12 Years A Slave star Chiwetel Ejiofor has joined the cast of director Ridley Scott’s upcoming thriller, The Martian, according to Entertainment Weekly. The Oscar-nominated British-Nigerian actor, who was last seen in director Biyi Bandele’s record-setting Nollywood adaptation of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel Half of a Yellow Sun, joins previously announced cast members Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig Kate Mara, Sean Bean, Michael Pena and Jeff Daniels.
The Martian, adapted from the best-selling novel by Andy Weir, is about Mark Watney (Damon), an astronaut who gets left behind on Mars when his crew mistakenly believes him dead. “It’s quintessential Robinson Crusoe,” Ridley Scott tells EW. Drew Goddard (World War Z) penned the screenplay, and Damon and the rest of the cast quickly jumped aboard. “This is one of those movies that’s had a blessed life,” says producer Simon Kinberg. “Every actor is doing it for significantly less than their normal fee. It’s a real labor of love.”
Production begins in November in Budapest.
