What 10 Great Movies Look Like Without Visual Effects

3. The Martian

The Martian Matt Damon
Fox

To the surprise of absolutely nobody, The Martian's Mars-set sequences weren't actually shot on Mars, with the production often using Jordan's Wadi Rum valley to double for the planet's surface.

However, if you thought that every single scene set on Mars was filmed at the sandy Jordanian location, you'd be (understandably) wrong.

In fact, director Ridley Scott shot most of them on a soundstage in Hungary, and given the greater sense of control this would afford any filmmaker - namely from the elements of nature - it makes a lot of sense.

It's incredibly difficult to spot where the practical set ends and the digital one begins in the final film, in turn doing what the very best CGI always does - transport the audience to another world (quite literally in this case).

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.