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Sandra Hüller is having one hell of a year. She’s got not one but two movies coming up that are expected to be major parts of awards season, including “Fatherland” and the Tom Cruise-fronted satirical comedy “Digger.” She also starred alongside Ryan Gosling in “Project Hail Mary,” one of the year’s biggest hits and another player for awards season contention. Directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, it’s one of the year’s most beloved movies.
“Project Hail Mary” centers on Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling), a science teacher who wakes up on a spaceship light years from Earth with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. As his memory returns, he discovers he’s been tasked with solving the riddle of the mysterious substance causing our sun to die out. Hüller plays Eve Stratt, the woman leading the mission back on Earth.
In a recent interview with IndieWire, Hüller discussed the making of “Project Hail Mary” (which you can now watch at home). The Oscar-nominated actor explained that she was very surprised by how much freedom the film’s cast had on set. Lord and Miller were willing to leave them room to explore their characters. Here’s what she had to say about it:
“I was surprised that there was so much freedom. I would have expected it to be much more formal and more delivery oriented, but it wasn’t. And it had a lot to do with the people who were working on this because Chris and Phil are playful and open directors, and they give a lot of space to explore things. And Ryan [Gosling] is somebody who loves that, too.”
“I never felt pressed into something that I don’t belong in. I was lucky,” Hüller concluded.
Project Hail Mary wasn’t overly strict when it came to its actors
“Project Hail Mary” screenwriter Drew Goddard has said Andy Weir’s original book was a nightmare to adapt. One might think, that being the case, that Phil Lord and Chris Miller would need to be a little more strictly devoted to what was on the page, especially considering that Amazon was spending more than $200 million to bring Weir’s beloved novel to life on the big screen. There was a lot riding on the whole venture.
But the proof is in the pudding, as it were. The movie’s been roundly praised by critics and audiences alike, becoming a massive box office success. So, there’s no doubt about it, some of that flexibility on set resulted in a better final product. Heck, the most popular scene from test screenings — the one with Sandra Hüller’s Eve Stratt singing karaoke — wasn’t even originally in the movie. Hüller talked a bit about the scene and how it came to be as well:
“At first, I thought, ‘Why would she? it’s not her thing. It’s not her position to do that.’ But then, I thought, ‘Yeah, maybe that’s interesting that she’s leaving that position for that particular moment.'”
Lord and Miller’s flexibility was undoubtedly an asset, but that methodology wasn’t without headaches. The first cut of “Project Hail Mary” was nearly four hours and received brutal feedback, but the duo managed to edit things down to a much more effective version. It all worked out for the best.
You can grab “Project Hail Mary” on 4K, Blu-ray, or DVD from Amazon.
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