Mise en Screen

Episode 37: Project Hail Mary


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Project Hail Mary is the latest film adaptation of a novel by Andy Weir, coming eleven years after The Martian in 2015. Project Hail Mary sees Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) awaken from a medically induced coma far from Earth on a course for the star Tau Ceti. As he slowly regains his memory we learn of his recruitment by Eva Stratt (Sand Hueller) of the titular project to study a microorganism known as the Astrophage whose reproduction on the surface of the sun is causing a dimming effect and subsequently will lead to global cooling on Earth and eventually extinction. Grace quickly comes into contact with another alien ship whose lone survivor he names Rocky is also seeking answers to the same problem, and the two learn how to communicate and collaborate on saving both of their planets.

Timestamps:

  • (1:39) Proud Mary
  • (13:49) Battlefield Earth
  • (27:22) Solaris
  • (49:05) Dark Star
  • (1:00:22) Project Hail Mary
  • (1:32:56) Spoilers
  • (1:50:25) Next Time: Forbidden Fruit

Works Cited:

  • 21 Jump Street (Lord and Miller, 2012)
  • 22 Jump Street (Lord and Miller, 2014)
  • Battlefield Earth (Roger Christian, 2000)
  • Battlefield Earth: Financed By Criminals, Made By Idiots | Bomb Report
  • Dark Star (John Carpenter, 1974)
  • First Man (Damien Chazelle, 2018)
  • For All Mankind (Al Reinert, 1989)
  • Interstellar (Christopher Nolan, 2014)
  • The Lego Movie (Lord and Miller, 2014)
  • Magnetic Rose (Koji Morimoto, 1995)
  • Project Hail Mary Is the Ultimate 'Hopecore' Space Movie (Emma Stefansky, 2026)
  • ‎'Project Hail Mary' review by Nicole Veneto • Letterboxd
  • Proud Mary (Babek Nafaji, 2018)
  • Proud Mary (2018) - Movie Review : Alternate Ending (Tim Brayton, 2018)
  • 'Proud Mary': Taraji P. Henson Is Gunned Down By Her Own Action Flick (Peter Travers, 2018)
  • Post by @zeets.bsky.social — Bluesky
  • Post by @marsrover.bsky.social — Bluesky
  • Shore Leave (Star Trek: The Original Series) - Wikipedia
  • Solaris (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1972)
  • Solo: A Star Wars Story (Ron Howard, 2018)
  • r/startrek - This so-called "alien creature" is just a puppy in a costume! I LOVE THIS SHOW
  • 'We used a beachball as an alien!' John Carpenter on his gloriously shonky sci-fi comedy Dark Star | Science fiction and fantasy films | The Guardian (Chris Boughton, 2025)

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Ben Verschoor

  • https://cinema-purgatorio.ghost.io/
  • https://letterboxd.com/jamn4sure/
  • @benverschoor.bsky.social

Steven Santana

  • https://breakingarrows.ghost.io/
  • https://letterboxd.com/number8axel/
  • @number8axel.bsky.social‬

Opening music is "Root Beer Rag" by Billy Joel

Closing music is "G-Spot Tornado" by Frank Zappa

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Mise en ScreenBy Ben Verschoor & Steven Santana