Actor Matt Damon has been widely recognized for his diverse roles in films. He has been one of the few actors who have seen success in both the blockbuster realm and in dramatic roles. He has starred in the Bourne franchise and has gained recognition in films such as Good Will Hunting, Ford V Ferrari, and The Departed.
A running joke that has been meme fodder is Damon’s penchant for playing roles where he is stuck somewhere and the plot revolves around rescuing him. It happens in Saving Private Ryan and becomes the plot of the second act in Interstellar. In fact, Damon was so aware of this troupe that when expressed his concern of repeating it in The Martian, director Ridley Scott disregarded it and convinced him to do the role.
Matt Damon In Ridley Scott’s The Martian
Matt Damon got on board the film adaptation of Andy Weir’s novel The Martian when it was supposed to be directed by screenwriter Drew Goddard. Goddard wrote a screenplay based on the novel and was going to direct it before he became attached to a Sinister Six film that was in development at the time. Hence, Ridley Scott stepped in to make the film.
Damon was even more enthusiastic about making the film once Ridley Scott was involved. The director is known for seminal works in films such as Gladiator, Thelma & Louis, and Blade Runner. In an interview with GQ, Matt Damon revealed that he and Scott were on the same page in the creative direction of the film.
Damon recounted an incident that made him sure that he was in tune with the director,
“There was a scripted moment when the character was supposed to break down. When we got to it, it felt forced. And Ridley and I kind of looked at each other we were like, ‘This doesn’t feel right, does it?’ We both felt the same and we were in the same movie together.”
While screenwriter Goddard’s Sinister Six film did not materialize, he reportedly felt that Scott made a better film than he would have and that working with the legendary director was exciting.
Ridley Scott Disregarded A Key Concern Of Matt Damon On The Film
Ridley Scott’s The Martian was released in 2015 to positive reviews and earned $630 million at the box office. The sci-fi adventure film was also widely talked about on social media for one main aspect, which was Matt Damon’s habit of playing characters that were stranded in a distant place waiting to be rescued.
The Martian follows Matt Damon’s Dr. Mark Watney who goes on a Mars mission but gets stranded when he is presumed dead after being struck by debris. He awakens to find the crew having left and he tries to survive until their next mission, which is four years away. As a botanist, he grows food and survives while a team from Earth tries to rescue him.
The ‘Damon in distress’ trope had been employed twice before, in Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-winning film Saving Private Ryan, and Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi epic Interstellar. Damon himself had a fear that he would be repeating the trope yet again with The Martian and expressed his concern to Ridley Scott. Damon recounted,
“That was the first thing I said to Ridley [Scott]…Interstellar had not yet come out and it was not a big part, but I am a guy alone on a planet and I don’t know if I should follow it up with a guy who is alone on a planet. Ridley goes, ‘Nobody gives a s*it about that’. I’m glad he said that to me because I took the leap…”
Matt Damon should be glad as the role gave him a nomination for the Oscars for Best Actor that year and won him a Golden Globe for Best Action in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.
