Andy Weir’s science fiction novel The Martian became an instant bestseller when it was published in 2014, but despite its popularity, it was an odd choice for a big budget film adaptation. Originally self-published by Weir, the novel relies extensively on the internal monologue of astrobotanist and mechanical engineer Mark Watney as he goes into painstaking detail about how he survives after being stranded on the red planet by growing potatoes and pulling parts off of old NASA vehicles. The book is light on dialogue and heavy on explanations of chemical reactions.
Matt Damon’s sci-fi classic The Martian could have been way darker
