Jess Varley’s The Astronaut is a claustrophobic horror movie with an alien twist premiering at this year's SXSW festival. It tells the story of astronaut Sam Walker, who is placed in a high security rehabilitation facility under the care of NASA after returning from her first space mission. Once disturbing things start to occur around the facility, Walker fears she may have brought something extraterrestrial home with her.
Kate Mara (The Martian, House of Cards) stars in The Astronaut as Sam Walker alongside A Quiet Place and The Purge. For The Astronaut, Varley pulled from a love of “logical” sci-fi stories to tell a tale that is not entirely outside the bounds of reality.
ScreenRant’s Liam Crowley spoke with The Astronaut stars Kate Mara and Gabriel Luna along with director Jess Varley and producer Brad Fuller at South By Southwest 2025. Varley discussed the real-world inspirations behind her new horror film, which include actual s of astronauts’ returns to Earth. The stars of the film discussed how they related their work to their own lives, and revealed truths about their characters.
Jess Varley Revealed The Real-Life Inspiration Behind Her First Feature Film
It Began With The True Experiences Of Astronauts
“You have to love the story, because you’re going to be working on it for a few years,” The Astronaut director Jess Varley shared when asked how she landed on the idea for her feature debut. That story grew out of a seed planted when Varley discussed “an article about real symptoms that astronauts have when they come back from space.” That idea piqued the director’s curiosity, but she wasn’t sure what to do with it: “I always thought it was an interesting core idea for a concept but, for the longest time, [I] could not crack it.”
“I knew there was something there where someone kind of couldn’t trust what they were seeing,” Varley said, but it took one big moment for the story to fall into place: “Once I cracked the twist, I essentially backtracked the story and worked it into itself. It honestly was a very organic process. The film kind of found itself and told me what it needed to be.”
Kate Mara Was Thrilled To Play An Astronaut Again After The Martian
“To Be Able To Play [An Astronaut] Again Was Really Exciting”
The Astronaut marks Kate Mara’s first return to space since Ridley Scott’s The Martian in 2015. “One of the things that I loved so much about playing Sam was being able to research what actually [happens] to astronauts when they spend a lot of time in space, and what it’s like for them [to] come back home, physically and mentally,” the actor said. She continued: “That, to me, was fascinating, because I didn’t know most of those facts going into it. It’s so much fun to be able to research, in-depth, things that maybe you’d have no reason to otherwise.”
The Martian star jumped at the chance to do that research and play that role: “I’ve played an astronaut before, and I feel like there’s really nothing cooler than to be an astronaut in real life, and I would never be able to be on. To be able to play one again was really exciting for me, [and it was exciting] to specifically be able to explore these things.It was a really eye-opening experience.”
Gabriel Luna Talks Playing The Movie’s “Stay-On-Earth Dad”
Mark Has Been Holding Down The Fort While Sam Was Away
While Kate Mara’s Sam was executing her mission in space, Gabriel Luna’s Mark was acting as the “stay-on-Earth dad,” according to the actor. He praised the relationship between the two characters while elaborating on his role: “They have a very strong bond and this great love that has been tested. She has her duties, and we say in the film that just a fraction of the people on Earth have the chance or ability to do what she does, but there’s some strain there. The distance has caused strain.”
Still, the relationship between Mark and Sam isn’t entirely fraught. “What I love about it,” Luna said, “is [that] once things kind of hit the fan, you see how strong they are in the best of times. I love that about him and about their relationship.”
NASA Helped Make The Astronaut As Authentic As Possible
Mara And Producer Brad Fuller Discussed Working With The Space Agency
The Astronaut was made with help from the real deal, with a NASA astronaut and someone with nearly record-breaking hours logged on the International Space Station lending their expertise to the production. “In all the projects I’ve been involved with, authenticity is really an important thing,” said Brad Fuller, “so if Kate’s going to be playing an astronaut, she has to know all the things to do, because I think that’s where the authenticity comes through … We’re always striving to make it as real as humanly possible, so we’ll always look for a great expert.”
Mara also shared how director Jess Varley (and the internet) helped her prep for the role: “[Jess] brought me all these amazing facts and videos. YouTube was my best friend [too,] because there are incredible videos of astronauts literally seconds after they come back to Earth, and they’re being interviewed … that kind of stuff was really, really helpful.”
Kate Mara Shares Her Excitement For The Fantastic Four: First Steps
The Actor Played Sue Storm In Josh Trank’s 2015 Adaptation
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set for release July 25, 2025, a decade after the most recent Fantastic Four movie hit theaters. The Astronaut star appeared in that film as Sue Storm, and said the following when asked her thoughts on the new movie: “I did see the trailer. The cast is so great. I love all of those actors, so I’m excited to see it. It looks very different [from the 2015 movie.]”
Gabriel Luna Hypes Up Tommy’s “Expanded” Role In The Last Of Us Season 2
Luna Plays The Brother Of Pedro Pascal’s Joel
One of the most impactful episodes of The Last of Us season 1 took a detour from the prescribed story to explore a subplot only hinted at in the game. The Last of Us season 2 will continue to expand on its inspiration, specifically in regard to the story of Joel’s brother Tommy. Luna spoke on this, beginning with where we pick up with his character: “As the years go by, this settlement has become more and more developed, [with] more people brought into the fold with them. [And] it all expands from there.”
“Craig and Neil,” Luna continued, “did a great job to continue to explore different chambers of the story that you may not have access to in the game, and I think that’s a really clever thing that they do … so, there’s an expanded role for Tommy, and there’s an expanded world for the show.”
The Astronaut had its SXSW World Premiere March 7 at ZACH Theatre and is currently awaiting U.S. distribution.
Source: Screen Rant Plus
