Project Hail Mary is, for the most part, a very faithful adaptation of the 2021 novel by Andy Weir. Some things are cut, some things are condensed, but for the most part, what you may have read is what you see on screen. A middle school teacher (Ryan Gosling) is sent into space to save the planet and finds help from a rock-shaped alien. There are, however, some new additions that directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller made to the story to give it more scope, and when we spoke with them recently, they broke those down.
First up is, as seen in the trailer, there’s a place on the Hail Mary ship where Ryland Grace can project images 360 degrees around to remind him of various places on Earth. A forest, a beach, etc. He even shows these things to his alien friend, Rocky. This location and technology are not in Weir’s book but were derived from a few ideas in the book.
“We talked a lot about, how do we make a visual spectacle that you have to see in a movie theater out of the book,” Lord told io9. “So, it was trying to figure out if I’m gonna spend this much time on this ship, I need some things that are gonna give me that scale. And so we came up with the ‘Don’t Go Crazy’ room.”
Ryland Grace floating around. – MGMSo what is the “Don’t Go Crazy” room, and why did they do it? “It’s a bunch of screens in a surrounding [area] that allows you to experience a different environment,” Miller said. “And it was sort of based on the book, because a lot of the book is about how they’re very concerned about the astronauts fighting each other or going crazy or being suicidal in space. And so mental health is a big concern in the movie. You’re like, ‘Well, one way you don’t have cabin fever by looking at the same walls every day is to have a zen room where you can meditate and see different environments and feel like you’re transported.’ And that would be great visually also, and so it was a great opportunity.”
Another change was even more ambitious. Since so much of the film takes place in a single place, the Hail Mary spaceship, the team had an idea to do something a bit off-the-wall. Literally. “The ship in Andy’s book is very elegant and simple,” Lord said. “We were like, ‘Well, what if every single room is in two different states of gravity?’ So, like when Ryan wakes up, there are chairs sticking out of the side of the wall. That would make the ship more mysterious. More disorienting.”
© MGMThere’s also the biggest change, which is that the book is largely told in the first person. We read Grace’s thoughts. We are always inside his head. And yet, you don’t want a whole movie with voiceover. So, Lord and Miller figured out ways to convey that visually. “We needed to find ways that were cinematic, that you could experience the same thing that Ryan was experiencing,” Lord said. “So how do I give the audience that confusion when I wake up? How do I give them the sense of awe of knowing that I’m sitting here bathed in these microbes that are from the same planet as me, but they’re invisible? Well, we can show you that. And so we spent a lot of time trying to find ways that were in line and harmony with the soul of the book but were giving you an experience that was additive to the book. So that these two things could be great companion pieces.”
There are a few other, much more spoilery changes too, but fans of the book will know those when they see them, and we won’t ruin it here.
Basically, the Project Hail Mary movie takes everything good about Andy Weir’s book and attempts to make it better. You can see it yourself in theaters on March 20.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
English (US) ·