Faithful Lemurians, REJOICE! (maybe)
Earlier this year, Crown re-published the 2011 hit by Andy Weir, The Martian. This introduced protagonist Mark Watney to a readership much larger than Weir ever expected, and propelled the book into the hands of readers all over the world. FOX purchased the rights for a film adaptation and fans preceded to lose their minds. I chose to reserve my hype levels until more information came out from the studio.
Over the past few months, I’ve been following the development of the film and, let me tell you, the hype can not be satiated. FOX is bringing out the big guns for this movie. Ridley Scott has signed on to the direct the film, and Matt Damon will reportedly star as Watney.
Let me explain why I’m a little apprehensive about these two choices. While Ridley Scott may be responsible for some of the best sci-fi films ever, (Alien, Blade Runner) he has also directed one of the worst (Prometheus). Obviously, this is all subjective, but Alien and Blade Runner could both be described as brave filmmaking. Uncompromising in their tone and scope and films that existed to do more than make a studio a boat load of money. Readers of the The Martian will undoubtedly see some similarities in that past statement. The Martian wasn’t written to make money (Weir originally tried releasing the book for free but had to charge something in order for Amazon to place it in their inventory), and what Weir achieves in the book may be at the expense of alienating (heh) some potential readers. For example, Watney goes on page-long math problems that can at times, seem excessive. The point isn’t to prove how great he can be at writing out math equations as exposition, but to immerse the reader in Watney’s struggle. Alien did the same thing with moviegoers in 1977. The film was steeped in atmosphere. Segments of the film were intentionally vague and disorienting to match the emotions of the characters with the viewers. Prometheus chose to use the BUAAAAAAAMMMM sound that every movie uses to inform readers that something is about to BUAAAAAAAAMMM happen. The Martian should also be lighthearted to an extent. Can the guy that directed Gladiator and American Gangster do a space MacGyver?
Matt Damon.
He most certainly has the chops to pull this off, but why Chris Pratt wasn’t cast for the lead seems just plain irresponsible. Instead of going on and on about this oversight, I will say that Matt Damon is a great pick. His work with Kevin Smith in Dogma proves he can make fun of himself, and I’m certain nothing more needs to be said for his dramatic roles. Damon is handsome, smart, and endearing, but can he nail the everyman role that stumbles into a spaceship and gets trapped on Mars?
Let us hope they don’t ruin this film, because it has the story, characters and soul to resonate with audiences all over the world. The cynic in me says don’t get too excited, but the hype in me is over 9,000.
Why wait? The Martian is available now at Lemuria Bookstore, and online at lemuriabooks.com
Written by Andre
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