If you haven’t read Andy Weir’s “The Martian”, you need to.  It is a fantastically scientific AND entertaining read, that may surprise the passing space fan.  The news here today is the very first look at what star Matt Damon will look like on the surface of Mars in the upcoming film from director Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, Legend, Alien) and writer Drew Goddard (Netflix’s Daredevil, Cabin In The Woods, Cloverfield).

Without any real spoilers, the general gist of the story is a manned mission to land and live on Mars.  Got it?  Ok, so there is a HUGE sandstorm that happens, and as the crew tries to make to the emergency escape vehicle to leave the planet, the mission botanist (and engineer as everyone has dual specialities) gets separated and is feared dead.  The rest make it to the shuttle, and make it off world, leaving Mark Watney (played by Matt Damon) on the Red Planet all by himself.  The cast also includes Donald Glover, Sean Bean, Jeff Daniels, and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

The first set of photos is from People Magazine:

Damon, Jessica Chastain (who’s character is actually the commander of the mission, how cool is that?), Sebastian Stan, Aksel Hennie, and Kate Mara are the mission crew.

Kristen Wiig is Annie Montrose.

Matt Damon as Mark Watney out in the elements on Mars.

This set is from Entertainment Weekly:

Mark Watney is ready to SCIENCE THE SHIT out of this planet.

Hopefully we’ll get our first trailer soon, release date is set at November 25, 2015.