Summary
- Ryan Gosling will star in the space adventure film
Project Hail Mary,
based on the book by Andy Weir (
The Martian
), set for a 2026 release. - Phil Lord and Christopher Miller will direct the film adaptation, their first directorial feature together since 2014.
- The story follows teacher-turned-astronaut Ryland Grace, who wakes up in space and slowly realizes he must save Earth from an Ice Age caused by a global dimming event.
He went to space once in First Man, and now it looks like Ryan Gosling will once again journey into the cosmos, this time in Project Hail Mary, a film based on a book by the talented Andy Weir (The Martian). Amazon MGM Studios has set a release date for the film, though it’s seemingly as distant from now as the Earth is from our moon. That release date is March 20, 2026, and Gosling is set as a producer alongside Amy Pascal, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Aditya Sood, Rachel O’Connor, and Andy Weir. You can read the synopsis below:
“Project Hail Mary is an exhilarating space adventure set in the near future. Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling), a school-teacher-turned-astronaut, wakes up from a coma, alone, on a space station with no memory of who he is or his mission. His memory returns in bursts, and he pieces together that he was sent to the Tau Ceti solar system, 12 light-years from Earth, to reverse the impact of a space event that had already hurled our planet into the early stages of an Ice Age. As details of the mission unravel, Grace must call on all of his scientific training and sheer ingenuity, but he might not have to do it alone…”
Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (21 Jump Street, The LEGO Movie) will be directing for the first time since 2014. Weir’s deal with MGM for the adaptation occurred more than a year before Project Hail Mary was even released as a book, likely due to the success of The Martian, and Weir was said to have gotten $3 million for the rights. In the novel, Ryland Grace is picked because, prior to being a middle-school teacher, he studied molecular biology and predicted the kind of microbial life that is currently causing a global dimming event.
The single-celled organisms feed off of electromagnetic radiation and reproduce based off the heat of the sun and the carbon dioxide of Venus, this forming a line between Venus and Earth and causing global dimming. Of course, governments and corporations realize that these organisms can be used for fuel.
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The Martian Set Andy Weir Up for Blockbuster Adaptations
Release Date September 30, 2015
Main Genre Sci-Fi
Studio 20th Century Fox
Following the Best Picture nominated, Ridley Scott-directed The Martian, Weir’s prose has been in high demand. The Martian centers on a group of astronauts who blast off from the planet Mars following a sandstorm, leaving behind Mark Watney, who is presumed dead after a fierce storm. With only a meager amount of supplies, the stranded visitor must utilize his wits and spirit to find a way to survive on the hostile planet.
Meanwhile, back on Earth, members of NASA and a team of international scientists work tirelessly to bring him home, while his crewmates hatch their own plan for a daring rescue mission. The movie stars Matt Damon as the stranded Watney as well as Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Michael Peña, Kate Mara, Sean Bean, Sebastian Stan, Donald Glover, Aksel Hennie, and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
Related Channing Tatum Almost Stole Matt Damon’s Role in The Martian Due to Studio Interference Matt Damon almost lost out on being The Martian to another popular actor.
Since the release of The Martian, Weir’s works have been hot in Hollywood, with his novel Artemis being set up as a project for Phil Lord and Chris Miller. Artemis takes place in the late 2080s and is set in Artemis, the first and so far only city on the Moon. It follows the life of porter and smuggler Jasmine “Jazz” Bashara as she gets caught up in a conspiracy for control of the city.
The last time Ryan Gosling was seen on the big screen was in Damien Chazelle’s First Man which saw the actor portray Neil Armstrong. Clearly, Gosling has gotten a taste for adventuring into the dark unknown of space, where, ike Carl Sagan said, “Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.”
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