Ryan Gosling’s daughters with wife Eva Mendes have a surprising connection to his Project Hail Mary role.
“Eva and I would love to have one of those core memory moments in a movie theater with our kids, like we had them as kids,” Gosling, 45, said during a Wednesday, March 18, appearance on Today with Jenna & Sheinelle. “We haven’t really had that. So much of what they see or that’s out there seems like it’s designed to scare them. There’s a sense of hopelessness about it.”
Enter Project Hail Mary, the 2021 science fiction novel by Andy Weir. It took six years for Gosling, a producer on the movie, to adapt and develop the film. The Project Hail Mary movie hits theaters on Friday, March 20.
“We wanted to make something that was — not just for them — and, not to be too lofty, but for their generation,” he continued, referring to daughters Esmeralda, 11, and Amada, 9. “Something that was about science and about making STEM cool and believe in the competency of human beings.”
Gosling continued, “Even individually, which is the journey of this character. He doesn’t believe in himself. He realizes that he’s capable of great things, and that’s true for all of us.”
Project Hail Mary follows scientist-turned-schoolteacher Dr. Ryland Grace (played by Gosling), who wakes up on a spaceship with no memory of how he got there. Through a series of flashbacks, it’s revealed that Grace is on a mission to save Earth. During his journey, Grace befriends an alien named Rocky.
When it came to bringing Grace to life on screen, Gosling was initially against the “cliche” of having a scientist wear glasses. However, the accessory actually made the character. Shoutout to Gosling’s daughter for the push he needed.
“I was playing with the character and I threw on some glasses,” Gosling recalled. “My daughter was like, ‘You do look smarter in glasses.’ I was like, then I will be wearing them. Thank you.”
Fans of the book are very protective of it — as most readers are — which Gosling was aware of. Early reviews of the film state that this adaptation got it right. (Us Weekly can cosign this message after seeing an Amazon Books screening of the film on Tuesday, March 17.)
“Writer Andy Weir is such a special writer, a special voice right now. He writes science fiction but we are so saturated in these dystopian future narratives that we’ve been in for the last decade. It feels like those negative outcomes are inevitable,” Gosling said on Wednesday. “What Andy does, which I find really special, is that he gives us an opportunity to pivot from that narrative and see the future as something that’s not necessarily something to fear.”
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