Movie production notes

The production notes for the movie M2M have been released. The production notes are essentially a studios attempt to sell their movie to the press. 3.10.00

The year is 2020 and NASA has made another giant leap for mankind-successfully landing a team of astronauts on Mars. However, shortly after their arrival on the Martian surface, Mission Commander Luke Graham (DON CHEADLE) and his colleagues encounter something bizarre, shocking and chilling that brings about a catastrophic and mysterious disaster which decimates the crew. Graham is able to send one hasty cryptic message back to Earth before his nightmare begins.

Connie Nelson, Don Cheadle and Gary Sinise in MISSION TO MARS

Haunted by the enigmatic last communication received from the ill-fated Mars One crew, NASA hurriedly prepares and launches a rescue mission to investigate the tragedy and bring back survivors-if any. Co-piloted by Commander Woody Blake (TIM ROBBINS) and Jim McConnell (GARY SINISE), with colleagues Dr. Terri Fisher (CONNIE NIELSEN) and scientist Phil Ohlmyer (JERRY O'CONNELL) on board, the astronauts set out on a heroic six-month journey to Mars.

"Mission To Mars" is the extraordinary story of the astronauts of the Mars Recovery Mission, the nearly insurmountabIe dangers that confront the heroic crew on their journey through space, and the amazing discovery they make when they finally reach Mars.

Touchstone Pictures presents a Jacobson Company production of a Brian De Palma film, "Mission To Mars." Directed by Brian De Palma, produced by Tom Jacobson, the screenplay is by Jim Thomas & John Thomas and Graham Yost. The story is by Lowell Cannon and Jim Thomas & John Thomas. Sam Mercer is executive producer. Buena Vista Pictures distributes.

Genesis of the Project

"I had always wanted to do a space adventure movie; something dramatic, realistic and contemporary about human space exploration," says producer Tom Jacobson, who co-conceived the idea of "Mission To Mars."

"It's a great story and a great adventure," says director Brian De Palma. "I'd never directed science fiction before, so the problem of shooting outer space and shooting a planet nobody's ever seen before gave me a whole new canvas with which to work. I tried to avoid all the cliches of science fiction movies and to give a whole new look and approach to this fantastic story,"

Unlike a lot of other science fiction films, the director acknowledges, the most exciting aspect of making the movie was to create realism. He recalls the 1950 classic "Destination Moon," which he saw as a young boy, and was one of the first science fiction films to attempt a high level of technical accuracy. "I was struck by how authentic that film looked. What we've tried to do is to make 'Mission To Mars' as authentic as possible, and it's what we've realized. The film is all the more exciting because you feel like it's extremely real. The various things that happen to the Mars One and Two crews in this film all come out of the physics of what could happen in the situations presented in the story. So, it is realistic and extremely authentic."

From the beginning, Jacobson knew the project was on the right track. "We began at the crest of a tremendous amount of public interest in Mars," he says. On July 4, 1997, Pathfinder landed on Mars and sent back its first images from the planet. The day those images were broadcast from NASA, there were one hundred million hits on their web site. "People are fascinated by the rich, mythological history of Mars and I think one of the reasons that the world was glued to those pictures is that people want to find evidence of something out there. They wanted that little rover to come over the hill and make an amazing discovery," he says.

Jacobson commissioned a script, and contacted NASA before work began on it in order to meet with the people involved in the future manned space program and learn about how one would actually go to Mars. It was a very educational process.

"A very important part of the process of writing the script and producing the movie was to keep it as NASA-accurate as possible. It is a work of fiction, but we wanted the science and physics of astronauts getting there to be factual. Many aspects of the script are based on NASA theory and how they would actually plan a Mars mission. We kept in touch with NASA, and the more we talked with them, the more excited they got and the more access they gave us to different people and different areas of the space program.

During the development phase of the film, a magazine article came to the producer's attention: an excerpt from Robert Zubrin's book, The Case For Mars. "It was about going to Mars and it was fascinating, with a tremendous amount of technical detail," Jacobson says. The founder and president of the Mars Society, senior vice president of the National Space Society and former senior engineer at Lockheed Martin, Zubrin is known for his innovative concepts for getting man into space faster, better and cheaper.

Zubrin was hired as a consultant during development of the script and then Jacobson purchased the rights to his book. "In this non-fiction work, there is so much detail about how we could go to Mars, including proposals for spaceships, Mars habitats and mission plans," the producer says. "Once we started pre production, we gave the book to practically everyone involved in the movie. It's very inspirational."

Jacobson was pleased with how the script evolved. "The Thomases broke the back of the story and wrote a really good draft."

He then called upon Graham Yost, with whom he'd previously worked on "Speed" and "Broken Arrow." Following Yost's contribution, the script was ultimately ready to be turned in to the studio.

"The script combines great action and thrills, along with tremendous drama and wonderful characters," says producer Jacobson. "We sent it to Brian De Palma, he read it overnight and we got a call the next day that he would commit to directing the movie. From the moment he came on, he was very clear about his vision. The process with Brian is very definitive. When he generates an idea or arrives at a conclusion, you know exactly what he wants and then you can produce it. A clear and inspirational point of view is exactly what is needed for a film of this size and complexity and it's been a great collaboration."

"An interesting aspect of the collaboration," the producer points out, "is that Brian De Palma and I are both science enthusiasts," Jacobson smiles. Indeed, Jacobson studied engineering before turning his talents to film, while De Palma was a physics major in university when he chose to embark upon his illustrious filmmaking career. In fact, as a teenager, De Palma went to the prestigious National Science Fair a remarkable three times with projects on cybernetics, and twice won prizes.

De Palma hopes that "Mission To Mars" will help the cause of an eventual manned mission going to Mars. He says, "By working on the film, I reacquainted myself with my own interest in this area. I started out reading science fiction, building computers and being fascinated by the exploration of the other planets in our solar system. And everything like this has been forgotten for a couple of decades which, for me, is a great tragedy. I think it's unfortunate that this aspect of the great explorer part of Man has been left by the wayside. We should be out there exploring the planets, Mars being the first. We can go there."

"Mission to Mars" is set in 2020 because, according to De Palma, "That's the date that experts predict we should have a manned landing on Mars."

De Palma says, "We have tried to make this film NASA real - all the space vehicles in the film are vehicles that are either on the drawing board or ones whose designs have been approved by NASA, so that there's not much science fantasy or science fiction to this. We can, in fact, go to Mars if we wanted to now. We've reached the 21st century, and I think there's going to be a tremendous amount of excitement about visiting Mars. This is a very inspirational story, exactly about that."

De Palma says, "'Mission To Mars' celebrates the pioneering and exploratory ideal in Man. Our astronauts are great explorers, and get themselves into a lot of difficult situations and, through their ingenuity, manage to extricate themselves. It's a very heroic, positive movie, which I think is very much in line with the times, We're looking to the future, and we should be setting our sights high."

In setting out to cast "Mission To Mars," "It was very important that the three main characters, the core of the movie, be strong actors," says Tom Jacobson. "When we were able to cast actors of the caliber of Gary Sinise, Don Cheadle and Tim Robbins we were thrilled, because they bring a truthfulness to their roles."

Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner and Academy Award'-nominee Gary Sinise was the first actor cast. His reasons for accepting the part of Jim McConnell were many: "The themes in the story are very real and spiritual; Jim's a great character and it was a great journey," he says. "There's so much in this movie that's in essence about man's nature to explore and constantly search for things beyond himself. And Brian De Palma was directing." Sinise previously worked with De Palma on "Snake Eyes," and had already done a tremendous amount of space travel preparation and research for his role as real-life astronaut Ken Mattingly in Ron Howard's "Apollo 13."

"It was great to work with Gary again," says the director, "he's a marvelous actor."

"The great thing about Gary Sinise," producer Jacobson says, "is that he brings integrity and credibility to the role."

Golden Globe winner and Academy Award'nominee Tim Robbins, who stars as Mission Commander Woody Blake, had wanted to do an action adventure movie for some time. He says he jumped at the opportunity to be cast in "Mission To Mars" because it was, "a very exciting, visually stimulating story that did not rely on gratuitous violence and was about discovery, adventure and daring, courageous people risking it all to gather information and knowledge to see if there is life on Mars, There was also a special allure because of the sensibility Brian De Palma would bring to this."

Golden Globe winner and, while filming "Mission To Mars," a nominee for two Emmy Awards, Don Cheadle stars as Mission Commander Luke Graham, the first man to walk on Mars and leader of the illfated Mars One mission. He says, "I think what drew me to the role of Luke was that he was going to change 180 degrees from the first time you see him. From the beginning of the film to the end, he's an entirely different human being and that's always fun for an actor to play - the same person but a completely different aspect of that person, pushed as far as you can push it."

When Connie Nielsen came in to read for the part of Terri Fisher, Jacobson says, "We knew she would be fabulous. She did a reading that brought tears to our eyes and she has brought a sense of intelligence to the role."

Jerry O'Connell was cast very early on. "There's a spirit Jerry has that we thought was great to have in this cast," says Jacobson. "He has exuberance and a youthful vitality and a sort of "let's go to Mars" enthusiasm. He makes you smile and that's a really good quality to have on board."

"Let's put it this way," quips Jerry O'Connell, "I did not get this part because of my scientific background." He admits, "It's every American little boy's dream to get to be an astronaut."

A recent graduate of New York University's film program, O'Connell was also thrilled by the prospect of working with the great director. "During my sophomore year, I wrote a paper on De Palma," he says with some pride and great enthusiasm - but not quite enough to have shown the paper to his director.

The Mission to Mars

Columbus took the same amount of time to get to the New World as the "Mission To Mars" astronauts take to get to Mars. On Columbus' voyage, he didn't know if he would fall off the edge of the Earth. Well, eight minutes after lift off, you do fall off the edge of Earth. And then, you float the whole way to Mars.

- Dr. Joseph Allen, Retired NASA Astronaut

Gary Sinise stars as Jim McConnell, whom the actor says, "has lived his entire life dreaming of going into space and being an astronaut. He's put his whole life's work toward that and his ultimate goal was to be the first man on Mars." When McConnell's wife and fellow astronaut, Maggie (KIM DELANEY), dies, not only does he lose the love of his life, he loses Mars, too.

"But Maggie's spirit is always there," says Emmy Award-winner Delaney. "And in a sense, her spirit keeps him going, like an angel. They were so connected and such soul mates," she says.

No longer deemed "fit" for space travel because he refused to submit to psychological evaluations, McConnell now serves as "Capcom" (Capsule Communicator) at Mission Control.

In his place, McConnell's best friend, Luke Graham (DON CHEADLE), replaces him as commander of Mars One-and makes the monumental voyage. But as Luke and his crew investigate an anomaly on the planet, something goes horribly wrong and the commander watches in terror as his crew is wiped out. He manages to get one cryptic radio message back to Mars Mission Control on the World Space Station, and then all communication ends.

Woody Blake (TIM ROBBINS), the astronaut slated to command the Mars Two mission months ahead, convinces Ray Beck, head of the NASA Mars program, that their only chance of rescuing Luke - that is if he can manage to stay alive, alone on Mars during the six months it will take them to make the journey there is with McConnell as his co-pilot. Reluctantly, Beck agrees, and so the Mars Rescue Mission is hurriedly put together. Woody's wife, Dr. Terri Fisher (CONNIE NIELSEN), and young scientist Phil Ohlmyer (JERRY O'CONNELL) complete the crew.

Robbins describes his character, Woody as "A space cowboy. He's a great pilot, but he's got a wild side to him. He likes to drive fast, but he's also rational and scientifically intelligent. He's a good person to be around. As far as being in an enclosed community, you have to have this kind of distinct personality in order to survive with the other people.

"Woody and Terri," he continues, "have a unique, fun relationship. It's to NASA's benefit to have couples in space."

Connie Nielsen, who plays Woody's wife, Terri, points out, "It's not unusual that Terri's a female astronaut. There have been women astronauts for a long time now, and we've just had the first female commander in space," she says, referring to Eileen Collins, who commanded the Space Shuttle Columbia while "Mission To Mars" was filming. "What I think is interesting," Nielsen continues, "is that in this case, they're actually sending up a married couple."

She describes Woody and Terri's marriage as "that kind of very special relationship where people work together really well as a team, as well as human beings. They're completely different people, yet they just complement each other. He's fun-loving, she's sort of serious. They function very well together." Nielsen also sees it as a beneficial idea to send couples on long-term space flights. "Anyway, there's not much risk of divorce out there," she laughs.

The actress says her character, Terri, is "tenacious, brave, rational and big-hearted."

Don Cheadle stars as Luke Graham, the first man on Mars and the one marooned there. "He's a scientist," Cheadle says, "so the discovery of this anomaly Is exciting and thrilling, but at the same time, he's seen it kill his crew. And he knows it's dangerous - it almost killed him. The explorer in him is passionate and the scientist is excited and the man with the wife and child back on Earth is terrified of what it all means."

The most challenging aspect of the role, he says, was "finding the right line between being as mad as the March Hare and the scientist whose mind is going two miIlion miles an hour because he's discovered something that no other human being has ever seen. He's the only one alive at that point who can tell anyone about It, and he's also alone on the planet with that thing."

Cheadle enjoyed the work he did to prepare for Luke. "It was difficult trying to figure out how to prepare myself to be an astronaut who gets stranded alone on Mars in 2020," he says. "I had to determine what would the character be eating for a year? What kind of exercise was he doing in a third gravity? What was his mental state?" One of the things Cheadle did was to spend several nights sleeping in the Mars One habitat set, built on a sound stage. As he says, "I wanted to feel what it would be like to be alone in a completely foreign environment. I didn't stay there a week, or anything like that," he laughs. "I Just stayed a few nights to try and get the feeling of isolation and to make the set - if it was going to be my home for a year - my home for a while and see how I would operate and work and where I would run if I thought there was trouble? It was helpful and more real and visceral than an idea might have been. And sometimes, it was really scary in there."

Like the actor who plays him, Jerry O'Connell describes Phil Ohlmyer as "someone who finds humor in the more stressful situations that the crew gets into." He recalls his first few days on set. "We did the first couple takes and I just thought to myself, 'this is it. I've made it. I'm an astronaut and I'm going to fly the spaceship out of here.' It was so cool."

Although he admits to not being a devout science fiction fan, Gary Sinise says he is "Intrigued and awed by people that go 'into space and what they do and what they've accomplished in the last 40 years in terms of space flight and travel. This movie is about our next big mission. We've been to the moon. We may go back. We're building a space station and all of that is ultimately knowledge that will come into play when we make the decision to go to Mars. So I was very excited to be asked to be a part of this."

Connie Nielsen's research involved reading a lot of literature on Mars, space and mythology. She was especially drawn to the very human dimensions of "Mission To Mars." Referring to the popular image of astronauts, she says, "We have images of super heroes who can go through all sorts of dangerous situations and not react at all, and it turns out they're human beings. I think that's why we were very interested 'in showing what you would really feel like if you were out there. You're not just some machine."

A couple of months before filming began, Don Cheadle and Jerry O'Connell went to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to observe a shuttle launch. "Of course, all of that starts piquing your 'interest as to what's out there," Cheadle says. "Once I became involved, everything became about space."