Mark Strong Mans a Solo Mission to Mars in Introspective Sci-Fi Thriller ‘Approaching the Unknown’

Allyson Gronowitz

“Approaching the Unknown,” a sci-fi thriller from first-time feature filmmaker Mark Elijah Rosenberg, expects to cash in on the big-screen space craze. Coming off the heels of Oscar darlings (and box office hits) “The Martian” and “Gravity,” “Approaching the Unknown” features Mark Strong (known as the wisecracking Merlin in 2015’s “Kingsman: The Secret Service”) as Captain William Stanaforth, an astronaut sent on a 270-day solo mission to colonize Mars. Luke Wilson and TV stalwart Sanaa Lathan co-star as mission control officers who tune in via video chat onboard Stanaforth’s ship.

Appropriately enough, not much is known about “Approaching the Unknown,” which will be released without first having made the festival circuit. According to Rosenberg’s artist portfolio page, the film began as “endurance-based performance art” and morphed into live-action theater before it was picked up for film distribution. The entire multimedia project is also known as “Ad Inexplorata,” the Latin translation of the film’s title.

Per the trailer, Stanaforth’s journey will be riddled with life-support malfunctions forcing him to grapple with his duty toward the mission, humanity and himself. An exclusive clip revealed by Entertainment Weekly shows Stanaforth’s brief but acute panic when he believes he’s lost contact with mission control back on Earth. (“ERROR MESSAGE” is probably the last thing you want to see when hurling through space, all alone, millions of miles from home.) As we learned from “Alien”: In space, no one can hear you scream.

Since the film takes place almost entirely within the confines of Stanaforth’s spacecraft, much of the drama will come from Mark Strong’s performance. But “Approaching the Unknown” is also poised to tackle the wonders of the universe as one man struggles to discover his physical and philosophical place in the cosmos.

“Approaching the Unknown” will be released everywhere on June 3.