Movies - TV
Matt Damon Didn't Need
To Act For
The Martian's Emotional Climax
By TRAVIS YATES
In “The Martian,” Matt Damon plays scientist Mark Watney, who accidentally gets left behind during a 2035 Mars mission and must find a way to survive and get back to Earth. Damon’s character is alone for almost 600 days, and during the film's climax, when he finally makes contact with his former crewmates, director Ridley Scott had a surprise for Damon.
Since the film is essentially a one-man story, Damon only got to work with co-stars like Jessica Chastain and Jeff Daniels for a week; Damon then spent seven weeks filming alone. When Mark Watney finally arrives at the Ares IV spacecraft to be rescued, Ridley Scott played the voices of Damon’s co-stars inside his helmet.
Damon didn’t know Scott’s plan, and the surprise of hearing his co-stars’ voices made the scene even more emotional. Damon said in an interview, “I was going to do my side of the dialogue and suddenly in my ear, I heard their voices. And it kind of struck me [...] that it didn't matter if [Watney] survived [...] I had human contact again.”