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Cast:

Val Kilmer
Carrie-Anne Moss
Tom Sizemore
Terence Stamp
Simon Baker
Benjamin Bratt

Crew - Execs:

Directed by - Anthony Hoffman
Screenplay by - Chuck Pfarrer & Jonathan Lemkin
Produced by - Mark Canton, Bruce Berman, & Jorge Saralegui
Executive Produced by - Charlie Schlissel, Andrew Mason, & Chuck Pfarrer

Red Planet Premise

From Yahoo! News, Sept 17/99

Set in the near future, ``Red Planet'' follows a team of American astronauts making the first manned expedition to Mars. Earth has become a dying planet, and a new colony on Mars is now humanity's only hope.

The astronauts, each a specialist in a different field, struggle to overcome the differences of their personalities, backgrounds and ideologies.

When their equipment suffers life-threatening damage and the crew must depend on one another for survival on the hostile surface of Mars, their doubts, fears and questions about God, man's destiny and the irrefutable nature of the universe become defining elements in their fates.

Mr. Showbiz: Showbiz Confidential - Mars and Stars

From Mr. Showbiz, April 13/1999
By Jeffrey Wells

Hollywood has this thing about making similar high-concept films and releasing them within months of each other. In '97 it was Universal's Dante's Peak vs. Fox's Volcano. Last year it was the asteroid movies — Disney's Armageddon vs. Paramount's Deep Impact. This year it's a pair of spooky haunted-house films — DreamWorks' The Haunting vs. Warner Bros.' The House on Haunted Hill.

Now there's a new pair on the block — Mars and Mission to Mars. The Warner Bros. and Disney productions, both big-budget thrillers about astronauts in jeopardy on the Red Planet, will open within spitting distance of each other next year.

Mission looks like a splashier show with lots of stunning Martian vistas and special effects, and it has a visually strong director at the helm — Brian De Palma. But word is Mars might be a better dramatic ride.

Another factor in Warner Bros.' favor is its plan is to get Mars into theaters by April 2000, or roughly two to three months before Mission's projected summer release. Usually the second film does less business than the first (EDtv was probably damaged because it followed The Truman Show, for example), although that proved untrue last year when Armageddon followed Deep Impact but grossed a good deal more.

The greenlighting of Mars and Mission to Mars, on top of James Cameron's plans to produce Mars Trilogy for Fox Broadcasting, signifies a keener Hollywood interest in our celestial neighbor than at any time since the early to mid '50s, when spooky sci-fiers about Martian invaders (The War of the Worlds, Invaders From Mars) and explorations (Red Planet Mars, Rocket Ship X-M) were all the rage.

Mission is about a team of astronauts who land on Mars, where a sudden geological disaster wipes out all but one of them. A rescue mission is immediately launched back on Earth to save the survivor and determine what caused the tragic accident. Mars is about another team of terra firma explorers who wind up getting killed — one after another, not all at once — with the exception of a single survivor. The lone astronaut — a guy — tries to save himself from danger with the help of a female astronaut who is orbiting the planet.

Disney's Mission looks like it'll be a slightly grander, more expensive eye-popper than the Warner Bros. film (formerly known as Alone), which is expected to cost somewhere between $55 million and $65 million. Off-the-lot sources estimate that Mission will probably cost $120 million or so. Then again Mars is going to be mostly shot with local crews out of Sydney, Australia, where The Matrix was made last year for a fraction of what it would have cost if it had been filmed in the United States.

Mission, set to begin shooting in early July, has not only De Palma aboard but actors Gary Sinise, Tim Robbins, and Don Cheadle as the stars. Mars is just starting to cast (Ben Affleck was offered the lead role initially), and the director is an unknown TV commercial veteran, Anthony Hoffman, who hails from the production company Radical Media.

But the consensus seems to be that Chuck Pfarrer and Jonathan Lemkin's Mars script is a cut above Mission's. I haven't read Mars, but I've read a July '98 draft of Mission, and it suggests that producers Tom Jacobson (Mighty Joe Young) and David Goyer aren't looking for much more than a simple, straightforward thriller with a broad visual impact. Co-written by Ted Tally (The Silence of the Lambs), Graham Yost (Speed), and Jim and John Thomas, Mission falls somewhere short of Eugene O'Neill-level drama. Truth be told, it feels a bit like Marooned, the 1969 space-rescue thriller with Gregory Peck and David Janssen.

I'm told that Warner Bros.' decision to greenlight Mars was contingent upon plans to get it into theaters before Mission. It has been smirkingly referred to around the WB lot as "the dead presidents' project." This refers to the fact that Mars' top two producers — Village Roadshow Pictures chairman Mark Berman and Canton Company chief Mark Canton — are ex-Warner Bros. production presidents. Former 20th Century Fox exec Jorge Saralegui, currently heading Material, a Warner Bros.-based production company, recently joined the project as a producer.

A production source says that Mars "is not a rescue movie. … The first part is about character-relations on the ground, almost in a war-movie kind of way, [but then] the astronaut winds up rescuing himself with spirit and ingenuity. This is not Armageddon, it's not about saving the world … it's a smaller idea, but it takes you somewhere you've never been."

Mars is going to use various locations in Iceland to simulate Martian landscapes. Mission to Mars is said to be considering similar locations in northern Canada.

Word came down April 14 that Affleck had opted not to don a space suit again — as he did for last summer's Armageddon — leaving the main Mars role open for other young stars. The movie also has a good part for an older actor (Sean Connery, Nick Nolte, Ed Harris) as well as a good part for a 20-something actress, who will play the orbiting astronaut.

People who follow TV know about James Cameron's Mars Trilogy series for Fox Broadcasting — the third Martian project in the works for 2000. Lightstorm Entertainment producer Rae Sanchini refused to divulge any pertinent information, but the series may be completed in time to air during the first quarter of the year.

Cameron is producing the show, which is based on author Kim Stanley Robinson's popular epic-length Mars trilogy — Red Mars (1992), Green Mars (1994), and Blue Mars (1996) — about efforts to colonize and terra-form the Red Planet in the early 21st century.

Corona: Mars Scoop Feedback

From Corona Upcoming Films: Mars, May 16/1999 - June 2/1999

May 16, 1999... Now Warner Bros. is also in on the race to get to Mars first. Disney's Mission to Mars, to be directed by Brian DePalma, is in the casting phase right now, so that's lit a fire under WB to get their Mars project moving. Originally titled Alone and now known as Mars, WB and Village Roadshow have made offers to Joseph Fiennes (Elizabeth, Shakespeare in Love) and Meg Ryan (You've Got Mail) for the two leading roles. Ideally WB would like the movie to begin filming in August if they hope to beat Disney's head start. [Thanks to Joe Hanna for the help.]

Ben Affleck passed on the leading role in early April. WB will be devoting $60 million to the film's budget, which follows a group of Martian astronauts dying one at a time while their female pilot flying in orbit over the red planet desperately tries to help them from above. The film will shoot in Australia but the Martian landscape scenes will most likely be shot in Iceland. [Scooped by 'DPW'.]

June 2, 1999... Last Friday is was released that the role of the female astronaut orbiting the red planet has gone to Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix). Moss is joined by Val Kilmer (At First Sight) playing the role of the lone Martian survivor stranded below Moss' pilot character. [Thanks to 'Neek Rivers' (c'mon, you get that one, dont'cha?) and anonymous for helping us out.]

Mr. Showbiz: Val Aims for Mars

From Mr. Showbiz, May 21/1999

He looks great in sculpted rubber, so it's likely Batman Forever actor Val Kilmer will fill out a spacesuit pretty nicely too. A deal casting him as the lead for Mars is "95 percent finished," according to Variety.

In Mars Kilmer will portray an astronaut who becomes stranded while undertaking the first mission to the Red Planet. His paycheck is expected to be between the $6 million he earned for 1997's The Saint and the $9 million he netted for this year's At First Sight. Once the project gets the green light, production should begin in Iceland and Australia in late August.

Meg Ryan has already passed to play the female lead; Kilmer's role was previously pitched to Ben Affleck and Joseph Fiennes, Variety reports.

Article: Kilmer Joins Mars Expedition

From Science Fiction News of the Week, May 24/1999

Batman Forever headliner Val Kilmer is in final negotiations to star in the Warner Bros. film Mars, according to Variety. Kilmer would play an astronaut on the first manned mission to the Red Planet who becomes stranded on the Martian surface after an accident.

As the astronaut tries to find a way out of his predicament, he learns some startling truths about his mission that make his rescue all the more important. The film, previously titled Alone, is being directed by Antony Hoffman from a script by Chuck Pfarrer and Jonathan Lemkin.

The film is scheduled to begin shooting in late August or early September.

Mr. Showbiz: Matrix Babe Mars-Bound

From Mr. Showbiz, May 28/1999

Carrie-Anne Moss, the hacker heroine in The Matrix, has snagged another empowered babe role. Variety reports that Moss will star opposite Val Kilmer in Mars, which shoots this fall in Iceland.

In Mars, Moss plays a spaceship pilot who stays onboard as an astronaut (Kilmer) leads an expedition to the planet. When he becomes stranded, it's up to her to either obey orders and return to Earth or attempt to save Kilmer, et al.

Ironically, Moss almost bailed out Kilmer's cinematic behind once before. Mr. Showbiz columnist Jeffrey Wells notes that Kilmer was one of the actors up for the role of Morpheus, the Matrix's mysterious resistance fighter who is rescued by Moss' Trinity and Keanu Reeves' Neo. The part went instead to Laurence Fishburne.

Upcoming Movies: Script Review

From Upcoming Movies: Mars, June 12/1999

An anonymous source with access to this film's screenplay has written in with a taste of what we might be getting next spring. It doesn't have too many details that I would consider "spoilers", but those that want their knowledge of this film to stay absolutely pristine would probably want to look away. :) For everyone else, this is an excellent report...

Basically the script is a lot cooler than the initial reports that i've read. It's way more Blade Runner meets 2001, add a doomed earth with the look of The Matrix...

What's great is that they are using the costume designer and the production designer from The Matrix. That absolutely lets me breath easy. Knowing it will have a way cool, highly stylized look will insure a cool movie. Most of the movie takes place on mars. They are in 1/2 gravity so there are shots of them running across the Martian landscape taking twenty foot leaps in one stride. The f/x will be cool. The ships sound great as well as the robot that goes with them, sort of a titanium spider thing for the robot.

A tidbit from the voice over in the opening of the film............. "The Earth. From space. In all its glory, the most perfect, self regulating organism you could imagine. We went out there; we turned around; we looked back; we saw it. You'd think we'd behold and learn something...we didn't. It was 1961 when we first went into space. There were four billion people in the world. and at a rate that was scarcely comprehensible, we began to poison and populate our planet. We increased by 80 million people a year, pumped out our toxins beyond measure. . destroyed our resources: killed forests, animals...anything that couldn't be trademarked and sold at a profit we annihilated without a thought. we killed half of...(etc, etc......then)...by 2050 there were 12 billion people. It took us 100 years to go from the industrial revolution to putting a man in space. It took us only another 100 to poison and overpopulate the planet so seriously that if we didn't go out and find somewhere else to live, we were gonna die out within two generations...

So, this is similar to the opening of Waterworld, a shot of the Earth slowly turning grey and dirty while the voice over is heard. The goal is for us to send out a team and find out why the terraforming on Mars has suddenly stopped working. For 30+ years we've been launching unmanned pods of biological items that will plant (not literally) and stimulate algae growth on Mars, so the overall temperature will rise, the polar ice saps will melt slightly and primordial soup will take over and then trees, animals etc. etc. can all live in the system. Basically it's creating a greenhouse effect in order to create a habitable planet for us to live on...

Many thanks go out to our source for this glimpse at what this film is about!

The Lowdown - The cast is promising, but we'll believe this prickly pair's chemistry when we see it.

Shooting of "Mars" film in Iceland

From Daily News from Iceland, July 8/1999

Shooting of the Hollywood film "Mars" will take place in Iceland, beginning on 23 August this year. American actor Val Kilmer, well known for his roles in "Batman" and "The Doors" among others, will play the lead. The main shoot is expected to take 2-3 weeks. Locations being considered include Landmannalaugar in the south central highlands, the area west of the Veidivötn lakes and the foot of Mt. Hekla.

Many other famous actors will make up the cast of "Mars". Among them are Gary Oldman, Benjamin Bratt, Simon Baker, Tom Sizemore and Carrie-Ann Moss, who acts in the blockbuster "Matrix", the most popular film in Iceland this summer.

The film is about astronauts who are sent to Mars but have difficulty returning to Earth when their landing goes wrong. "Mars" will cost hundreds of millions of dollars to make and the shooting will also take place in Australia. About 130 people will work on the movie in Iceland, around half of them Icelanders. "We are trying to find accommodation in Reykjavík for the cast but that isn't going too well. All the hotels are full and we are trying to rent apartments to solve the problem," says Snorri Thórisson at Pegasus, who is preparing for the shoot, to today's Morgunbladid.

For More Information on Red Planet:

Upcoming Movies: Red Planet
Science Fiction News of the Week
Corona: Red Planet
Internet Movie DataBase: Red Planet
Mr Showbiz: Mars and Stars, April 13/1999
Mr Showbiz: Val Aims for Mars, May 21/1999
Mr Showbiz: Matrix Babe Mars-Bound, May 28/1999
Yahoo! News: Red Planet ... Begins Production, Sept 17/99