The Martian scored seven Oscar nominations last month including Best Picture and Best Actor for Matt Damon. Ridley Scott’s sci-fi adventure is about an astronaut left behind by his crew on the desolate planet Mars. Matt Damon plays Mark Watney who has to use all of his ingenuity to survive and communicate back to NASA and his crew that he is still alive. Drew Goddard delivers a script with thought provoking moments intertwined with humor, and earned a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination.
Revisit The Case For The Martian and Sasha’s piece on Matt Damon charming his way into the Best Actor Race.
The Case for The Martian
From Darkness to Light: The Case for Ridley Scott and The Martian
Matt Damon Charms His Way Into The Best Actor Race
Song Explorer’s interview with composer Harry Gregson-Williams
Ridley Scott to Composer of the Martian, “Read it. Like it. Do it.”
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Other favorite scenes is when teddy sanders is reporting that watney is dead, mark watney’ s text message scenes, the astrodyamics crew building the pathfinder for mark watney.
Excellent movie, but to be fair, nearly all the best moments are lifted straight from the novel, including most of the dialogue and comedy beats. Drew Goddard did a good job of condensing the story; but as adapted screenplays go, it’s not exactly what I’d call one of the top five achievements of the year. Not even close. IMO, he’s taking way too much credit for what was already there in Andy Weir’s book.
The biggest snub of the year, without question, is Aaron Sorkin for Steve Jobs. Now *there’s* an adapted screenplay.
Sometimes I find it weird that they decided to use “Starman” instead of the more closely related “Life On Mars?”
The Martian is a great film. I have it on DVD. My favorite scenes are when Jessica chastain floats through the Hermes module, the lord of the rings project Elrond joke, when mark watney says “in your face Neil Armstrong, the Hermes crew rescuing mark and bringing him home and the song Starman playing in one of the special effects montage scenes from the late great David Bowie