Interview with the man behind Alone on Mars: “I had Apollo 13 in mind, one of my favorite films”

Ridley Scott's biggest box office success, this successful sci-fi film is adapted from the book by Andy Weir. We met it when it was released in theaters, ten years ago.

Alone on Mars will return this evening on W9. Before seeing him again, First invites you to wait for an interview with the author of the novel which inspired this film by Ridley Scott and his teams, Andy Weir. Remember that this is the biggest box office success of the creator's entire career.Alien : in 2015, it had crossed the threshold of 650 million dollars in revenue worldwide. By comparison, his last blockbuster, Gladiator 2raised 450.

Alone on Mars is the anti-Interstellar [critique]

First: Did you imagine, when writing your book, that it would be adapted for cinema?
Andy Weir: Seriously no. I wrote the chapters as I went along to post them for free on my site. I didn't even imagine it would become so popular. And above all not that Ridley Scott would bring it to the screen.

You represent the revival of a form of scientifically accurate SF. How do you explain the renewed interest in this genre?
Science fiction has always been there, but it's true that the success of Alone on Mars revealed a void: no one was writing hard SF anymore, the kind based on real science. The genre has long been limited to the depiction of dystopian futures, as in Hunger Games (2012) or Divergent (2014). Why not, but if you're not part of the target audience for these novels, you're missing out. Currently, we are seeing a resurgence of particular attention to science in all areas: the environment, space, medicine. And this interest also extends to SF.

How faithful was the screenplay to the book?
Almost everything has been covered accurately, but with considerable contraction, to avoid ending up with a five hour film. If I had to, I would have cut the same elements. I thank Drew Goddard for his script which Ridley adapted to the letter. He believes in the division of labor. If he makes changes, it is for purely visual purposes. And Matt Damon perfectly defined the character, he is as I imagined him.

Do you feel close to this character?
He looks a lot like me. I was inspired by my own character traits to write it; he has most of my qualities, but none of my faults… and he is better than me at what I am good at. He has more resources but doesn't have my fears or my neuroses. I believe he is what I would like to become.

It is estimated that sending someone to Mars would cost $100 billion. Why hasn't this happened yet?
Precisely because it would cost 100 billion dollars! The government probably has other priorities. With such a budget, we could feed and house all the homeless people in America or send six astronauts to Mars. If one day we manage to send a mission to Mars, it will be the result of international cooperation, but it will not happen until we reduce the costs of space travel. But we are not far from it.

You were thinking about Alien at the time of writing? Your story has in common with The 8th Passenger the theme of space travel. But Alone on Mars is much more optimistic…
I never thought about it while writing. On the other hand, I had in mind Apollo 13one of my favorite films. It’s true that I wrote an optimistic book. This is a trait of my character: I have no worries about the future of humanity. We are a resourceful species and we can still accomplish great things.

Matt Damon sells potatoes