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Andy Weir is on top of the world. The movie adaptation of his book “Project Hail Mary” is one of the year’s biggest hits, in addition to being one of the best sci-fi movies of 2026 so far. He’s come a long way since self-publishing “The Martian” online, thanks to that book eventually being published properly, becoming a bestseller and then a blockbuster movie. But before the movie got made, Weir had a different actor in mind for the lead role.
“The Martin” centers on astronaut Mark Watney. After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate, thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone on Mars with no way to even let Earth know that he’s alive. He is forced to draw upon his ingenuity and his botany skills as he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next in the hopes of making it home alive.
Matt Damon (“Good Will Hunting,” “The Bourne Identity”) landed the role of Mark Watney, with Ridley Scott (“Alien”) in the director’s chair, which worked out pretty darn well. Weir has praised Damon’s work in “The Martian,” but during a 2014 interview with Paul Semel (before Damon was cast) Weir revealed that he envisioned a certain someone from “The Hanger” in the role.
“I think Bradley Cooper would make a great Mark Watney. He does ‘smart-ass’ really well.”
Bradley Cooper was arguably at the top of his game around that time. In 2014, Cooper voiced Rocket Raccoon in “Guardians of the Galaxy,” which became Marvel’s most unlikely box office smash. He was also coming off a string of Oscar nominations for his work in “Silver Linings Playbook,” “American Sniper,” and “American Hustle,” all of which were big hits as well.
It’s not hard to picture Bradley Cooper in The Martian
It’s not terribly hard to see Bradley Cooper stepping into Mark Watney’s boots. Fox gave “The Martian” a whopping budget, so it was always going to be an A-list actor in the role. Ridley Scott was at the helm and the end result was one of the director’s best movies. It’s pretty easy to imagine a casting wishlist with Cooper’s name on it somewhere near Matt Damon’s.
“The Martian” was Andy Weir’s first sci-fi book and it began as a blog post. By the time this interview happened, it had been optioned as a movie, but he wasn’t exactly in a position to be making demands in terms of casting. Fortunately, Weir was happy with how things turned out and, frankly, it’s hard to argue with the results.
The movie grossed $630 million at the box office and was roundly praised by critics, making Weir a much bigger name. Interestingly, in the same interview, the author revealed that he considered changing the role of Mark Watney to a woman. As he explained…
“I did consider making him a woman. Even late in the writing process, I realized I could have gone back and made him a woman with very few changes to the story. I guess I just wanted to stick to what I know. Mark is a geeky, sarcastic guy, similar to my own personality. So it was hard for me to picture him as a woman. Though Marcia Watney would have been a really cool character.”
That begs the question: if “The Martian” had been about Marcia Watney, which Hollywood actress would have been best suited to the role?
You can buy Andy Weir’s “The Martian” on Amazon.
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