Film director Ridley Scott’s science-heavy film ‘The Martian’ is based on the story of a NASA astronaut who is living on Mars after being left behind by his crew. It was not an easy task for Scott to direct the film, but to make things easier, the director got help from the United States space agency.

Scott called NASA and talked to James L. Green, the director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division. Green helped Scott and his team by telling them how to portray right things in the film. According to Green, the space agency just wanted to help the filmmaker so that real picture could be painted.

Scott said it was necessary to take help of NASA to get the science right. With the right science, it is possible to put many other elements in a story, Scott added.

The collaboration between NASA and ‘The Martian’ crew was underscored by the release of the film this week. The film has been grabbing attention of space enthusiasts and moviegoers as Mars is a trending topic. Earlier, NASA revealed that researchers have found present-day liquid water on the Red Planet. It seems timing of release of ‘The Martian’ could not be better than this.

Talking about the film and recent discovery of water on Mars, Green said, “Someone just asked me if the R.S.L.’s were near Ares 3 and could Mark Watney have used the water. The conversation has already shifted”.

"I get it -- it's scary," said screenwriter Drew Goddard when asked about why so many movies shy away from more technical details. "But I was very emphatic from the beginning there was no point in doing this if we didn't include as much of the science as we could."