色色啦

Scott is great at discovering talent, too, with notables including Sigourney Weaver for Alien (1979), Brad Pitt for Thelma & Louise (1991) and Tom Hardy for Black Hawk Down (2001), all relative unknowns at the time.

Two days after The Martian premiere, the indefatigable British filmmaker told the Star what he looks for in an actor and how, at age 77 and four decades into his feature career, he鈥檚 more eager than ever:

What makes a great actor?

Being fearless. At the end of the day, the best ones tend to be without fear. Some will argue, say that鈥檚 bull——, say they鈥檙e terrified before they go on. But I think there鈥檚 a fundamental passion and enjoyment function going on, whether it鈥檚 theatre or whether you鈥檙e going to go on a film set. I know a couple of big rock singers, and I asked them, 鈥淒o you get worried when you go on?鈥� And they both replied, 鈥淣ah, I live for it.鈥� Big stadium, they love it.

Does a director have to be fearless, too?

Yes! It鈥檚 the same thing for me. I walk onto a film unit with 400 personnel and I have to know what I鈥檓 doing. There鈥檚 no fear anymore. I got over my fear doing many, many commercials, early in my career. By the time I did a feature film, The Duellists (1977), I was late. I was 39, and the film went out when I was 40. I didn鈥檛 get paid for it. But it got me going, and I don鈥檛 want to stop. Retirement isn鈥檛 an option for me. I hate sleeping in.

As you said at The Martian launch, you鈥檝e a knack for finding talent.

Acting is never a preconception. You can try to preconceive, saying a person should be tall and dark (for a role), and the actor who walks in is short and blond. And yet I talk to them not so much about the role, as who they are. I get to know them as people, so we chat about everything except the film. For me to get them to read a page is completely artificial. You may get a terrible read, because the person鈥檚 a bad reader. You may get a pretty good read, and that鈥檚 all there is there.

The Martian is technically science fiction, but it鈥檚 all realistic science.

It鈥檚 all about problem-solving. Evolution. Once Mark Watney (Damon) gets the idea of how to keep himself alive with potatoes, and having to use manure to grow them, that pushes fear away. So he鈥檚 got an evolution. Now I can stay alive, then my next problem is how the f—- can I communicate with Earth? These guys still think I鈥檓 dead. That鈥檚 how it all starts.

Do you think your film will renew interest to send people to Mars?

I do. Past 2020, there are serious plans to go to Mars. That鈥檚 just five, six years away. In six years, you鈥檙e going to be on Mars!

This interview was edited and condensed.