There’s a lot of complex science powering sci-fi blockbuster Project Hail Mary but the filmmaking math remains pretty simple: great directors + great book + great lead actor = a guaranteed great time at the cinema.
Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (The LEGO Movie, 21 Jump Street) have a watertight reputation for delivering comedy-heavy crowdpleasers, making them well suited to putting Andy Weir’s novel to screen. We saw the author’s work in cinemas a decade ago with Ridley Scott’s The Martian, both adaptations effortlessly handled by Oscar-nominated screenwriter Drew Goddard. Topped off with Ryan Gosling’s unquestionable ability to give schoolteacher-turned-Earth’s-saviour Ryland Grace the roaring heart of a loveable goofball, Project Hail Mary ends up feeling like the exact sum of its excellent parts.
But there’s something missing from the equation. A factor that brings the film slightly above a calculated crowd-pleaser. It’s Gosling’s co-star: a sentient rock alien dubbed Rocky.
I don’t say co-star in jest. With Rocky, what you tend to see on screen (most of the time) is an actual moving creation, controlled and voiced by award-winning puppet master James Ortiz. In the same way we call Andy Serkis Gollum, James Ortiz is Rocky.
They could have just completely CGI’d the little guy, but as the adage goes, acting is reacting, and unless he had a racquet in his hand, Gosling would have felt more reactionary with a voice artist puppeteer than a director waggling a tennis ball on a stick.
In the same way most people can’t “see” good editing, the invisible art of the actor-puppet relationship conjures a special kind of magic. Project Hail Mary wields this magic to power the boisterous bromance that glues the film together.
You see it in the way Rocky and Ryland imitate each other on first contact. You hear it in their back-n-forths when they work together. There’s even a moment where they attempt a contactless hug – and it looks stupid in the most charming way. So much of this physicality and jovial energy exists within the actor-to-actor space. Or, in this case, actor-to-puppet space.
It also helps that Rocky’s, erm, rocky anatomy lends itself to the relatively stiff and limited movements of puppetry and animatronics. Apart from the joints, no part of Rocky bends or wobbles, making CGI animation needless when the same thing can be achieved with a convincing puppet.
The Mandalorian & Grogu
The Muppet Show
Audiences have shown time and time again that they’re willing to buy into a puppet as a living, breathing character – as long as the tone fits and the performances convince. Consider the global freakout that raged when Baby Yoda made his grand debut in The Mandalorian, or the meme fuel that ignited between Miss Piggy and Sabrina Carpenter in the recent Muppet Show special. Both properties have a fantastical edge blessed with performers who make it all feel believable.
And this recent resurgence goes beyond long-standing screen franchises. Jim Henson’s Creature Shop did the iconic freakshows of Five Nights at Freddy’s justice with their animatronics and A24’s fantasy adventure The Legend of Ochi harnessed the spirits of Billy and Gizmo from Gremlins for their adorable duo’s unbreakable bond.
There’s also something to be said about GCI fatigue. Whether it’s due to the notorious crunching of VFX houses at the mercy of the Hollywood system or the current wave of AI-generated videos overloading our senses, perhaps we shouldn’t be shocked to see people gravitating to the tactile look of puppetry and practical effects when seeking out top-shelf cinema.
