Ridley Scott appears set to team with Matt Damon for his next project. Variety reports that Scott is looking at taking the director’s chair on 20th Century Fox’s The Martian, which already has Damon attached to headline.
The Martian is based on Andy Weir’s 2012 e-book publication, which issued a print edition this past February. It is officially described as follows:
Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars.
Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there.
After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.
Chances are, though, he won’t have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old “human error” are much more likely to kill him first.
But Mark isn’t ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills—and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit—he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?
Damon is no stranger to the genre. Among his recent credits are George Nolfi’s The Adjustment Bureau and Neill Blomkamp’s Elysium with Terry Gilliam’s The Zero Theoreom and Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar both hitting theaters this year.
Scott’s next project, the biblical epic Exodus: Gods and Kings, hits theaters December 12 with a cast that includes Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, Aaron Paul, John Turturro, Sigourney Weaver and Ben Kingsley.
Simon Kinberg and Aditya Sood are attached to produce The Martian with Steve Asbell overseeing for Fox.
