I’m nothing if not a high achiever when it comes to book to film adaptations. For the most part, anyway. If a film is coming out that’s based on a book and I want to watch it, I try my damndest to read it first. I did it with Wuthering Heights earlier this year, and I’ve just recently done it with Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir in time to catch a preview of the movie starring Ryan Gosling this past weekend.
Officially landing at Cineworld 19th March, for any devoted fans of the book, there aren’t a whole lot of significant changes or differences between the two. In fact, it was a pretty faithful adaptation, which makes sense given this film has been in the works since before the book was even published. Any additions they did make, though, only added to this story’s charm: a delicate balance of end of the world turmoil and existential humour.
*Spoiler alert: Events in the book and film will be discussed in this article, so proceed with caution if you don’t wish to be spoiled*
BOOK PROJECT HAIL MARY TICKETS
Ryland Grace goes on a bit of a bender when he wakes up in space
Project Hail Mary begins with high school science teacher Ryland Grace waking up from an induced coma on board a spacecraft, having completely forgotten the events that lead him to get there – there being orbiting a sun in a completely different solar system, light years away from home.
In the book, Ryland steps into action, attempting to problem solve and trigger memories to figure out why he’s there and what he’s meant to do, all while dealing with the fact the only two other crew members with him didn’t make it. In the film, however, Ryland processes his new reality a little differently – he raids the items each of the astronauts brought up with them from home, including Russian cosmonaut Olesya Ilyukhina’s vodka stash, proceeding to get drunk and run amok in the Hail Mary.
Look, we’re all fundamentally flawed human beings, and sometimes in a crisis you just need a drink and to ride out your emotions before you can tackle it more logically.
The bromance between Ryland and Officer Carl
When Ryland is left with three Astrophage cells to study, a bromance forms between him and Officer Carl (Lionel Boyce), who’s left to keep a watch on Ryland’s work. While Ryland’s testing is fairly solitary in the book, a bromance forms between him and Carl that is just beautiful, wholesome, and humorous to watch, especially when Ryland’s enthusiasm is often met with Carl’s sometimes stoic exterior.
While Carl does ultimately help in forcing Ryland onto the Hail Mary against his will, I won’t let that tarnish the beautiful memories of the two messing around in a hardware store and ultimately discovering together how Astrophage breeds.
Sandra Hüller has got serious Style with that needle drop
That Harry Styles cameo during Ryan Gosling’s latest hosting for Saturday Night Live all makes so much more sense now. Sandra Hüller’s character, Eva Stratt, is a pretty formidable woman. At the helm of the Hail Mary project, she has to make a lot of tough decisions, and detach herself emotionally to tackle the whole impending doom of planet Earth head on. This facade lifts for just a moment, though. During a flashback, there’s a rare moment of downtime in which the astronauts and scientists involved in the mission are doing karaoke in the bar.
After a conversation between Ryland and Stratt, Stratt decides to show a different side to her and proceeds to perform a rendition of “Sign of the Times” by Harry Styles. Hüller’s rendition is poignant in the context of the film and Earth’s dying sun, and also in turn brilliant in how unexpected it feels from both the character and the movie. But it works, and it also gave us Ryan Gosling singing the same song on SNL, too.
Rocky has some zinger one-liners
Let’s get one thing straight, I would protect Rocky at all costs – both book Rocky and film Rocky. Rocky is an adorable alien whose broken English will melt your heart no matter what. But the film gave Rocky so many great one-liners that I will be repeating until the sun actually dies out.
From now on, everything won’t simply be “amazing” but “amaze, amaze, amaze”. I won’t just be happy, I’ll be “happy, happy, happy”, and if I ever want to fist bump a pal, I’ll proudly exclaim “fist my bump!”
As someone that doesn't often gravitate towards science fiction, I didn't expect to be quite so enamoured by this story. As someone who understands the fear of a favourite book being adapted and the end product being bad, I'm here to reassure you this is really, really good! Ryan Gosling, as if we didn't already know, is an absolute talent. The fact he spends 90% of this movie acting alongside a puppet and that Rocky isn't in fact, dare I say it, real, is hard to believe with how much rapport there is between the two. And I can't not love Sandra Hüller and her impenetrable, hilariously dry performance.
Whether you're a fan of the book or you're going in with a completely clean slate, you have to watch Project Hail Mary when it comes out on 19th March.
BOOK PROJECT HAIL MARY TICKETS
.jpg)
.png)
.jpg)
