Ryan Gosling Faces the Unknown in Project Hail Mary Trailer

Remember The Martian? That’s right, the witty, moving, and just plain fun film that captivated audiences and critics back in 2015. Based on Andy Weir’s bestselling debut novel of the same name, Matt Damon starred in Ridley Scott’s dramatic and humorous take on the space survival story, which went on to take home several critics’ awards as well as a lucrative box office haul.

Fans of the book and film alike have reasons to cheer because the exciting adaptation rights game is back in full force as Weir has a new book out, Project Hail Mary, released in 2021. An Amazon MGM Studios adaptation of the book, Project Hail Mary, has already seen a ton of buzz because it shares many similar traits with The Martian. Who wouldn’t want a new sci-fi book filled with humor and soul? Moreover, the first trailer looks like it will transport viewers into the book in all the same ways that The Martian did.

An expensive, big idea, sci-fi book with Ryan Gosling at the helm is undoubtedly going to be an event movie. When you add Drew Goddard to the screenplay and Phil Lord and Christopher Miller to the directing team, all the best signs are pointing in Project Hail Mary’s direction.

MGM and Amazon got involved with the property surprisingly early on, even before the novel had come out. Weir, who wrote the script for Project Hail Mary, teamed up with Amazon MGM to release the book in late 2021, with the rights acquired before its publication. When it comes to the actual screenplay, Drew Goddard’s got the task, which was confirmed just days after MGM and Amazon had released the film rights.

If The Martian is anything to go by, Goddard is an excellent choice. A pretty faithful and well-adapted screenplay earned Goddard an Academy Award nomination, to be specific. So, when the news broke that he would also be working on Project Hail Mary, the creative team couldn’t be more complete. With Lord and Miller’s additions to the film’s roster, there may be some skepticism. The two might not be obvious choices for a hard science fiction venture, but The LEGO Movie and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs directors might be more effective than expected, given their proven ability to incorporate character humor.

In any event, Gosling stars as Ryland Grace, a mild, pasty, middle school science teacher who wakes up from a space coma with no memory of his past or how he even got onto his current spaceship. The trailer starts out in media res, Grace noisily waking up in his ship. His general panic and fright are palpable in just a few short lines and actions. “I know this sucks, but welcome back,” he tells himself as he frantically searches the controls.

Grace soon realizes his new reality: he’s several light-years from his apartment on Earth and any nearby galaxies, too. The viewer is taken on a non-linear journey as Grace searches his memory for hints of how he got here. A black-haired, clean-shaven Grace teaching his students one day is suddenly interrupted by a higher-up (Sandra Hüller) who is in search of a man to save the world.

“The Sun is dying, a few more stars are starting to go out, only one is shining bright as ever. It’s a mystery, but everyone thinks it’s you.” He needs a man to investigate what is going on, and Grace is the only one he has his eyes on. Why? As a former molecular biologist, Grace may have the answers the world needs to survive.

It doesn’t take long for Grace to turn down the deal. “I put the ‘not’ in astronaut,” he retorts to the desperate high-level official. He’s nervous to go on the mission and in no way an astronaut, at least not yet, “I can’t even moonwalk!” This is the problem; there are no humans with the qualifications to save the planet. Grace’s interlocutor has only one thing to say: “If you don’t go, you die with the rest of us. If we do nothing, everything on this planet will go extinct.”

Grace is no fool, so if he doesn’t want to lose his students and class and, in essence, the rest of the world, the answer seems simple. He agrees to a deal to go into space, train as an astronaut, and save the world from going extinct. As expected, Grace gets some basic training and quick space lessons with emergency protocols before boarding a ship and launching far out into the galaxy.

However, when he wakes up, his memory is conveniently wiped. On the screen, he takes a deep breath and looks around the interior of the seemingly abandoned ship. Grace is alone, and the rest of the crew is gone. After some flashbacks in the trailer, we are introduced to the names of the dead crew members from various countries.

A Russian woman, Milana Vayntrub, plays Olesya Ilyukhina, who is also dead by the time Grace is on the ship. The mystery of how he got on the ship and what happened to the other crew members will likely take up a portion of the story, but he soon encounters another ship.