Project Hail Mary has turned out to be a must-watch sci-fi adaptation that fans have been eagerly waiting for ever since author Andy Weir first brought the story to life.
From tense, edge-of-your-seat moments to scenes packed with humor and heart, this is a movie built on unforgettable sequences and big cinematic swings. And adding to the hype, Weir himself has already shared two of his favorite scenes from the film.
In an interview with ScreenRant's Liam Crowley ahead of the film's release, Weir reflected on the action-packed adaptation and singled out two moments that captured everything he loves about the story: the “fishing scene” and the first contact scene.
The Adrian atmospheric sampling sequence or the "Fishing Scene"
This is the scene where Grace (Ryan Gosling) and Rocky attempt to collect a sample from the upper atmosphere of Adrian, the planet they've identified as Astrophage's home world. Their initial hypothesis is that whatever is keeping the Astrophage population in check on this planet must be a natural predator living in its atmosphere. If they can capture it, breed it and bring it back to their respective solar systems, they can save both Earth and Erid from catastrophic dimming.
But getting that sample is the hard part.
Rocky constructs a ten-kilometer xenonite chain (over six miles long) made from the super-strong Eridian material. A sample-collecting device is attached to the end of the chain (also designed and made by Rocky). The plan is to lower the Hail Mary into Adrian's orbit, release the chain with the sampler attached, let it drop deep into the atmosphere to collect whatever organism is eating the Astrophage then retract the chain and retrieve the sample.
In execution, however, it's terrifying.
Grace has to venture out onto the hull of the Hail Mary to manually retract the chain and retrieve the sampler once it's been deployed into Adrian's hostile atmosphere. The ship is under enormous stress from the orbital mechanics and thrust vectors required to keep the chain from snapping or deflecting too far. They're threading the needle with thrust at 30 degrees off-vertical so the exhaust doesn't hit the chain, maintain lateral speed around 100 meters per second, keep the deflection to roughly two degrees.
There is this one point where Grace is almost knocked out on the hull and the sampler falls out of his grip and hangs off the side of the Hail Mary, which he manually has to collect. Rocky urgently calls for him to abort, afraid Grace won't make it back into the ship, urging him to get inside and that they can repeat the mission later. Grace tells him that there might not be a next time and manages to get the sampler and himself in eventually after some scary maneuvering.
"Just in terms of visual spectacle, you can't beat that Adrian atmospheric sampling sequence. It's amazing. Internally, we called it the fishing sequence," Weir said.
But then everything goes wrong.
While attempting to leave Adrian's orbit, a fuel leak breaks out on the Hail Mary. The leak causes an uncontrollable spin. The centrifugal force pins Grace to the wall and he can't reach the controls, can't stop the rotation, can't do anything but get crushed by the g-forces. Grace loses consciousness, helpless.
Rocky, desperate to save his friend, makes the ultimate sacrifice. He breaks out of his protective ball spacesuit and enters Grace's oxygen-rich environment knowing full well it could kill him. For an Eridian who breathes ammonia and exists in 210°C heat, oxygen is deadly. It causes Rocky's internal furnace to combust. But Rocky pushes through the pain, hits the emergency controls to eject the damaged fuel tank and drags the unconscious Grace to the medical bay.
Rocky barely makes it back to an intact section of his ammonia-filled tunnels before collapsing himself.
The sequence is nerve-wracking and visually stunning and emotionally gutting all at once. It's the kind of big, cinematic moment that blends tension and spectacle and delivers. No wonder Weir calls it one of his favorites.
The first contact scene
The other scene Weir named as a favorite is the first contact between Grace and Rocky.
"It's [atmospheric sampling sequence] my favorite. It's probably tied for my favorite scene in the movie, that and the first contact scene where he's first talking to Rocky," he said.
When Grace arrives at Tau Ceti, he discovers he's not alone. There's another spacecraft in the system, one that's definitely not human. After his initial instinct to run away (understandable!), Grace realizes this alien ship isn't hostile. The spacecraft approaches and docks with the Hail Mary extending a tunnel made of xenonite, a solid form of xenon that Grace has never encountered before.
Inside that tunnel, Grace meets Rocky for the first time. Rocky creates small figurines and acts out "puppet shows" for Grace through the clear xenonite panel, including a small sculpture of Grace raising his hand in triumph (catching the previous container Rocky sent).
When Rocky docks the tunnel the second time (having stabilized Grace's portion with air pressure and oxygen), they see each other properly as the full xenonite panel is now see-through and Grace reaches out and places his hand against the clear xenonite panel.
Rocky, understanding the gesture, places his claw on the other side. Grace waves. Rocky waves back. Then Grace doing a little dance with his arms (which were improvised by Ryan Gosling), hesitant squats, jazz hands, even Usain Bolt's victory pose. Rocky mimics the movements copying Grace's dance. It's equal parts awkward, funny and sweet.
Both of the scenes are masterclasses in what science fiction can do when it's firing on all cylinders. Make us feel small in the vastness of space while simultaneously reminding us that connection whether human or otherwise, is what makes the journey worth taking.
Project Hail Mary is now in theaters, directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, and written by Drew Goddard. It stars Ryan Gosling as Ryland Grace, Sandra Hüller as Eva Stratt, and features James Ortiz as Rocky.