‘Project Hail Mary’ is a big hit at the box office already.
Ryan Gosling stars in the movie.
Elsewhere, Pixar’s ‘Hoppers’ stayed strong but ‘Ready or Not 2: Here I Come’ only found modest results.
‘Project Hail Mary’ chronicles a man in spaceship on a mission to save humanity from a star-snacking organism. And the movie itself, which stars Ryan Gosling, has just saved Amazon MGM’s box office hopes.
The new film, adapted from the novel by ‘The Martian’s Andy Weir by writer Drew Goddard and directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, enjoyed a massive domestic opening of $80.5 million, the biggest by far for the studio.
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Even with a hefty $200 million budget to make up (not including a big ad campaign), the movie’s worldwide start of 140.9 million –– the biggest in Amazon MGM’s history and the strongest launch for a movie so far this year –– will go some way to helping that.
Pixar’s ‘Hoppers,’ which has proved to be a welcome success for the animation company, slid to second place after a couple of weeks. It added $18 million for $120.4 million domestically.
Third place went to the Indian action epic ‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge,’ which earned $9.5 million from just 987 locations.
Searchlight’s ‘Ready or Not 2: Here I Come’ had to make do with $9 million domestically and $11.9 million globally, but has a relatively smaller budget of around $20 million.
Finally, in fifth place we find romantic drama ‘Reminders of Him’, which made $8 million.
What’s on the horizon?
(L to R) Luigi, Yoshi, Mario and Toad in Nintendo and Illumination’s ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’, directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic.
‘Project Hail Mary’ should have a clear run to keep earning next week, though Universal’s ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ is looming, and if it follows the pattern of the original, will likely launch in first place when it arrives on April 1.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of traveling to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena California to sit down in-person with Ryan Gosling to talk about his work on ‘Project Hail Mary’, the film’s humor, working with a puppeteer, improvising on set, why he liked acting alone, collaborating with directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, and playing a nontraditional hero.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Gosling, Sandra Hüller, author Andy Weir, screenwriter Drew Goddard, and directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller.
Moviefone: To begin with, the film has a lot of humor in it. What was your first reaction to the screenplay and did the funny read on the page?
Ryan Gosling: I think it was a combination of all those things. I mean, Andy is funny, Andy Weir, the writer of the book. It’s such a part of his voice, is to acknowledge that things are funny and not just make them intentionally serious. Also, I think what’s special about him is not to make things intentionally bleak. There’s an optimism about his work. There’s this sense of don’t fear the future, just figure it out. With that, and with that approach and letting curiosity take over for anxiety, there’s sort of an opportunity for humor in that.
MF: Can you talk about the friendship Grace forms with Rocky, and what was it like for you working with the puppeteers on set to create that relationship?
RG: I think it was an experience I’ll never get to have again. It just was a once in a lifetime experience to work in this way with Rocky and the Rocketeers, which is what we called them. That was his glam squad. He’s high maintenance. He’s a bit of a diva, but he’s worth it. He’s the best costar you could have.
MF: Were you surprised by the way Rocky looked and were you able to improvise with the puppeteers on set?
RG: I was involved in all of that, so I wasn’t surprised. There wasn’t a reveal moment, but I was surprised really by James Ortiz who came in and became that lead puppeteer for Rocky. Because he was just supposed to be the physical puppeteer, but he started reading the lines with me to just have someone to say the lines with. But then he had such a deep connection to Rocky, and he understood him so deeply that we got to the point where we could improvise for hours sometimes off script as the characters on camera. That’s where this starts to become something else where it feels like a real relationship, and it feels like it’s happening in real time because it is. That’s something I don’t think you could get any other way but shooting it practically.
MF: You spend a lot of the movie acting alone. What was that like for you to do those scenes by yourself and not have another actor to react to?
RG: I liked it. I did. It was fun because you get to explore any idea you have. It was an opportunity to just take every scene in any direction I could think of and experiment. So, I liked it.
MF: Can you talk about collaborating with directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller on set? Were they open to trying different things and seeing what works?
RG: Yes. I remember there’s a scene where I had been working alone for a long time and I was missing a partner and I said, “I need to make a friend out of a mop, so I have someone to talk to and I’m going to do that.” They were like, “Hold everything.” They both started scouring the set to find stuff we could do. We made this character we called “Moppy Ringwald”, and she became my dance partner and my friend for the day. That’s just what it was like working with them, that I could come to them with this need, and they were just on it and ready to shoot it. It ended up becoming a fun part of the film.
MF: Finally, your character is not the traditional movie hero and is even reluctant to go on this mission. What was it like for you to play a vulnerable character like that?
RG: I mean, I related to that. It was very relatable. I think that’s what’s so strong about this story is that you have a guy that’s not a natural hero that doesn’t see himself that way at all. He just wakes up and finds out that the fate of humanity is in his hands and his instinct is to run away, but he can’t. So, he must find some way to face it and deal with his fear and suddenly let curiosity take over from the anxiety he’s feeling in the panic. I think it was great for me and I think for an audience too to go through that experience of, “Okay, what happens after the panic? What happens when we say, we’re afraid, but now we must fix this?”
‘Project Hail Mary’ opens in theaters on March 20th.
What is the plot of ‘Project Hail Mary’?
Astronaut Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) awakens on a spacecraft with no memory of himself or his mission. He deduces he is the sole survivor of a crew sent to the Tau Ceti system to save Earth from disaster. To do so, Grace must rely on his vast array of scientific knowledge, sheer ingenuity, and human will, but he learns he is not alone: he is aided by an alien he dubs Rocky (voice of James Ortiz), who has come to save his world from the same fate.
Who is in the cast of ‘Project Hail Mary’?
Ryan Gosling as Dr. Ryland Grace
Sandra Hüller as Eva Stratt
Lionel Boyce as Officer Steve Hatch
Ken Leung as Yáo Li-Jie
Milana Vayntrub as Olesya Ilyukhina
James Ortiz as the voice and lead puppeteer of Rocky
Jessica Chastain stars in ‘Dreams’. Photo: Greenwich Entertainment.
Jessica Chastain is one of the most talented and acclaimed actresses working today.
She first gained attention for her breakout role as Celia Foote in ‘The Help,’ which earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She would go on to be nominated for Best Actress for ‘Zero Dark Thirty‘ and ‘The Eyes of Tammy Faye,’ finally winning the award for the latter performance.
(L to R) Sophie Turner as Jean Grey / Phoenix and Jessica Chastain as Vuk in ‘Dark Phoenix.’ Photo: 20th Century Fox.
The X-Men face their most formidable and powerful foe when one of their own, Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), starts to spiral out of control. During a rescue mission in outer space, Jean is nearly killed when she’s hit by a mysterious cosmic force. Once she returns home, this force not only makes her infinitely more powerful, but far more unstable. The X-Men must now band together to save her soul and battle aliens that want to use Grey’s new abilities to rule the galaxy.
As two evil sisters (Charlize Theron and Emily Blunt) prepare to conquer the land, two renegades—Eric the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth), who aided Snow White in defeating Ravenna in ‘Snow White and the Huntsman‘, and his forbidden lover, Sara (Chastain)—set out to stop them.
In the aftermath of a family tragedy, an aspiring author (Mia Wasikowska) is torn between love for her childhood friend (Charlie Hunnam) and the temptation of a mysterious outsider (Tom Hiddleston). Trying to escape the ghosts of her past, she is swept away to a house that breathes, bleeds… and remembers.
In the Texas bayous, a local homicide detective (Sam Worthington) teams up with a cop from New York City (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) to investigate a series of unsolved murders.
(L to R) Peter Sarsgaard and Jessica Chastain in ‘Memory.’ Photo: Ketchup Entertainment.
Sylvia (Chastain) is a social worker who leads a simple and structured life. This is blown open when Saul (Peter Sarsgaard) follows her home from their high school reunion. Their surprise encounter will profoundly impact both of them as they open the door to the past.
27 years after overcoming the malevolent supernatural entity Pennywise, the former members of the Losers’ Club, who have grown up and moved away from Derry, are brought back together by a devastating phone call.
A group of top female agents from American (Chastain), British (Lupita Nyong’o), Chinese (Fan Bingbing), Colombian (Penelope Cruz), and German (Diane Kruger) government agencies are drawn together to try and stop an organization from acquiring a deadly weapon to send the world into chaos.
The impressionistic story of a Texas family in the 1950s. The film follows the life journey of the eldest son, Jack (Sean Penn), through the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years as he tries to reconcile a complicated relationship with his father (Brad Pitt). Jack finds himself a lost soul in the modern world, seeking answers to the origins and meaning of life while questioning the existence of faith.
Suspicious that her colleague (Eddie Redmayne) is responsible for a series of mysterious patient deaths, a nurse (Chastain) risks her own life to uncover the truth.
Molly Bloom (Chastain), a young skier and former Olympic hopeful becomes a successful entrepreneur (and a target of an FBI investigation) when she establishes a high-stakes, international poker game.
From the 1960’s to the 1980’s, evangelist Jim Baker (Andrew Garfield) and his ambitious wife, Tammy Faye (Chastain), rose from humble beginnings to to build an empire based on big-time evangelical Christianity–only for the couple to fall from grace because of some all-too-human sins.
A thriller set in New York City during the winter of 1981, statistically one of the most violent years in the city’s history, and centered on the lives of an immigrant (Oscar Isaac) and his family trying to expand their business and capitalize on opportunities as the rampant violence, decay, and corruption of the day drag them in and threaten to destroy all they have built.
In 1931, the Bondurant brothers of Franklin County, Virginia, run a multipurpose backwoods establishment that hides their true business — bootlegging. Middle brother Forrest (Tom Hardy) is the brain of the operation; older Howard (Jason Clarke) is the brawn, and younger Jack (Shia LaBeouf), the lookout. Though the local police have taken bribes and left the brothers alone, a violent war erupts when a sadistic lawman from Chicago arrives and tries to shut down the Bondurants operation.
Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis) is a middle-aged African-American maid who has spent her life raising white children and has recently lost her only son; Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer) is an African-American maid who has often offended her employers despite her family’s struggles with money and her desperate need for jobs; and Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan (Emma Stone) is a young white woman who has recently moved back home after graduating college to find out her childhood maid has mysteriously disappeared. These three stories intertwine to explain how life in Jackson, Mississippi revolves around “the help”; yet they are always kept at a certain distance because of racial lines.
The adventures of a group of explorers who make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage.
During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive.
Jessica Chastain as Maya Harris in ‘Zero Dark Thirty.’ Photo: Sony Pictures Releasing.
A chronicle of the decade-long hunt for al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden after the September 2001 attacks, and his death at the hands of the Navy S.E.A.L. Team 6 in May, 2011.
Ryan Gosling in ‘Project Hail Mary’. Photo: Amazon MGM Studios.
Preview:
‘Project Hail Mary’ touched down at Comic-Con.
The panel included Ryan Gosling, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.
The movie adapts Andy Weir’s book.
‘Project Hail Mary’ represents the collaboration between some fairly stellar names in filmmaking. Take directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who have brought acclaimed comedies and Oscar-winning animated superhero movies to screens while having fun with genre.
Add in Ryan Gosling, who has proved his chops in both the dramatic and laugh-grabbing departments. And blend them with the invention of Andy Weir, whose book ‘The Martian’ became a wildly successful movie in its own right.
The result is a space-set adventure that appears to offer plenty of laughs and humanity to go with the big ideas.
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So the movie was naturally one that Amazon MGM Studios knew could play well at Comic-Con, with the team showing up for a panel in Hall H.
Ryan Gosling in ‘Project Hail Mary’. Photo: Amazon MGM Studios.
‘Project Hail Mary’ is set in the near future. Our hero is Ryland Grace (Gosling), a school teacher-turned-astronaut who 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, he must call on all of his scientific training and sheer ingenuity, but he might not have to do it alone…
What happened at the ‘Project Hail Mary’ panel?
Ryan Gosling in ‘Project Hail Mary’. Photo: Amazon MGM Studios.
Much as with big movies such as ‘TRON: Ares’, the ‘Project Hail Mary’ team made good use of the giant screens that stretch down the sides of Hall H, projecting logos and the galactic map seen in the trailer.
Those on stage included directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, author Andy Weir and screenwriter Drew Goddard (who also adapted ‘The Martian’).
Gosling talked about why he wanted to join the projecting, citing Weir as the greatest science fiction writer (and not just because he was sitting next to him on the panel). He knew it would be great, but not how great.
Here’s what else he said:
“It’s about a scared guy who doesn’t know what he’s doing and I was a scared guy who didn’t know what I was doing, trying to turn it into a movie.”
He called Lord and Miller, which seems like a smart move…
For their part, the directors also used a movie metaphor to describe working with Gosling, in that it’s about collaboration and they had a great time working with the actor.
The filmmakers shared new concept art from the movie, including spaceship designs and more.
Biggest news of the panel? Daniel Pemberton, who has experience working with Lord and Miller on the ‘Spider-Verse’ movies, is the composer for this.
But the best part of the panel? The first five minutes of the movie were shown, including Gosling waking up from an induced coma, befuddled and unsure of where he is. He struggles with a robot that is trying to help him and discovers that the crew in the chamber with him are all dead.
Other clips were shown, but from later in the movie, so we’ll avoid discussing those to stay away from spoilers.
When will ‘Project Hail Mary’ be on screens?
Unlike some of the other projects touted at this year’s convention, we still have a wait for ‘Project Hail Mary’.
Amazon MGM Studios will release the movie in theaters on March 20th, 2026.
Ryan Gosling in ‘Project Hail Mary’. Photo: Amazon MGM Studios.
The director’s latest, ‘Gladiator II‘, opens in theaters on November 22nd and stars Paul Mescal in the title role. In honor of the new sequel, Moviefone is counting down every film Ridley Scott has ever made.
In 1800, as Napoleon Bonaparte rises to power in France, a rivalry erupts between Armand (Keith Carradine) and Gabriel (Harvey Keitel), two lieutenants in the French Army, over a perceived insult. For over a decade, they engage in a series of duels amidst larger conflicts, including the failed French invasion of Russia in 1812, and shifts in the political and social systems of Europe.
The story of the kidnapping of 16-year-old John Paul Getty III (Charlie Plummer) and the desperate attempt by his devoted mother (Michelle Williams) to convince his billionaire grandfather Jean Paul Getty (Christopher Plummer) to pay the ransom.
(L to R) Danny McBride and Katherine Waterston in ‘Alien: Covenant’. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
Bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, the crew of the colony ship ‘Covenant’ discovers what is thought to be an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world—which has a sole inhabitant: the ‘synthetic’, David (Michael Fassbender), survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition.
King Charles VI (Alex Lawther) declares that Knight Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon) settle his dispute with his squire, Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver), by challenging him to a duel.
The CIA’s hunt is on for the mastermind of a wave of terrorist attacks. Roger Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio) is the agency’s man on the ground, moving from place to place, scrambling to stay ahead of ever-shifting events. An eye in the sky – a satellite link – watches Ferris. At the other end of that real-time link is the CIA’s Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe), strategizing events from thousands of miles away. And as Ferris nears the target, he discovers trust can be just as dangerous as it is necessary for survival.
Set in a timeless mythical forest inhabited by fairies, goblins, unicorns and mortals, this fantastic story follows a mystical forest dweller (Tom Cruise), chosen by fate, to undertake a heroic quest. He must save the beautiful Princess Lili (Mia Sara) and defeat the demonic Lord of Darkness (Tim Curry), or the world will be plunged into a never-ending ice age.
A team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.
Russell Crowe in ‘A Good Year’. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
Failed London banker Max Skinner (Russell Crowe) inherits his uncle’s (Albert Finney) vineyard in Provence, where he spent many childhood holidays. Upon his arrival, he meets a woman from California (Abbie Cornish) who tells Max she is his long-lost cousin and that the property is hers.
When soldier Robin (Russell Crowe) happens upon the dying Robert of Loxley (Douglas Hodge), he promises to return the man’s sword to his family in Nottingham. There, he assumes Robert’s identity; romances his widow, Marion (Cate Blanchett); and draws the ire of the town’s sheriff (Matthew Macfadyen) and King John’s henchman, Godfrey (Mark Strong).
The defiant leader Moses (Christian Bale) rises up against the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses (Joel Edgerton), setting 400,000 slaves on a monumental journey of escape from Egypt and its terrifying cycle of deadly plagues.
After having successfully eluded the authorities for years, Hannibal (Anthony Hopkins) peacefully lives in Italy in disguise as an art scholar. Trouble strikes again when he’s discovered leaving a deserving few dead in the process. He returns to America to make contact with now disgraced Agent Clarice Starling (Julianne Moore), who is suffering the wrath of a malicious FBI rival (Ray Liotta) as well as the media.
When Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga), an outsider from humble beginnings, marries into the Gucci family, her unbridled ambition begins to unravel the family legacy and triggers a reckless spiral of betrayal, decadence, revenge, and ultimately… murder.
A phobic con artist (Nicolas Cage) and his protege (Sam Rockwell) are on the verge of pulling off a lucrative swindle when the con artist’s teenage daughter (Alison Lohman) arrives unexpectedly.
In 1960, a hardy group of prep school students boards an old-fashioned sailing ship. With Capt. Christopher Sheldon (Jeff Bridges) at the helm, the oceangoing voyage is intended to teach the boys fortitude and discipline. But the youthful crew are about to get some unexpected instruction in survival when they get caught in the clutches of a white squall storm.
Claire Gregory (Mimi Rogers), an upper class New York personality, witnesses a murder in a luxurious nightclub. Detective Mike Keegan (Tom Berenger), recently promoted, is assigned to protect her.
An epic that details the checkered rise and fall of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (Joaquin Phoenix) and his relentless journey to power through the prism of his addictive, volatile relationship with his wife, Josephine (Vanessa Kirby).
Paul Mescal plays Lucius in ‘Gladiator II’ from Paramount Pictures.
Years after witnessing the death of the revered hero Maximus (Russell Crowe) at the hands of his uncle, Lucius (Paul Mescal) is forced to enter the Colosseum after his home is conquered by the tyrannical Emperors who now lead Rome with an iron fist. With rage in his heart and the future of the Empire at stake, Lucius must look to his past to find strength and honor to return the glory of Rome to its people.
In response to political pressure from Senator Lillian DeHaven (Anne Bancroft), the U.S. Navy begins a program that would allow for the eventual integration of women into its services. The program begins with a single trial candidate, Lieutenant Jordan O’Neil (Demi Moore), who is chosen specifically for her femininity. O’Neil enters the grueling training program under the command of John James Urgayle (Viggo Mortensen), who unfairly pushes O’Neil until her determination wins his respect.
Two New York cops (Michael Douglas and Andy Garcia) get involved in a gang war between members of the Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia. They arrest one of their killers and are ordered to escort him back to Japan. However, in Japan he manages to escape, and as they try to track him down, they get deeper and deeper into the Japanese Mafia scene and they have to learn that they can only win by playing the game—the Japanese way.
Following the death of his employer and mentor, Bumpy Johnson (Clarence Williams III), Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) establishes himself as the number one importer of heroin in the Harlem district of Manhattan. He does so by buying heroin directly from the source in South East Asia and he comes up with a unique way of importing the drugs into the United States. Partly based on a true story.
During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive.
1982’s ‘Blade Runner’ Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.
In the smog-choked dystopian Los Angeles of 2019, blade runner Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) is called out of retirement to terminate a quartet of replicants who have escaped to Earth seeking their creator for a way to extend their short life spans.
Whilst on a short weekend getaway, Louise (Susan Sarandon) shoots a man who had tried to rape Thelma (Geena Davis). Due to the incriminating circumstances, they make a run for it and thus a cross country chase ensues for the two fugitives. Along the way, both women rediscover the strength of their friendship and surprising aspects of their personalities and self-strengths in the trying times.
When U.S. Rangers and an elite Delta Force team attempt to kidnap two underlings of a Somali warlord, their Black Hawk helicopters are shot down, and the Americans suffer heavy casualties, facing intense fighting from the militia on the ground.
During its return to the earth, commercial spaceship Nostromo intercepts a distress signal from a distant planet. When a three-member team of the crew discovers a chamber containing thousands of eggs on the planet, a creature inside one of the eggs attacks an explorer. The entire crew is unaware of the impending nightmare set to descend upon them when the alien parasite planted inside its unfortunate host is birthed.
Russell Crowe in ‘Gladiator’. Photo: Paramount Pictures.
In the year 180, the death of emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) throws the Roman Empire into chaos. Maximus (Russell Crowe) is one of the Roman army’s most capable and trusted generals and a key advisor to the emperor. As Marcus’ devious son Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) ascends to the throne, Maximus is set to be executed. He escapes, but is captured by slave traders. Renamed Spaniard and forced to become a gladiator, Maximus must battle to the death with other men for the amusement of paying audiences.
Ryan Gosling will play an astronaut in ‘Project Hail Mary’.
Phil Lord and Chris Miller are directing.
The movie will be on screens in 2026.
Given the success of 2015’s ‘The Martian’ –– which saw Matt Damon starring as an astronaut trapped on Mars, was directed by Ridley Scott, notched a big profit at the box office and was nominated for seven Oscars –– it’s almost surprising it has taken this long for another tome by Andy Weir, who wrote the source book, to properly launch its journey to theaters.
But then, the wheels of development grind slowly, and while at least one other book, ‘Artemis’, set on the moon, seems locked in limbo, another, ‘Project Hail Mary’, now has a star, directors and even a release date.
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What’s the story of ‘Project Hail Mary’?
Ryan Gosling in ‘First Man’. Photo: Universal Pictures.
‘Project Hail Mary’ is set in the near future. Our hero is Ryland Grace, a schoolteacher-turned-astronaut who 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, he must call on all of his scientific training and sheer ingenuity, but he might not have to do it alone…
So… ‘The Martian’ meets ‘The Hangover’? Would watch. Will watch.
(L to R) Phil Lord and Chris Miller on the set of ’21 Jump Street.’
Weir’s book was published in 2021, and since then has been on a faster track to screens than ‘Artemis’.
Drew Goddard, who adapted ‘The Martian’ (and scored an Oscar nomination for his efforts), has once more written the script.
Instead of Scott returning to direct, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who are technically also still attached to ‘Artemis’, but have seen ‘Hail Mary’ move forward into prime position (let’s be honest: scheduling movies is like finding launch windows for Mars missions).
The pair will hopefully bring their instinct for balancing comedy and drama, and while their last crack at sci-fi didn’t quite work out (that would be their ill-fated stint on ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’, where they ended up creatively clashing with Lucasfilm and were ultimately replaced by Ron Howard), you’ve got to have faith in the duo who have made winners such as ‘The Lego Movie’ and are key players on the ‘Spider-Verse’ franchise.
Finally, Ryan Gosling is in place to be the central astronaut with memory issues. He’s been on a role of late, so we’re hoping for something that brings dry, smart humor to go with the space drama, as seen in ‘The Martian’.
When will ‘Project Hail Mary’ be in theaters?
That’s the final piece to fall into place… Amazon MGM Studios has planted a flag in a March 20th, 2026, release date for the movie. Start your countdown clocks!
Seriously. “Jimmy Kimmel Live” fudged a George Clooney “Gravity” cameo (which was pretty funny) for this “First Man” interview with Ryan Gosling, but failed to tie-in the Matt Damon feud via one of Damon’s astronaut movies? Houston, we have a problem.
As one fan suggested in the video comments:
“They missed a perfect opportunity to pass by Mars and see Matt Damon calling Jimmy to pick him up.?”
Classic. They could’ve picked either “The Martian” or “Interstellar” — either would work, or just pretend he’s been floating out there for years since no one missed him backstage.
Anyway, Ryan Gosling plays Neil Armstrong in the upcoming movie “First Man,” which debuted its trailer during Jimmy Kimmel’s show on Friday night. To promote the movie, Kimmel and Gosling did “the first talk show interview in outer space,” with Kimmel basically spending the whole time asking silly questions and irritating Gosling.
Watch the interview:And check out the trailer: “First Man” opens in theaters October 12th.
Trying to win an Oscar can be gross. Just ask Matt Damon.
He already has an Academy Award for co-writing “Good Will Hunting,” and he’s been nominated as an actor three times — Best Actor for “Good Will Hunting” and “The Martian,” and Best Supporting Actor for “Invictus.” Now he’s back on the nominee list in 2017 as a producer of “Manchester by the Sea.”
Damon just talked to The Hollywood Reporter about making “Manchester by the Sea,” his frenemy Jimmy Kimmel as this year’s host, and how repulsed he is by the very political process of campaigning for Oscar votes.
Here’s a portion of the Q&A:
How has the Oscar-going experience changed over the years?
With ‘Good Will Hunting,’ that was kind of the start of campaigning. I went through that experience and then didn’t go again for years. Then I was nominated as a supporting actor but didn’t really participate a lot. Then, last year with ‘The Martian,’ I ended up at a bunch of these cocktail parties and it was just so grotesque. It had been accepted that there was a whole season and we all were expected to treat it almost like a political campaign. It felt like it had gotten out of control. It seemed like that Harvey Weinstein, full-court press [worked]. Now I’m wondering if those days are over. I certainly hope they are.
Do you have any advice for host Jimmy Kimmel?
Evidently, he said that he doesn’t care at all who wins as long as I lose. I tried to get on his Oscar show last year. I mean, I was nominated; he still didn’t let me on. Somebody asked me, ‘Do [you] want him to do bad?’ I just want him to live up to my extremely low expectations.
Ah, the Matt-and-Jimmy feud never gets old. But it’s interesting to hear about these self-promotion parties from the perspective of a nominated actor.
In 2016 Damon was up against Bryan Cranston in “Trumbo”; Michael Fassbender in “Steve Jobs”; Eddie Redmayne in “The Danish Girl”; and Leonardo DiCaprio, who won for “The Revenant.” So they probably suffered through the same forced cocktail party chit-chat together. It’s like you have to do several month’s worth of extra acting on top of the nominated role. But Leo was going to win that thing no matter what, so you could argue that the campaigning was a waste of time and effort, as well as just a “grotesque” way of selling yourself.
Never imagined we’d see “Ellen” show, Ellen DeGeneres promoted the Oscars by giving a cheeky poster-by-poster description of each Best Picture nominee. But when she got to “The Martian,” things took a seriously random turn:
“Here’s ‘The Martian’ and I think everybody knows what ‘The Martian’ is about: Matt Damon gets stuck on Mars. It was such a big hit they’ve already worked on a sequel and here it is.”
On that note, the video cut to a fake trailer for “Stuck on Uranus,” with Matt Damon addressing the camera:
“I’m Mark Watney and I’m stuck on Uranus. Even if I could make contact, it would take eight years for another person to reach Uranus. So I’m left with only one option: I’m going to have to explore the surface of Uranus. … No matter what happens, tell the world, tell my family that I never stopped fighting to get off of your anus.”
Ellen plays the head of NASA, with Kim Kardashian West as an “expert” on Uranus. Cue Kim holding a clipboard with the quip, “Did somebody say ‘Uranus’?”
It’s obviously ridiculous and juvenile, but don’t you love Matt Damon even more for doing it anyway? He never takes himself too seriously. You know who would never deign to do something like this? Leo. Just saying.
Fresh off its impressive haul at the Golden Globes the weekend, “The Revenant” is poised to nab yet another statuette with a nomination for a Directors Guild of America Award.
The DGA announced its annual slate of honorees for outstanding directorial achievement on Tuesday, and “Revenant” director Alejandro G. Inarritu was among the five nominees. Inarritu also won the DGA award last year, for 2014’s “Birdman,” and with the new momentum from “The Revenant”‘s Globes wins, the director looks like an early favorite to repeat.
The rest of the nominees were rounded out by Tom McCarthy (“Spotlight”), Adam McKay (“The Big Short”), George Miller (“Mad Max: Fury Road”), and Ridley Scott (“The Martian”). In addition to those names, the DGA also included a new category this year, honoring directors who helmed their first feature films in 2015.
“There’s a first time for every feature filmmaker, but not every first time offers fresh viewpoints in storytelling that are imperative in this industry,” said DGA president Paris Barclay in a statement. “The first-time feature directors we’re recognizing with this inaugural award we hope will develop successful and lengthy careers. We are excited and invigorated by all they have to offer.”
The full list of nominees is below. The DGA Awards will be handed out at a ceremony on February 6.
FEATURE FILM NOMINEES:
ALEJANDRO G. IÑÁRRITU
The Revenant
(20th Century Fox)
Mr. Iñárritu’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Managers: Drew Locke, James W. Skotchdopole, Doug Jones
First Assistant Director: Scott Robertson
Second Assistant Directors: Megan M. Shank, Matthew Haggerty, Jeremy Marks
Unit Production Manager: Gabriela Vazquez (Argentina, California, and Montana Unit)
First Assistant Director: Adam Somner (Argentina, California, and Montana Unit)
Second Assistant Directors: Trevor R. Tavares, Jasmine Marie Alhambra (Argentina, California, and Montana Unit)
Second Second Assistant Directors: Brett Robinson, Kasia Trojak (Argentina, California, and Montana Unit)
This is Mr. Iñárritu’s fourth DGA Award nomination.
TOM MCCARTHY
Spotlight
(Open Road Films)
Mr. McCarthy’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Managers: D.J. Carson, Michael Bederman
First Assistant Director: Walter Gasparovic
Second Assistant Director: Penny Charter
Assistant Unit Production Manager: Danielle Blumstein (Boston Unit)
First Assistant Director: Christo Morse (Boston Unit)
Second Assistant Directors: Conte Matal, Kristina Mariko Peterson, Annie Tan, Andrea O’Connor (Boston Unit)
Second Second Assistant Directors: Phil Robinson, Mark Romanelli (Boston Unit)
Additional Second Assistant Director: Scooter Perrotta (Boston Unit)
This is Mr. McCarthy’s first DGA Feature Film Award nomination.
ADAM MCKAY
The Big Short
(Paramount Pictures)
Mr. McKay’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Louise Rosner
First Assistant Director: Matt Rebenkoff
Second Assistant Director: Amy Lauritsen
Second Second Assistant Director: Cali Pomés
Second Second Assistant Director: Josh Muzaffer (New York Unit)
Location Manager: Michael Kriaris
This is Mr. McKay’s first DGA Feature Film Award nomination.
GEORGE MILLER
Mad Max: Fury Road
(Warner Bros.)
Mr. Miller’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Dean Hood
First Assistant Director: PJ Voeten
Second Assistant Directors: Samantha Smith, Wendy Croad, Chris O’Hara
Second Assistant Directors: Eddie Thorne (Syndey Unit), Emma Jamvold (Syndey Unit)
Second Second Assistant Directors: Danielle Blake (Syndey Unit), Joshua Watkins (Syndey Unit)
This is Mr. Miller’s first DGA Feature Film Award nomination.
RIDLEY SCOTT
The Martian
(20th Century Fox)
Mr. Scott’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Managers: Francesca Cingolani, Miklós Tóth
First Assistant Director: Raymond Kirk
Second Assistant Directors: Sarah Hood, Bogi Móricz
Second Second Assistant Director: Nick Thomas
This is Mr. Scott’s fourth DGA Award nomination.
FIRST-TIME FEATURE FILM DIRECTOR NOMINEES:
FERNANDO COIMBRA
A Wolf at the Door
(Outsider Pictures)
Mr. Coimbra’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Clara Machado
First Assistant Director: Suzy Milstein
Second Assistant Director: Raquel Toledo
This is Mr. Coimbra’s first DGA Award nomination.
JOEL EDGERTON
The Gift
(STX Entertainment)
Mr. Edgerton’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Luc Etienne
First Assistant Director: Michael J. Moore
Second Assistant Director: Matt Haggerty
Second Second Assistant Director: Dillon Neaman
This is Mr. Edgerton’s first DGA Award nomination.
ALEX GARLAND
Ex Machina
(A24)
Mr. Garland’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Sara Desmond
First Assistant Director: Nick Heckstall‑Smith
Second Assistant Director: Ray Kenny
This is Mr. Garland’s first DGA Award nomination.
MARIELLE HELLER
The Diary of a Teenage Girl
(Sony Pictures Classics)
Ms. Heller’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Molly Salz
First Assistant Director: Brian Benson
Second Assistant Director: Jerremy Stewart
Second Second Assistant Director: Alex Gilbert
This is Ms. Heller’s first DGA Award nomination.
LÁSZLÓ NEMES
Son of Saul
(Sony Pictures Classics)
Mr. Nemes’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Gábor Szántó
First Assistant Director: István Kolos
Second Assistant Directors: Zoltán Gyovai, Edina Galgócz
NEEDS. MATT. DAMON.
Trying to win an Oscar can be gross. Just ask 
Damon just talked to 
In 2016 
Bring him home … from Uranus.
Fresh off its impressive haul at the Golden Globes the weekend, “The Revenant” is poised to nab yet another statuette with a nomination for a