Brian Grazer talks Mars and Why the Journey into Space is Important for Mankind

National Geographic Channel continues its Mars saga tonight with an episode set in 2037 — four years after the Daedalus crew landed on Mars and established its first settlement, Olympus Town.  A new crew arrives to help execute plans for expansion and search for life when a dust storm threatens the outpost.

Meanwhile, back on earth in present day, the bustling McMurdo Station in Antarctica serves as a modern example of how humans will settle Mars as scientists look to discover life on another planet.

Mars is the result of the combined efforts of National Geographic Channel; Academy Award and Emmy-winning producers Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Michael Rosenberg of Imagine Entertainment; and Justin Wilkes and Dave O’Connor of RadicalMedia to launch us into outer space, with visionary Mexican filmmaker Everardo Gout set to direct the scripted portions of this groundbreaking miniseries event.

Parade.com caught up with Grazer to get his take on man’s mission to Mars and why it may be necessary for human survival.

Experts say that we don’t really have a choice about space exploration. We have to go into space if man is going to survive because the earth is not going to be here forever. Do you think that way also? 

Yeah, and that’s really important, but I also think there’s a multitude of geopolitical reasons that are important to do it. Not that we’re living in the same cold war situation we were around Apollo time, but I actually think there’s evidence that there are plenty of other countries that are either publicly or privately trying to either get to Mars or get to space.

I think it has importance to our country and also this weirdly sounds so patriotic but it’s important to the freedoms that we’re all here for. I still believe in those reasons and I think there are other countries that I don’t have to reference that are going into space. I don’t necessarily think they’re doing it for the same reasons that Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos or even NASA is trying to do it, which I think are pretty pure.

But I do think it’s really important geopolitically and militaristically to be in this and be there. Ron and I have talked about this a lot. In doing Apollo 13, which Ron was able to do expertly, he gave people a sense of the personal. He made people understand why it matters whether it’s going to the moon, orbiting the moon, or getting into deep space. I think Mars orients people in a very cinematic way to feeling like doing this has a variation of human dimensions that are important to mankind.

Mars takes place in 2033, so did your experts help you come up with technology of the future?

Yes.  Of course, as you can guess, they’re experts in what they’re doing but because no one has been there yet, they’re prognosticating or extrapolating on what they think, what is empirical, and what they fantasize.

Since the movie The Martian came out, new things have already been discovered, such as we’ll be able to take oxygen from the carbon dioxide, and they found a better to get water than what Matt Damon did in the film. So did you get a sense for how long it’s going to take for us to get out there?

I just happened to come across this young, nuclear physicist from Arkansas named Tyler Wilson. He’s created a very light, efficient and powerful way to compress nuclear power that, I think, has abbreviated the time to get to Mars by saving two-thirds of the time. So anyway, I just think it’s happening much faster.

Your book A Curious Mind is now in paperback, do you have plans for a sequel? Do you still continue talking to people like you did for it? 

I do.  I still do it without fail like every two weeks.

Do you have plans for a sequel or is there something you’re going to take from the original book and turn it into a TV project? 

From my perspective, I am writing another book that lives under the umbrella of curiosity in the same way as the first book but it focuses more on eye contact — stories that triangulate eye contact, curiosity, and narrative storytelling.  And I’m excited about it.

Because police and people who are trying to get information they use eye contact to determine if someone is telling the truth or not?

They do. What I actually learned about that, by the way, from reading some of the world’s most renowned physiognomists is that eye contact is more of a set point that when it works, it creates empathy, but in order to really learn something it’s in their mouth. The FBI, CIA all those organizations, any counterterrorist organization studies from your nose down, your mouth.  Your mouth reveals more of the truth than your eyes do.

Mars airs Monday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT  on National Geographic Channel.

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