Award-winning actors Toby Jones and Emily Watson have completed production on a new feature film detailing the life of the scientist who led Britain’s first Mars lander mission. The movie, titled Mars Express, is directed by Mackenzie Crook and features Jones portraying planetary scientist Colin Pillinger alongside Watson as his wife, Judith.
The Journey of Beagle 2
The scientific couple started working on the unmanned Beagle 2 probe to investigate potential signs of life on Mars while Pillinger worked as a professor at the Open University located in Milton Keynes. The spacecraft lost all communication signals immediately after touching down on the Martian surface in December 2003, remaining missing until NASA imaging located it in 2015, which occurred after Pillinger’s death.
Originally hailing from Kingswood close to Bristol, Pillinger gained widespread public recognition during the 1990s as he campaigned for funding and public backing for the project by collaborating with musicians and celebrities. The Beagle 2 probe traveled into space via the European Space Agency spacecraft named the Mars Express orbiter.
The lander was scheduled to make contact on December 25, 2003, but did not transmit a successful landing signal. The venture was officially written off as unsuccessful for more than a decade until NASA photographs from January 2015 proved the vehicle had landed successfully on the surface.
Pillinger passed away eight months prior to the discovery following a brain haemorrhage.
Production and Collaboration
Director Mackenzie Crook expressed his enthusiasm for the project, stating that it is a complete honour to tell this extraordinary story for his directorial feature debut. He credited Joe Bone for writing a script that helped assemble a talented cast and crew, and expressed excitement about collaborating again with Toby Jones.
Crook, recognized for his performances in The Office and Pirates of the Caribbean, previously partnered with Jones on the Bafta-winning comedy series Detectorists. The upcoming film about the British Mars mission is scheduled for theatrical release in 2027.
