Drew Goddard’s head is constantly in the stars, and that’s just how he likes it. Goddard, who earned an Oscar nomination for adapting Andy Weir’s book, The Martian, reteamed with the author for Project Hail Mary. The film stars Ryan Gosling as science teacher Ryland Grace, who is blasted off into space to figure out why all of the stars, including our sun, are dying.
It’s a story that appealed to Goddard on multiple levels. He’d already worked with Weir on The Martian, and felt that he had a good grasp of the author’s voice and style. But also, Goddard just loves science and finding ways to make it cool and relatable to the movie audience. Also, he talks about the impact of knowing that Gosling was already aboard to play Grace.
That said, Project Hail Mary also proved to be quite a challenge, or every screenwriter’s “nightmare” as Goddard puts it in my interview with him. We talked about the challenge of introducing Grace’s alien partner, Rocky, and giving voice to a character with no known language and, even tougher, no face. Goddard talked about the importance of getting their “first contact” moment just right, of balancing the science-speak of the book with the needs of making an entertaining, thrilling movie, and more. We even talked a little bit about his time writing for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, one of my favorite shows of all-time, and how it still influences his work today.
Project Hail Mary is open in theaters now.