How Project Hail Mary Writer Andy Weir Reacted To The Ryan Gosling Movie

We're asking the important questions here at Looper, and now that Phil Lord and Christopher Miller's blockbuster space epic "Project Hail Mary" has hit theaters, here's one. How does the book's author Andy Weir feel about the second adaptation of his work after 2015's "The Martian?"

Good news! He loves it!

On Weir's Instagram account, he posted a photo of himself on the movie's set with the caption, "Nothing quite like seeing your book come to life on the big screen—a huge shout out to [Amazon MGM Studios] for being such an amazing partner on this interstellar adventure of a lifetime." Elsewhere in other interviews, Weir echoed this statement ... and paid a lot of lip service to the film's star Ryan Gosling to boot.

While speaking to USA Today, Weir said that Lord and Miller "could not have done a better job" adapting his best-selling book into a movie — especially as it pertains to Rocky, the alien creature who befriends Gosling's Dr. Ryland Grace (and is voiced and puppeted by James Ortiz). Citing the duo's great animation work in projects like the "Spider-Verse" films, Weir said of the duo, "They know how to do animation, and animation is what's necessary to have a faceless rock be something that you care about. It all has to be done via body language and motion." Rocky is, in fact, an absolute delight ... but when it comes to his praise for the movie, Weir really made sure to lavish praise upon Gosling, and that's fair when you consider that Gosling mostly spends time on-screen alone unless it's a flashback scene or he's with a puppet.

As Andy Weir told USA Today, he doesn't always visualize the characters in his books because he's just generally way more interested in the science involved, and Ryan Gosling was the perfect choice for Ryland. "He added a lot of nuance to the character, just via body language and alternate lines," Weir said. "He would come up with other lines. He got to ad lib, of course. So he ended up with a much deeper, more nuanced version of Ryland than I ever wrote." In the process, Weir said he felt inspired to keep working on his literary characters. "I think that's like my biggest weakness as a writer, in my opinion, is character depth and complexity," he admitted. "I've come up with interesting plots and interesting fake science, but my characters are kind of shallow and so I'm working on that."

Elsewhere in Rolling Stone, Weir said that even though his book "The Martian" was also adapted into a film, he spent more time working on "Project Hail Mary" as a listed producer, and he learned a lot. "I really saw how the sausage gets made," he mused. "I didn't realize how much creativity and actual writing that the actors bring to a story." 

Once again, this is where Weir turned his attention to how great Gosling is in the film. "It's great to have someone like Ryan come in and add all these layers that I didn't have in the original," he laughed. "Everyone's going to watch the movie and they'll ascribe all those layers and complexity to me as the original book writer. And that's great. All Ryan's work, all my credit."

Something that probably shouldn't surprise you, if you've seen both big screen adaptations of Andy Weir's books, is that Weir has formed an incredibly successful partnership with screenwriter Drew Goddard. During a joint interview with Collider, interviewer Steve Weintraub suggested that the two work together way, way more. "That works for me," Weir replied. "We agree," Goddard confirmed. 

"All you've got to do is make sure studios are willing to give us, like, $150, $200 million to make a movie, and we'd be happy to just keep cranking 'em out," Weir continued, at which point Goddard said, "Also, you need to keep writing faster." This answer turned out to be particularly funny because, as Weir tells it, he and the directing duo of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller only wanted Goddard to write the script after he did such a great job with "The Martian." 

According to Weir, "We had to wait months for him. We weren't interested in having any other screenwriter do this, so we actually just held up the project because he was busy on something else. Our list of potential screenwriters was one: Drew Goddard." (Goddard cheekily replied, "Thank God they waited.")

All in all, "Project Hail Mary" has proven to be a resounding success for Weir, Goddard, Lord, Miller, and Ryan Gosling alike, so it would be great if even some combination of these guys keep working together. In any case, "Project Hail Mary" is in theaters now.