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Photos from The Martian. Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

ell not exactly Mars; but we For decades this Valley of the Moon has “We shot exteriors at Wadi Rum,” ex-
visited a place that could – lured film makers seeking a stand-in for plained director Ridley Scott in an in-
and has – passed for the Red Mars for space thrillers like “Red Plan- terview published in Space.com. “To me,
WPlanet. et,” “Mission to Mars” and “The Last it’s the Eighth Wonder of the World. …
Days of Mars.” And I didn’t do anything but shoot it at
Our destination was Wadi Rum, a nearly the right time, from the right positions,
300-square mile patch of stark, very Mar- Today movie fans are thrilled by the me- then added a bit of red dust to every-
tian-like desert in southern Jordan. T.E. ga-hit “The Martian” where Matt Da- thing. So our film world looks pretty ac-
Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of mon plays a Mark Watney, an American curate — at least I’m hoping Mars looks
Arabia, called Wadi Rum “vast, echoing astronaut and botanist forced to become a little like that.”
and God-like.” an interplanetary MacGyver when he is
stranded on Mars. Damon has earned a A few months before we landed in Wadi
And the description fits its long desert val- lead actor Academy Award nomination, Rum we had never heard of the place,
leys punctuated by spectacular red sand- but Wadi Rum, where key scenes were it could have been a crater on Mars for
stone mesas and peaks that change colors shot, deserves an Oscar for best dramat- all we knew. “The Martian” was new in
with the passing of the moon and sun. It’s ic location theaters and promotional pics showed
both amazingly beautiful and a little spooky. Damon sitting in the stark, red Mar-

14 Wine Dine & Travel 2016