Off the heels of the cultural phenomenon that was 2023’s Barbie and his latest flick The Fall Guy – the latter of which received a positive response but was not a resounding box office success – some are likely wondering what’s next for one of Canada’s biggest stars, Ryan Gosling. The actor has been rather astute at choosing the right movies throughout his career both creatively and commercial, and while his next reported feature film has the potential to be one of his very best, there’s also a slight catch.
The title of this upcoming film is Project Hail Mary, which centres on an astronaut named Ryland Grace, who suddenly wakes upon on a spacecraft with no memory of himself or the mission on which he has been sent, though he comes to realise that he is the only living member of a crew sent to try to prevent an event in Tau Ceti solar system that threatens to end all life on Earth. Alone in deep space, Ryland must use his wits and knowledge to figure out a way to save the human race, assisted by an alien he eventually encounters.
If you’re thinking that this reminds you a little of The Martian, the Oscar-nominated 2015 Ridley Scott sci-fi film led by Matt Damon, then you’re right on more than one count. The 2021 novel on which Project Hail Mary is based was written by famed novelist Andy Weir, who is best known for writing The Martian, and that was adapted into an Oscar nominated screenplay by Drew Goddard, who is also the writer for this latest adaptation of Weir’s work.
While his name might not be a household one like close friend and collaborator Joss Whedon, Drew Goddard nonetheless boasts a stunning résumé beyond his work on The Martian. He cut his teeth as a writer on Whedon’s acclaimed supernatural drama Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as well as its spinoff series Angel, and he would go on to write multiple episodes for Alias and Lost. Each of these shows are all-time greats for television and were hugely influential in their era. As if all of this wasn’t impressive enough, he also created the TV adaptation Daredevil for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is unquestionably one of the greatest superhero adaptations ever put to the TV format. Goddard is also an accomplished director and first made a name for himself with mainstream audiences with his 2011 directorial debut The Cabin in the Woods, which I personally believe is one of the best horror films of that decade. He has since also written and directed 2018’s Bad Times at the El Royale, and had previously also written the screenplays for Cloverfield and World War Z, the latter of which he co-wrote with Matthew Michael Carnahan and Damon Lindelof.
That’s quite a notable talent to penning a script, and his influence paired with Gosling’s star power and reliability as a performer is enough to make anyone cautiously optimistic for such an ambitious project…but then you hear that Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are behind the camera.
Amongst the most creative minds in Hollywood today, Lord and Miller are the same age as Drew Goddard at 49, yet their accomplishments are no less impressive. They first came onto the scene with the cult classic adult animated show Clone High and would go on to write and direct for multiple TV shows over the years, including How I Met Your Mother, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and The Last Man on Earth. Though, it’s their work in film that is most impressive, making their feature film debut with the 2009’s animated hit Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Their next directorial effort, then, was rather unconventional, as they opted to helm an adaptation of a 1980s cop procedural called 21 Jump Street, though it was reimagined as a buddy cop action comedy that somehow really worked, and they had their first major live action hit on their hands. They would then follow these successes with The Lego Movie, which they wrote and directed and is considered amongst the best animated films if its generation, and 22 Jump Street, which earned critical and commercial success similar to its predecessor. Oh, and these were both released in 2014, so considered that for a moment. However, the duo’s greatest success came with 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which Lord wrote and they both produced. It was a major box office success that many considered one of the greatest animated films of this century, even more so than The Lego Movie, as it featured groundbreaking animation with a meaningful, nuanced story that has led some to name it the greatest Spider-Man adaptation of all time. They would ultimately win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and were nominated for the award again earlier this year for their writing and producing of its sequel, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
So, that’s who you have handling the two most important creative elements of the feature, and frankly, the likes of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller adapting a Drew Goddard screenplay is a match made in heaven. This is all without considering Gosling’s co-star, German actress Sandra Hüller who is fresh off her Oscar-nominated performance in the widely praised French legal drama Anatomy of a Fall.
Nevertheless, this was seemingly not enough talent for the studio, as they also brought in Greig Fraser to handle Project Hail Mary’s cinematography, who is one of the foremost artists in his craft worldwide, proving particularly pivotal in capturing the aesthetics of films such as for Denis Villeneuve’s Dune and Matt Reeves’ The Batman, with the former earning him the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. And while we’re discussing Oscar-winning talent, the film’s editor, Chris Dickens, previously won Best Film Editing for his work on Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire.
I’m sure by now you’re wondering, “What’s the catch?” Creatively, there truly is none, and while The Hail Mary Project certainly has a lot to live up to, its potential is immense. No, the catch is that it is not slated for release until March 20th, 2026. Principal photography began in June and concluded only days ago on October 28th, clearly demanding extensive work in post-production. While this is still quite a while away, seventeen months to be exact, sometimes the best creative efforts are simply worth the wait, and I’m certainly hopeful that The Hail Mary Project can be one of them.