Ridley Scott's The Martian moves to Jordan

Scott himself has had previous experience filming in the region. He used the area to portray Mars in the 2012 feature film Prometheus and returned there in 2013 to shoot some scenes for Exodus.

Also known as The Valley of the Moon, Wadi Rum is a dramatic looking area in southern Jordan; the sandstone and granite rocks have a distinctive reddish hue which makes them a perfect backdrop to use as somewhere such as Mars.

The area has a long history of hosting film shoots, the most iconic of which is arguably Lawrence of Arabia in 1962. Since then, high profile productions to have chosen the area include Red Planet; Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Last Days on Mars.

The bulk of filming on The Martian – which stars Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain and Kate Mara – has been taking place in Hungary.

Click here for more on the recent MoU between the British Council and the Royal Film Commssion Jordan.