Phil Lord and Chris Miller are taking audiences to space in their latest film, Project Hail Mary, starring Ryan Gosling. Based on the acclaimed novel by Andy Weir, the sci-fi movie follows Ryland Grace, a middle school teacher recruited after it’s discovered the sun is dying. For him, it means traveling across space to a cluster of stars that could hold the key to humanity’s survival.

Offscreen Central was invited to a special presentation where Lord and Miller showed footage from the upcoming film, including the new trailer that debuted ahead of the Super Bowl. In addition to this, Lord and Miller took the time to answer a few questions about Ryan Gosling, adapting the beloved source material, and what they hope audiences take away from the film. If you’re trying to go into Project Hail Mary as blind as possible, look away now!

Like Weir’s other beloved sci-fi adaptation, The Martian, Project Hail Mary is steeped in sci-fi. When it comes to the science of the movie, Lord and Miller wanted to make sure that space wasn’t “slick” but accurate, thanks to NASA and JPL consultants. Ryland has zero experience in space, so it mattered that he isn’t an expert when it comes to maneuvering himself in zero-g. In one of the scenes we got to see, Ryland has wires around as he moves from different parts of the ship. He has to be adaptable to make what he needs to work. Lord and Miller said this movie is “a PC, not a Mac.” But don’t worry, the math of Project Hail Mary checks out. As a producer on the film, Andy Weir is a stickler for science accuracy, so he wrote out the calculations that Ryland writes out in the movie. The math is indeed mathing.

For the cinematography of the movie, Lord and Miller recruited The Batman and Dune cinematographer Greig Fraser. To create a unique visual language, Fraser shot with two different film stocks — one for Earth and the other for space. The Earth scenes are cleaner, more compressed shots like memories. Meanwhile, the present story is in space, where it’s a bit more raw and grittier to Ryland’s reality, a contrast to what we typically see.

Speaking of Ryland, the movie begins and ends with Ryan Gosling. He found the manuscript and went to Amy Pascal to produce the movie with him; he would eventually step into the lead role, Ryland Grace. The book itself is entirely in first-person, so Gosling is the conduit for audiences into this hopeful, emotional story. Based on what was shown at that screening, Gosling is more than Kenough to hold this movie together through his earnestness and natural humor. On his performance, Lord said he “has such a dynamic range in his performance” and they made sure the movie “gave him enough opportunities to show all of those moves.” 

Ryland Grace is recruited for this mission by Eva Stratt, played by Anatomy of a Fall star Sandra Hüller. Although the footage seen of her was limited at the screening, Lord and Miller previewed that they wanted to also show off “full breadth of what she’s capable.” Not only is her dramatic prowess on the display, Hüller gets to show off her humorous side. In fact, they rewrote a karaoke scene, seen in the first trailer, specifically so Hüller could sing!

Project Hail Mary, the book and the movie, is a story about collaboration and cooperation. As seen in the Super Bowl trailer, Ryland encounters and begins to work with an alien he calls “Rocky.” Part-puppet, part-VFX, many book fans were surprised to even see Rocky in the latest trailer. For Lord and Miller, they think of Rocky as the co-star to Gosling. Miller commented “It’d be like doing ET without ET.” In the special preview footage and the new trailer, we got glimpses of this important duo. Both have something to bring to the table to try and save their planets, while also becoming an Odd Couple duo of sorts. 

For many, Project Hail Mary is one of their most anticipated movies of the year. To date, this is largest scale Lord and Miller have worked on together. Yet amid the massive scale of space is this intimate story of one man with the fate of humanity in his hands. Lord and Miller wanted to make this movie about the forces of nature. Lord said: “Physics and the way that we share common things like numbers and laws of time and space, but one of the laws of time and space is love.” Like Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, the core of this movie is about love. Will it make a similar impact on audiences? Only time will tell, but based on what was shown, we’re in for something that could be very special.

Project Hail Mary hits theaters March 20, 2026.