Project Hail Mary features Ryan Gosling and Ryan Ortiz as two best friends in space. photo by Amazon MGM Studios
The new movie is an almost perfect adaptation of the 2021 sci-fi novel.
This article contains spoilers! Beware!
On March 20th of this year, Project Hail Mary, directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, came to screens across the globe. The film is an adaptation of the novel written by Andy Weir, a Californian novelist most famous for his sci-fi works, especially his 2011 book, The Martian. A film version of The Martian came out in 2015 and was one of the highest-grossing films of the year, earning seven Oscar nominations. Following the success of that adaptation, many fans of Andy Weir, including myself, were immensely excited for Project Hail Mary. I originally had my doubts about whether the crew could do the book justice, as it was a finalist for the Hugo Award for best novel and is packed full of science, from explanations about all kinds of gravitational forces to complex equations. After seeing the movie, however, I think the cast and crew did an amazing job bringing the book to life, and I would recommend anyone to go see it.
The film follows the book’s plot almost to a T. Middle school science teacher and PhD scientist Ryland Grace is sent to space to help find out why the sun is dying and what Earth can do about it. While in space, he meets a friendly alien he calls “Rocky,” and together they find a way to save both the sun and Earth. Rocky, in the book, is described exactly as he sounds, a creature composed of rocks that can still communicate and move. As someone who read the book and who has friends who have, we all pictured Rocky a bit differently based on his very interesting description in the novel. So, it was a bit of a concern how they would create Rocky to make him look exactly how Weir intended. However, Rocky was executed perfectly and was made into a puppet, operated by six different people led by James Ortiz, who was also the voice actor for the alien. Rocky was not only a puppet but also consisted of animatronics and CGI effects. Ryan Gosling played Ryland Grace, and Gosling and Ortiz acted together beautifully, stealing everyone’s hearts. The film adaptation did an amazing job capturing the connection between the pair of characters. Ryland Grace’s entire crew, other than him, died on the way to space, similar to Rocky’s crew. The fact that both of them were alone in the void of space until they found each other is portrayed so well in the movie, and each acting choice really consumed the scenes. Though he is just a puppet, you can tell in Ortiz’s voice acting and Gosling’s acting choices that they relate in so many ways, which is difficult to do when your companion is a puppet. Their relationship really leveled up the movie and made it so much more of a “tug at the heartstrings” film.
Another concern I had before I saw the film was whether Ryan Gosling could pull off being a nerdy middle school science teacher. He more often than not plays the hot guy in every movie he is in. Ryland Grace is maybe the furthest thing from a hot guy. He was essentially blacklisted from the scientific community after writing a controversial paper for his PhD that completely turned what is commonly understood about the importance of water for life to exist on its head. He later became a science teacher at a middle school, and is way too smart to be simply perceived as a hot guy like Gosling. After seeing Gosling in the role, though, I’ve learned to like him as the character. He pulls off Grace’s dry humor and anxious yet incredibly smart persona very well. The other characters were cast excellently as well, as if they came right out of the book. That made the movie so much better as a book reader, because none of the characters felt out of place or like they were playing the character in any way the character didn’t behave in the book. As is the case in many book to movie adaptations, characters are often cut or their roles are made smaller due to time constraints or simple necessity. However, this film did the opposite, extending the role of one character due to actor chemistry that originally didn’t have a big role in the book. I can honestly say that this movie does an excellent job with keeping the characters authentic to their book selves, and does one of the best jobs I’ve seen from a book to movie adaptation.
The last thing I think the movie did amazingly was the set design and cinematography. The cinematographer, Greig Fraser, has also worked on incredible movies like Dune and Rogue One. He describes this movie as one of the most difficult he has worked on. Because a majority of the movie takes place in space, the sets had to be both horizontal and vertical to demonstrate the differences in gravity. They managed to create the movie without using any green or blue screens, and only using camera effects and limited CGI. In order to pull this off, the sets had to be massive and extremely detailed, and the main ship was a full enclosed, moving set that allowed for unrestricted camera movement. Science fiction films can be so hard to do, especially because the vastness of space can be so hard to replicate. Project Hail Mary did a great job making each background engaging and entertaining without losing the detailed scientific aspects of the story.
Watching this movie as someone who loved the book definitely made me more biased and like it more than maybe someone who didn’t read the book liked it. The plot of the movie did end up a little bit repetitive, and to someone who didn’t read the book, it might’ve been a bit science heavy. However, I truly believe that anyone looking for a cute yet action packed movie would enjoy Project Hail Mary. Andy Weir working so closely with the cast and crew helped make the movie really special, and anyone who watches the film and enjoys it should definitely read the book as well.
