuit of their dreams”. This is the most practical and down-to-earth (haha) of the trio, without all the relentless visual metaphors of Gravity or the mind- and time-bending theoretical physics of Interstellar.

“Yes, very toxic. I didn’t know that at the time. Ultimately, he just did it himself by doing such wonderful work, and now it’s just kind of accepted that he’s wonderful and talented and all the things I know him to be”.

Conversely, The Martian required slavish devotion and weeks in not-so-glamorous space suits. It’s a wonderful book for wonks, but I can’t in good conscience pretend it’s everyone’s idea of beach reading.

Part of the appeal of this lonely one man survival narratives is to measure up whether we would have the wherewithal to make it through to the end of the movie. “It was just fun”.

THE SMARTEST MAN ON THE PLANET Astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon)… A proud smile crosses his face when he talks about his kids. He taught her how to drive. The USA space agency has begun testing the Orion deep space capsule, but its first manned flight test may not be until 2023.

The actor practically knocks on wood when you bring his family’s privacy up. They keep me updated on the production because they’re cool. “(But) married guy with kids, it’s not that exciting”. Damon credits fans with getting the film made. He resumes playing his famously damaged spy nearly 10 years after leaving the franchise (the film is due out next July).

“For me, it always is about the director”. Once he signed on to do it, it was a very easy decision for me. “I’ve been on a strict diet and training like insane”. One thing I was sad about is that the Aquaman joke isn’t in there. I think I got away with a lot of exposition that would have been boring because of Mark’s personality and wit.