The extraordinary story of Opportunity, nicknamed Oppy, a Mars rover that originally was expected to operate for only 90 sols but explored Mars for nearly 15 years and has gone down as a wonder in the arena of space technology, now makes its way to the much-feted documentary film Goodnight Oppy.

Directed by Ryan White and co-produced by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television, Goodnight Oppy — which is gaining strong OScar buzz — had a limited release in US theatres last Friday and will stream on Amazon Prime Video from November 23. The Telegraph chatted with White to know more about his film.

The reviews for Goodnight Oppy, from Telluride to Toronto, have been overwhelmingly positive. Irrespective of the reviews, are you nervous before every screening?

I try not to read reviews, even when I hear that they are good (smiles). Every film that I make becomes so personal, you know. I am a total hypocrite because I read reviews of my friends’ films, but I don’t read reviews of my own! (Laughs)

Obviously, I am thrilled that the reviews for Goodnight Oppy have been so unanimously positive. But I haven’t gone and read the actual words because we know that even the most positive reviews will have some criticism (laughs).

As film-makers, we always know the weak spots in our films, and this is especially true for documentary film-makers. Sometimes, you can’t work around them and you have to let them be. And so the worst thing for us is when a film critic finds that flaw, as much as you try and put a band-aid on it! (Laughs)

As far as the reviews for Goodnight Oppy are concerned, I know that NASA is thrilled... I work with a huge team of people and every day, I hear from someone who has heard a positive review and they are thrilled. That’s what matters to me.

You have quite a few well-known names attached to this project, including film-maker Steven Spielberg whose Amblin Television is one of the producers. Is it true that Spielberg sent you notes after watching the film?

Yes, that’s true. When you make a film, you never know how it’s going to be perceived by people. Spielberg’s feedback was incredibly positive. It was really overwhelming to know that he enjoyed the film and also cried in parts. He’s one of my film-making heroes and to have the opportunity to work with his company on a story which has been very “on-brand” for them, as far as documentary film-making is concerned.

ET (directed by Spielberg) was my favourite film as a child. The first thing he said was that Goodnight Oppy reminded him of ET, in terms of its tone. And that was so overwhelming to hear. That’s what I hope Goodnight Oppy is in the end... sad yet heartwarming, hopeful, inspirational, similar to the narrative trajectory of ET — falling in love with a non-human character that you know you will have to say goodbye to in the end... and that makes for very emotional storytelling.

What made you want to make this film?

Opportunity died in early 2019, but she was in a dust storm for a long time. At the beginning of the dust storm, there was this article that went viral which said that her last communication to earth is, ‘My battery is low. It’s getting dark’. I am a space geek and I had been following Opportunity’s journey, but not day to day. Because she had lived for so long, one began to have this feeling, ‘Oh, NASA has mastered every challenge and Opportunity will live forever since she is solar-powered’.

When I came to know she had died, it haunted me and it haunted a lot of people who had become surprisingly emotionally invested in this robot’s journey. But it’s not I immediately decided to make a documentary on the subject. I just digested the information as a space fan watching this journey from afar.

By happenstance, a year later, Film 45 and Amblin, who are the production companies that made this film, had the idea of making this, and they brought the project to me. Unequivocally, I said ‘yes’, which has never happened in my film-making career.

It was March 12, 2020 and I remember it so well because it was the night before Los Angeles shut down because of Covid. So I actually left the dinner table saying, ‘I am on board’... and then the next day, we couldn’t even get out of our houses! (Laughs)

Ryan White

How do you explain the shared wonder that most people have in the solar system and in knowing if there is life beyond us?

I think that’s a great question. One of the fun challenges of making this film for me was discovering how people are so interested in the subject. I met someone at a bar last night who said he wasn’t interested in space or space films and how he had to watch my film for work. For the first 15 minutes, he just let the film play in front of him and he was looking down at something on his phone. And then suddenly, his phone went down and he was so hooked to the film that he didn’t pick up his phone till it ended. That’s something that we have heard from a lot of people.

One of the biggest challenges for me and my team has been to make this film interesting for people who are not space geeks, or might not traditionally want to see what they think is a science documentary. I personally don’t think this is a science documentary, but it could be perceived as that.

Our goal was to make something broadly human and emotional that invites the largest possible viewership, like ET or some of the best science-fiction films of our times. Where you have these non-human protagonists with such real emotions...

While watching Goodnight Oppy, I was reminded of Wall-E...

Someone spoke about Wall-E last night, and yes, Wall-E (the highly-acclaimed 2008 film follows a solitary robot on a future, uninhabitable, deserted earth in 2805, left to clean up garbage. He is visited by a robot called EVE, with whom he falls in love and pursues across the galaxy) was a huge inspiration for this.

But Wall-E came out in 2008 and Oppy went to space in 2003. And some people have actually asked me, ‘Do you think they designed Wall-E based on Oppy?’ (Smiles) I love Wall-E... it’s one of my favourite films. But unlike that film, we couldn’t give Oppy a love interest! (Laughs)

But yes, I think parts of Wall-E inspired me a lot, especially that opening of a lonely creature on a desolate planet. I was glad we were able to create a ‘real’ Mars through visual effects and even though it’s CGI, it looks photo-real.

What was it like seeing the emotional side of these scientists who are invested so heavily in what really is, at the end of the day, a box of wires?

I think that was one of the most surprising parts of making this film. I knew that the story of this robot was special and that it would touch people if we did it correctly. This is not an animated film and I needed the human beings who were part of Oppy’s journey to be in the film and help me tell her story.

I was a little nervous because the preconceived notion attached to scientists and engineers is that they are very rational and practical and a little detached and the word ‘emotional’ is not thrown around a lot to describe people in math and science. But I was very surprised when I met them because all of them, in their own way, had some sort of emotional connect to Oppy. That’s what made this film so much more rewarding for me.

The relationship between man and machine is looked at traditionally as controlling and contentious, but Goodnight Oppy presents it as heartwarming and mutually giving. Is that the biggest takeaway from this film?

I want people to take back what they want to from the film. But you are right when you say that in the narrative of man vs machines, it’s always looked at as ‘danger’ or a ‘slippery slope’... that is a valid conversation for sure, that is how dark the relationship between AI (artificial intelligence) and humans could go.

We started Goodnight Oppy in 2020, which was the year of Covid and also of the (US presidential) elections . People responded to Goodnight Oppy’s heartwarming and apolitical tone. I love Black Mirror and they show all the possible lengths that technology can go to. But this film shows how human beings and technology did something so powerful together. It’s an example of how we can use technology to make life better.