Project Hail Mary blasts off first 5 minutes of Ryan Gosling sci-fi film at SDCC
One of the San Diego Comic-Con panels we were most excited about was Project Hail Mary, which audiences got a glimpse of on Saturday in coveted Hall H.
In attendance for the Project Hail Mary panel were co-director Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, star Ryan Gosling, screenwriter/EP Drew Goddard, and, showing his faith in the adaptation, Andy Weir, author of the novel on which the film is based. During the panel, Miller noted that this was easily the most rewarding collaboration that he and Lord had ever had, which is saying something. As far as that collab goes, special time was devoted to waiting specifically for Goddard – who also adapted Weir’s The Martian for Ridley Scott – to climb on board.
As for the first look at Project Hail Mary itself, our own Chris Bumbray was in attendance and gave us some insight into the footage. Attendees got to see the first five minutes of Project Hail Mary, which showed Gosling’s character waking up on his spaceship following an induced coma, which kicks the story into high gear. Viewers, too, may feel like they have navigated time, as the film opens with an MGM/United Artists logo from the 1980s.
Following that footage, the group showcased a scene with Sandra Hüller’s Eva Stratt, who serves as Gosling’s superior in the film. Gosling’s character, Dr. Ryland Grace, has authored an article suggesting that there may be lifeforms that have no relation to water; as it turns out, NASA found an alien he put under analysis. Regarding the character, Gosling noted that, while he is a highly intelligent man, he’s meant to come off as normal and relatable. Take, for example, another scene that was spotlighted at SDCC, where Grace experiences zero gravity for the first time, becoming overwhelmed and terrified in a way that the audience will no doubt feel as he heads towards a potential encounter. The setup for his next experiences will allow him to believe in himself after so much time being down and out.
As with the zero G scene – which was given approval by actual astronauts – accuracy is also key for Project Hail Mary in regards to the science depicted on screen, whether as major plot points or background filler. On the more technical side of things, every set is practical, including a 100-foot-long tunnel that is lit in such a way (with due credit to DP Greig Fraser) that it took the power from two other soundstages!
Weir asked, if your planet has life, what do you need for intelligent life? The answer: pack mentality, language, and a form of empathy. Goddard said that, from a screenwriting POV, this project is a nightmare. One character is human, the other is a rock. But they have empathy in that both characters are always trying to see the world from the other’s POV. Rocky is a puppet – a practical creature so it could have a real interaction with Gosling. It’s a mix of puppetry and animation. He has no eyes or face and five legs. It was a challenge to create a loveable creature out of minerals. SDCC panel attendees didn’t see Rocky, just his hand in the first scene where they meet.
Anything that was complicated in the book, they didn’t change. They saw it as a problem to solve. As Miller says, this movie is a PC, not a MAC.
Hype has already been strong for the movie (the trailer has exceeded 400 million views, the most for an original movie ever) but with this additional footage showcased at SDCC, it jumps even higher on our list of most anticipated movies of next year.
Here is the official write-up for Project Hail Mary, as per SDCC: “The movie follows a science teacher who wakes up on a spaceship, lightyears from home, with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. As his memory returns, he begins to uncover his mission: to solve the riddle of the mysterious substance causing the sun to die out. He must call on his scientific knowledge and unorthodox ideas to save everything on Earth from extinction . . . but an unexpected friendship means he may not have to do it alone.”
Project Hail Mary will be the first time the team of Lord and Miller step behind the camera in over a decade, as they have shifted to producing for movies and TV and, of course, co-writing Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse to great acclaim.
Are you going to be checking out Project Hail Mary when it hits theaters on March 20th, 2026?
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