Do they even need to bother anymore? With CGI as good as it is now.
It’s easier, cheaper and in many cases more realistic-looking to just hang a person by wires and then digitally erase the wires.
Perhaps they actually used a reduced gravity aircraft
A reduced gravity aircraft is a type of fixed-wing aircraft that provides brief near-weightless environments for training astronauts, conducting research and making gravity-free movie shots.
It’s not the usual method. To my knowledge, the only major Hollywood film that did that was Ron Howard’s Apollo 13 in 1995.
Alfonso Cuaron was planning to use it for Gravity, but ended up not. Cite.
Finally saw the movie last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. A gripping film from start to finish.
If forced to include additional story lines for a total of ~10 more minute running time, my choices would be: 1)additional scientific planetary exploration and 2) a monster.
Here’s how I would do it: Obviously Watney’s main focus must remain using his scientific prowess to stay alive and to find a way to communicate with NASA. But, surely he’d be able to devote a few hours per week for non-essential research and exploration–mainly in locating places likely to harbor life, taking deep soil samples and microscopic examination.
After weeks of sampling, he does indeed find life, live microbial life in a deep, moist soil sample. He’s wild with excitement at his discovery and only laments the fact that he can’t (yet) share the news with anyone else. (later, when communication is established, there would be two waves of global excitement: “Watney, Alive on Mars!”; "…And He’s Not Alone–Watney Discovers Life!").
He makes note that the microbes are particulary scary looking creatures (looking somewhat like these -critters). He quips to himself, "F**, I wouldn’t want to meet one of these guy’s parents in a dark alley."*
After months of soul-depleting desolation on Mars, Watney discovers another use for potatoes: potato vodka. He keeps his sobriety in check during his working hours, but increasingly has a few too many swigs before going to sleep.
One sol night he passes out in an alcoholic blur and is violently awakened an hour later by screeching noise from outside and shaking of the hab. Watney looks out the window and is paralyzed with fear at the sight of the ugly Martian microbes surrounding his quarters. Only, these aren’t microbial sized; they’re the 8 foot tall grownups! The creatures breach the hab and reach for Watney in his last minute of suffocating life.
…And then Watney wakes up…in a cold sweat. It was all an alcohol induced nightmare. He looks over at his container of hooch and say’s, *“I gotta switch to non-alcoholic potato juice.” *He remains sober from that point on.
I’d think insects would be great candidate for space food: high protein/fat content, efficient reproduction, scavengers of waste, etc. Apparently, many are quite tasty, too.
Given the tough constitutions of astronauts, I believe they’d quickly get over any “ick” factor involved with eating bugs.
Life on Mars would only detract from this particular story, and fake-out dream sequences only detract from every story they’ve ever been used in. Though I agree that it would have been nice to see him spending whatever time he could to salvage as much as he could of the mission objectives.
Wasn’t there an end-credit scene of him vlogging to his crewmates about running their experiments in the Hab? Or was it in a PR video? I remember Watney continuing some work in the book, while he could. He knew he had to keep his mind occupied in order to keep a positive attitude, which is key to survival.
IMDB doesn’t mention any end-credits scene. There is some reference in the book (which I just finished) to him continuing some of his crewmates’ experiments, and rock-collecting at each point he stopped on his two long trips away from the Hab.
My puny human brain was playing tricks on me. It was an extra video posted to YouTube. - YouTube
Ooo, cool - thanks!
How did Watney enter and exit the the Hab after he patched up the airlock opening with plastic and tape and then pressurized the Hab?
In the book, it is stated that the Hab has two airlocks. In the movie, I’m pretty sure we see Watney approach the remaining airlock when he’s about to leave for the Ares 4 MAV.
Just watched this thru Netflix. Very good. I think I’ll buy it.
I really hope this opens up more sci fi movies where the science is real.
On a related note to the previous posters here, I think it would have been nice to even once having the hero discuss searching for life on Mars. Surely he must have at times seen an unusual rock formation, strangle lights on the horizon, some odd shadow, or maybe a feeling he is being watched that might have gotten him thinking he might not be alone. I mean most of Mars exploration will all be about looking for signs of life. And I can bet that one of the first questions people will ask when he gets home is “did you find any signs of life?”.
If he finds signs of life it’s going to be bacteria in soil samples, not anything big enough to cast a shadow or stalk him.
You’ve heard of Watney’s Party Sevens, then? 
Or maybe even Watney’s Red Barrel: Monty Python's Flying Circus: Disgruntled Holiday Maker, Watney's Red Barrel , - YouTube
Sorry if this point has already been covered but I was re-watching the movie the other day and a new question occurs to me: did Watney have an adequate supply of poop?
Seriously, he started with eighteen days’ worth of poop from six people. Was that enough to grow all those potatoes? I’m not a botanist but isn’t the growing process basically a means of turning one type of organic material (human feces) into another (a potato plant)? How efficient is the process and how much organic material is lost into the environment?
Most of the mass in the potato plants would have been from the air as CO2, which is quite abundant, and water, which was a big part of the plot. The poop provided some bacteria and acted as fertilizer.
Mostly, plants turn carbon dioxide and water into more plant. He had plenty of the former, and we saw the measures he took for the latter. Fertilizers are just for relatively trace chemicals that the plant needs, but doesn’t need very much of.