Project Hail Mary
Believe in the Hail Mary.
Project Hail Mary (2026)
Production
Budget
$200 000 000
Revenue
$684 586 806
Director
Scenario
Andy Weir
Author
Composer
Actors
Ryan Gosling
Ryland Grace
Sandra Hüller
Eva Stratt
James Ortiz
Rocky (voice)
Lionel Boyce
Carl
Milana Vayntrub
Olesya Ilyukhina
Ken Leung
Yao
Priya Kansara
Mary (voice)
Mia Soteriou
Dr. Browne
Short description
Science teacher Ryland Grace awakens on a spaceship far from Earth with no memory of his identity or purpose. As he recovers his recollections, he discovers he is the sole survivor of a mission to the Tau Ceti system. His goal is to investigate a mysterious substance causing the sun to fail and threatening all life on Earth with extinction. To succeed, Grace must rely on his scientific expertise and unconventional thinking, eventually finding an unexpected ally to help him with the task.
Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, this adventure mystery is the fifth feature they have directed together, following their work on Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, 21 Jump Street, The Lego Movie, and 22 Jump Street. The film features a screenplay by Drew Goddard and stars Ryan Gosling as Grace, alongside Sandra Hüller, James Ortiz, Lionel Boyce, Milana Vayntrub, and Ken Leung.
Produced by Amazon MGM Studios and other partners, the production had a budget of 200 million USD and earned 684 million USD at the worldwide box office. The film is well-received by both viewers and professionals. It holds an 8.2 rating on IMDb from over 400,000 votes and an 8.6 rating on TMDB from nearly 8,000 votes. This aligns with the film critics' rating of 8.2 based on 340 reviews.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film's directors, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, wanted Rocky to look as tangible and real as possible, so the character was portrayed by a puppet, and the puppeteer was later removed from the frame using digital technology. There are only a couple of shots in the entire film where Rocky himself is a digital creation.
- In one scene, the protagonist's glasses hang from the right ear, then disappear from the frame, and then reappear. In all other scenes, the glasses hang from the character's left ear.
- While Ryan Gosling was trying on various looks and costumes, his daughter happened to be at the studio. She told her father that he looked interesting in glasses—and that is how the actor added glasses to his look.
- Ryan Gosling improvised many of his character's lines on the fly, including the one mentioning Meryl Streep. Following this, it was decided to approach the actress herself and ask her to participate in voicing that scene. They were able to reach the actress through producer Amy Pascal, whom Streep knew personally from working on Steven Spielberg's project 'The Post' (2017).
- Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller wanted Rocky to look as tangible and real as possible, so the character was portrayed by a puppet, and the puppeteer was removed from the frame during post-production. There are only a couple of shots in the film where Rocky is animated.
- The credits include Ray Porter, who narrated the original novel in English audiobook format.
- Ryan Gosling came up with many of his character's lines on the spot, specifically the one mentioning Meryl Streep. Following this, it was decided to reach out to the actress herself and ask her to participate in voicing that scene.
- Ryan Gosling was the only candidate initially considered for the lead role. A filming contract was signed with him back in 2021, shortly after the film rights to Andy Weir's novel were acquired.
- The final scene, in which Sandra Hüller's character sails on an icebreaker through a frozen Earth, was not in the original novel.
- According to the film's directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, in the scene with the future Earth, Sandra Hüller's character has a small tattoo on the side of her neck, indicating that she was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
- Ryan Gosling came up with the habit of letting his glasses hang from one ear to his chin (resting on a single temple) on his own, and only learned several weeks into filming that no one actually does that in real life. By that time, however, many scenes had already been filmed with the glasses hanging by one temple. They decided not to reshoot them. Incidentally, Daniel Craig's character did the same thing with glasses in David Fincher's thriller 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' (2011).
- In the scene featuring Earth in the future, a small tattoo is visible on Sandra Hüller's neck, which, according to directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, signifies that the character had been sentenced to life imprisonment.
- Occasionally, Ryan Gosling's daughters visited the set and helped film scenes involving Rocky. According to Gosling, during the moments he was interacting with Rocky, he was actually communicating with one of his daughters, whose voice he heard in his earpiece.
- Ryan Gosling came up with the main character's habit of letting his glasses hang off one ear on his own, only to find out several weeks into filming that nobody actually does that in real life.
- The film is based on Andy Weir's book 'Project Hail Mary'.
- The scene in which Sandra Hüller's character sees footage of a frozen Earth in the future was not in Andy Weir's novel. In the original literary source for the script, it simply states that Rocky, voiced by James Ortiz, informs Ryan Gosling's character that the sun's luminosity has returned to normal, meaning Earth is saved.
- On Olesya Ilyukhina's uniform (played by Milana Weintraub), the Cyrillic text reads "Kosmosros" instead of "Roscosmos."
- While Ryan Gosling was trying out various looks and costumes for the upcoming shoot, his daughter happened to be at the studio. She mentioned in passing that he looked "interesting" in glasses, and it was following this remark that Gosling decided to add glasses to his character's look.
- Ryan Gosling's daughters, Esmeralda and Amada, occasionally visited the set. They helped film the scenes involving Rocky, who was voiced by James Ortiz. According to Gosling, during the moments he interacted with Rocky, he was actually communicating with one of his daughters, whose voice he heard through an earpiece invisible to the audience.
- Ryan Gosling was the only candidate initially considered for the role of Ryland Grace. His filming contract was signed back in 2021, shortly after the rights were acquired to adapt the novel by Andy Weir (2021), who is credited as one of the screenwriters.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
