Red Rover

When asked about the genesis for the film, director/writer Shane Belcourt said: "My co-writer Duane [Duane Murray] and I were fascinated with the whole Mars One thing. This is a real-life program wherein regular people from around the world could apply to partake in a one-way mission to Mars. One of the funding elements was that the training and launch and life on Mars would be televised in a Truman Show manner and that would spark ad revenue and media deals. And shortly after that announcement people started posting their submission videos online and, it just blew our minds. All of the stories about people wanting to go seemed crazy, but when you heard the real people explaining their reasoning it seemed like an amazing adventure dream dipped in unbearable sadness. Which, you know, seemed like a place to set a story. And very quickly we had a script together." The imbedded quote reference is to The Truman Show (1998), in where the main character was being televised 24/7, in his case without his knowledge.

References Star Trek (1966)