Ridley Scott: No One Realized ‘The Martian’ Was a Comedy

Ridley Scott is standing by “The Martian” being categorized as a comedy 10 years later.

The auteur told The Hollywood Reporter that he personally found the survival film to be “really funny.” At the time, “The Martian” caused a stir when it was submitted in the Comedy or Musical category for awards. The film was controversially recognized by the 2016 Golden Globes as a comedy, being nominated as Best Picture — Comedy or Musical and lead star Matt Damon winning the Best Actor — Comedy or Musical prize. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association actually had to amend its rules to clarify what constitutes a comedy or drama film after its win.

“Motion pictures shall be entered in the category that best matches the overall tone and content of the motion picture. Thus, for example, dramas with comedic overtones should be entered as dramas. A musical is a comedy or a drama in which songs are used in addition to spoken dialogue to further the plot,” the release read at the time.

Now, Scott is detailing how the Fox feature was in fact a true comedy. Damon stars as an astronaut who is stranded on a planet and is awaiting rescue. When asked by “Nickel Boys” director RaMell Ross if “The Martian” cost more to make than sending a real rover to Mars, Scott clarified that the film had an average budget. It just took a while for the script to be greenlit because studios didn’t understand its tone, according to Scott.

“I think we cost about $80 million,” Scott said. “The studio didn’t realize it’s actually a comedy, so it sat on the shelf for two years and then they said, ‘Do you want to look at this?’ And I read it and said, ‘It’s really funny.'”

Scott continued, “I am continually amazed that people will give us money to do our dream. They’ve got to be crazy. And so that is real trust. I’m very respectful of that.”

Scott previously said during the 2015 AFI Film Fest that screenwriter Drew Goddard adapted “The Martian” from the novel and maintained the “fact that the book is very amusing.”

“It’s not a thing you expect, if you haven’t seen the film — go and see it — it’s really amusing, but the humor is derived from, fundamentally, [the character’s] predicament and how he deals with life, where he’s going have to stay alive for four years,” Scott said. “And of course, having Matt Damon is an advantage, right? He’s wonderfully amusing, serving very dry humor which works very well because the whole body of the humor lies in what was written, as voice-over.”