Starman: Brendan Fraser Heads to Mars with Jeff Daniels

Brendan Fraser is heading to Mars in Starman, a new sci-fi thriller from Josh Wakely that brings together Jeff Daniels, Aisling Bea and a space mission where survival appears to be only half the problem.

Mars has become crowded enough on the big screen that it probably needs an immigration office by now.

After astronauts, botanists, settlers, monsters and billionaires determined to rebuild humanity from scratch, Starman is attempting to take a slightly different trajectory: the Red Planet is still the destination, but the story’s real gravitational pull seems to come from Earth.

Written and directed by Australian filmmaker Josh Wakely, the film is currently in production with Brendan Fraser playing visionary technologist Tom Adams and Jeff Daniels as his business partner Ed Watkins. And beneath what might initially look like yet another variation on The Martian, a considerably more intriguing project is beginning to take shape.

Starman Sends Brendan Fraser to Mars, but Starts in Australia

Fraser plays Tom Adams, described as a visionary technologist and architect of the future in the mold of Elon Musk. He is the driving force behind a historic expedition to Mars, placing himself on the front line of humanity’s next great frontier. Then, as so often happens when movies send someone into space, the perfect plan quickly stops being perfect: a series of unforeseen events leaves Adams stranded millions of miles from Earth, turning the mission into a race against time.

Jeff Daniels, meanwhile, will play Ed Watkins, the powerful and protective co-leader of the company he built alongside Adams. Deadline describes him as someone for whom Tom matters far more than the company itself. We still do not know exactly how involved Watkins will be in the effort to bring him home, but the relationship between the two men appears likely to become another of the film’s emotional through lines.

Aisling Bea plays Julia Hanley, a strong-willed Irish photographer who is able to see the man behind Adams’ enormous ambition. Early descriptions of the character therefore suggest that Julia will play a decisive role not only in the film’s romantic dimension, but also in the way Tom comes to view his own life. The announced cast also includes Claudia Karvan, Stephen Curry and Ewen Leslie, although their respective roles have not yet been revealed.

Principal photography began in June and is taking place across Sydney, the Blue Mountains and Disney Studios Australia in Moore Park. According to Variety Australia, the project is receiving support from Screen NSW’s Made in NSW Fund and is expected to generate more than A$23 million in spending across the New South Wales economy, as well as approximately 229 local jobs for cast and crew.

From The Martian to the Beatles: Starman’s Strange Orbits

Eleven years after The Martian by Ridley Scott, in which Jeff Daniels played NASA director Teddy Sanders as he dealt with Matt Damon being stranded on Mars, the actor once again finds himself involved in the story of a man who needs to make it back alive from the Red Planet. This time, however, he has moved from NASA to the world of SpaceX-style private enterprise.

Josh Wakely does not come from the world of big-budget science fiction or action blockbusters. He is best known as the creator of Beat Bugs, the Netflix animated series built around songs by the Beatles, as well as Motown Magic, developed in much the same way from the Motown catalogue. To make Beat Bugs, Wakely pulled off the far from trivial feat of securing the rights to use the Lennon-McCartney songbook, transforming the songs into stories for children.

Starman is produced by GRACE: A Storytelling Company alongside Sight Unseen. Producers include Wakely, Rebecca Graham and Eddie Vaisman, who previously produced Rental Family starring Fraser. Most notably among the executive producers is David S. Goyer, screenwriter of Batman Begins and a veteran figure whose career spans superhero films and science fiction. Tarek Sherif, Ryan Graves, Matt Tedder and Julia Lebedev round out the producing team.

No official release date has been announced at this time.