Project Hail Mary

The largest difference between Book and Movie

Introduction

People always say that the book is better than the movie. This I find to be generally true; books often have more detail and the added benefit of being inside of a character’s head explicitly giving us a play by play of what they feel and why they make the decisions that they do. Project Hail Mary is the same in this respect. The book has more details and you come to know Dr. Grace much better by virtue of being in his brain. However, you should absolutely watch the movie with Ryan Gosling. He does an excellent job portraying Grace and his struggles. 

Dr. Grace struggling during a space walk.

What’s Inspiring about the Movie Project Hail Mary?

Starting with the main character Dr. Grace. He has a Doctorate in Zenobiology but was laughed out of academia because of his criticisms of the idea that life needs water to develop. He now teaches middle school science and loves it. Throughout the book he is rediscovering who he is and why he is in space being tasked with saving the earth.

Ryan Gosling does an amazing job showing Grace’s anxiety and difficulties with being tasked with a mission that he feels absolutely unprepared for. It’s a wild and bizarre situation to find yourself in. However, being a scientist, Grace manages to solve most every problem thrown his way.

It is one of the things that I adore about the book. While it can feel a bit dense at times it really dives into the potential science of it all and walks you through Grace's reasoning and problem solving so that you feel like you are part of the story. Next to Rocky, it is my favorite part of the book.

Dr. Grace in the pilots seat of the space ship “Hail Mary”

The movie leaves the step by step problem solving out though. Which makes sense, it would slow down the pace of the movie dramatically and as amazing as movies are you don’t get a direct viewpoint into a character’s head. The movie, however, is gorgeous. The visuals, the colors, the set that works in two different orientations as well as a place for puppetry and zero gravity wires is incredible. 

I was astonished at how well they were able to shoot and move everything in the fully practical set. I loved how they depicted the centrifuge working. The way they constructed it rotating and how it could work in two different environments was incredible!

The puppetry of Rocky was awesome as well! I love how they adapted Rocky and made him much cuter for the film. It is so awesome that you can tell how much love and work went into making this movie.

Ryan Gosling on set with the puppet Rocky.

Final thoughts

They did a lot of amazing things in adapting Hail Mary from the page to the screen. I was so very impressed and I don’t think that they could’ve done a better job adapting it. From the sets to the story it was perfect. I highly recommend checking out the book if you liked the movie and vice versa. It is such a good and hopeful movie.

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