American actor, producer and screenwriter for Academy Award-winning movie Good Will Hunting Matt Damon, will play an astronaut stranded on Mars in the film 'The Martian.' Matt Damon, together with director Ridley Scott, turned to U.S. space agency NASA to make the upcoming movie as scientifically accurate as possible.
One of Forbes magazine's most bankable stars, Matt Damon stated, "We're kind of on the cusp of being able to do everything that happens in the movie." Damon also said, "With the right funding and the right attention, these are the kinds of things that we will be exploring in the very near future and this is going to be a part of our kids' lives."
'The Martian' is based on Andy Weir's 2011 novel of the same name where an astronaut named Mark Watney is left by his team after being presumed dead after a powerful storm on Mars.
Matt Damon will be playing the lead role while Jessica Chastain will take on the character of Captain Lewis, the lead of the space mission.
The trailer was released on Tuesday, during an event hosted by 20th Century Fox at NASA in Pasadena, California, specifically at its Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This particular facility specializes in planetary science and was where the agency launched the Mars Curiosity rover in 2011.
NASA officials gave the journalists a tour of the facilities, and explained why "The Martian" movie can show how humans could live on Mars in the near future.
The director of NASA's planetary science arm, Jim Green stated, "As soon as Ridley contacted us and we recognized that he wanted to paint that really accurate picture, it was easy for us to endorse the movie and then provide whatever kind of consultation and advice he needed to be able to execute on it."
Matt Damon's 'The Martian' is slated to be released on October 2.
