Stupidity: Very soon after Damon is stranded, one of the many satellites around Mars inevitably picks up the fact that he has moved various objects around his site, indicating that he's still alive. Yet it never occurs to him that this would obviously, eventually happen. In which case, his best option would be to simply spell out a message with debris and stay put instead of planning some 50-day journey.
The Martian (2015)
1 stupidity
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Starring: Matt Damon, Jeff Daniels, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Kate Mara
Other mistake: During the storm scene in the beginning of the movie, the astronauts' faces inside the helmets are brightly lit, meaning there's a light source pointed directly in their face. That's something that would render them mostly blind and unable to see and appears to be nothing but a dramatic effect for the camera. (00:05:00 - 00:08:00)
Mark Watney: I admit it's fatally dangerous, but I'd get to fly around like Iron Man.
Trivia: When discussing "Operation Elrond", the Director says he wants his codename to be "Glorfindel." This shows he has read the book, as Glorfindel was cut out of the movie and replaced with Arwen.
Question: Exactly how long has Mark Watney been alone on Mars during the course of the movie?
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Answer: In the book, he's stranded on sol 6, and leaves on sol 549, making it 543 sols (554 days). In the movie, he's stranded on Sol 18 and leaves on sol 561, making it 542 sols.