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Matt Damon almost missed out on his role in The Martian. Thankfully, famed director Ridley Scott convinced him with just a few words.
In a recent interview alongside Anne Hathaway with Harper’s Bazaar UK, Damon explained that he initially did not want to take the role in The Martian and had to be convinced. He said he felt like his role in Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar was too similar, both characters being stranded on a planet.
The Martian is based on a novel by Andy Weir. Weir also wrote Project Hail Mary, which was turned into a film earlier this year. In both the book and the film, astronaut Mark Watney gets stuck on Mars after being presumed dead. He is forced to find creative ways to stay alive until he can be brought back to Earth safely.
Most of The Martian focuses on Watney, played by Matt Damon. Jessica Chastain plays Melissa Lewis, the commander of the ship that is forced to abandon Watney. Jeff Daniels, Kristen Wiig, Sean Bean, and Chiwetel Ejiofor also star in the film.
Damon explained, “I actually once went to meet Sir Ridley Scott to turn down The Martian because I had just done that part in Interstellar…So, I said that out loud to Ridley, and without missing a beat, he goes, ‘Oh, no one gives a sh--,’ And I was like, “All right, I’ll do it.” And that was the end of the debate.
Scott, who has directed some other blockbuster hits including Alien, Gladiator, and Blade Runner, later worked with Damon again on The Last Duel. Scott also has a new film coming out soon. The Dog Stars will be his first science-fiction film in nearly a decade and is set to release August 28 of this year.
Dr. Mann in Interstellar and Mark Watney are ultimately two very different characters, and the result is two very different stories and accolades for Damon. He was nominated for Best Actor at the Academy Awards, though he lost the Oscar to Leonardo DiCaprio for his role in The Revenant. Damon did win a Golden Globe for the role, however.
The actor said that playing Watney was “one of the great decisions” he made in his career.
In the same interview, Hathaway said that the opposite happened to her. She turned down a role with an unnamed filmmaker without meeting with him and voiced regrets about not giving him a chance to make his case, though she did not regret passing on the role.
Damon continued, “That’s the thing you learn getting older. People care so much less about you than you think.”
Amazon Prime Video recently added The Martian to its platform. The film adaptation of another Weir novel, Project Hail Mary, was also added earlier in July. That film is also about a lone scientist stranded in space; however, instead of making it back to Earth, he meets an alien lifeform and forms an unlikely friendship.
Damon and Hathaway both star in Nolan’s new film The Odyssey, in theaters now.
