'The Martian' Director Ridley Scott Knew About Mars Water Discovery 'Months Ago'

Lauren Keating, Tech Times 29 September 2015, 12:09 pm

On Monday, NASA revealed the exciting news that liquid water exists on Mars. And while this news shocked the world, there was one person who had already known this fact for months—The Martian director Ridley Scott.

"I knew that months ago," he told Yahoo Movies on the same day as NASA's big news.

The 78-year-old filmmaker revealed in an interview about his sci-fi film that hits theaters on Friday that he and screenwriter Drew Goddard worked with NASA to learn as much about Mars as they could to make life on the red planet as realistic as possible in the movie.

The Martian, which is based on the novel by Andy Weir, follows the story of a team of astronauts on a mission to Mars who encounter a storm that leaves Mark Watney (Matt Damon) behind under the presumption that he is dead. Finding he is alone on the red planet with little in the way of supplies, Watney must use his ingenuity to find a way to survive to make it back home—and that inlcudes making his own water supply.

To stay true to science, Ridley questioned NASA about the planet's glaciers and the possibility of water on Mars.

"When I first talked to NASA, we got into all kinds of stuff and I said, 'So I know you've got down there [these] massive glaciers.' And he said, 'Yeah, that the massive white thing [on the surface of Mars] that gets covered with dust, we think that's ice,' " Scott said. "And I said, 'Wow! Does that mean there was an ocean?' Are we right now what Mars was 750 million years ago?' And they went, 'Uh, good question.' So they want to go up there and find out.' "

Scott later clarified that he learned that water was on Mars after the film was already in production so there was no need to make changes to the plot.

"[Damon's astronaut] would've found the edge of a glacier, definitely. It would be fascinating," Scott told the New York Times. "But then I would've lost a great sequence. He has to make water, and the steaming device, and put up the plastic tents, which creates the humidity, which grows the plants, which is the most basic form of irrigation."

Even still, the water that exists on Mars is a briny liquid perchlorate, which isn't a source of drinkable water.

The timing for the Mars news couldn't be more perfect for the upcoming release of the film. The official Twitter for The Martian used NASA's announcement as publicity for the film; however, a NASA spokesperson said the announcement was timed only to the publication of the article in Nature Geoscience that was published Sept. 28.

.@NASA Good news for mankind. GREAT news for Watney. #MarsAnnouncement #TheMartian pic.twitter.com/HnY2gZyf1a
— The Martian Movie (@MartianMovie) September 28, 2015