By Neveah Morofsky
Spoiler warning for the “Project Hail Mary” book and movie.
From “The Martian” to “Artemis,” author Andy Weir has made quite a name for himself in the realm of science fiction writing, including one of his biggest successes, the hard science fiction novel “Project Hail Mary,” released in May 2021.
The novel opens with a man waking up with no memory of who or where he is, leaving him stranded in a large spaceship tasked with piecing together the mystery of how he ended up there, and more importantly, why. Through random memories, he is able to recall that he is a schoolteacher, but is tasked with saving the world from a microscopic alien population feeding off the energy and heat of the Sun.
The school teacher, Ryland Grace, had been sent out to investigate another star, the only star in the nearby radius that had not been dying. Along the way, he meets an Eridian alien, whom he aptly names Rocky, who is also investigating the reason for his own star’s decay.
The March 2026 film adaptation of the novel managed to capture this perfectly.
Whether it’s laughter or tears, the “Project Hail Mary” movie was the perfect emotional rollercoaster. Each sequence felt like reading the novel itself, with stunning visuals and a Daniel Pemberton score to uplift the story. The movie tackled the same themes of bravery, isolation, hopelessness, and the power of perseverance as the book did.
Dr. Ryland Grace, played by Ryan Gosling, teaches science at Grover Cleveland Middle School, which made him quite the unlikely candidate for a world-saving mission such as the titular Project Hail Mary. Grace, however, had obtained a doctorate degree in molecular biology and had written his thesis about how the idea of water being essential to all forms of life was inaccurate and, in simpler terms, stupid.
Grace was chosen for his unorthodox and controversial scientific stance, due to the fact that the sun-eating aliens were bouncing between Venus and the Sun. Due to his work, the group of officials tasked with solving the issue, The Petrova Taskforce, selected Grace to be a leading scientist in their efforts.
One way or another, Grace ends up as the sole passenger on the Hail Mary spacecraft, and all of the responsibility of saving the planet falls to him. Well, him and his new alien friend, Rocky, who has the same problem as Grace and Earth.
The ending of the novel and the book should be witnessed in person, but it definitely left audiences stunned. Many sequences within the movie had full theaters nationwide sat in suspended silence, waiting to see if our beloved protagonists would make it.
Along with the gripping plot, the cinematography and production of the film itself are both aspects that cannot get enough praise.
According to Chris Miller, one of the directors of the film, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, “(N)ot a single green or blue screen was used… The whole ship was built as a set from the inside.”
Having a movie with this level of scale and this extraterrestrial subject matter be entirely practical is an unimaginable feat, and it only adds more credit to the team that made it possible. Even Rocky, the beloved alien that Grace befriends, is completely practical. Rocky is an animatronic puppet, a real presence that Gosling could interact with on set during scenes.
Seeing “Project Hail Mary” on the big screen shows how far film as a form of art has come, and it highlights just how much people still care about handcrafting art in a vastly digital world. From the soundtrack to the cinematography to the plot, “Project Hail Mary” is a movie for the ages, and one that reminds audiences why people make art to begin with.
“Project Hail Mary” is now available in theaters.
