©Courtesy of Amazon/MGM
Project Hail Mary, the new sci-fi epic due to be released on March 20, is already exciting attention for its technical prowess—not a single moment of green-screening during the entire 159-minute-long film.
Developed for Amazon/MGM Studios, Project Hail Mary is based on the eponymous best-selling novel by Andy Weir, author of The Martian. In the film, Ryan Gosling plays the part of an astronaut trying to save planet Earth from an interstellar disaster. During his mission, he meets an astronaut from another planet trying to save his own world from a similar fate.
The film was directed by Christopher Miller and Phil Lord. The cast also includes Sandra Hüller, Lionel Boyce, Ken Leung and Milana Vayntrub.
Miller boasted to Comicbook.com, “What’s fun about the movie is that there is no green screen in the movie whatsoever. Not a single green- or blue screen was used. The whole ship was built as a set from the inside. We had a huge section of the exterior of the ship on the outside that we built. [Rocky, the alien character] was really with us at all times.
“And so, that’s what makes it feel real and makes it feel natural,” Miller continued, praising cinematographer Greg Fraser and his team for lighting the set with practical effects that allowed the camera to be moved easily to capture the action more realistically.
“You weren’t just guessing and pointing [the camera] at where Rocky might be someday [if the character had been added in post-production]. That’s what makes [the action] feel like it was captured in the moment,” Miller added.
In a later posting on X, Miller clarified the fact that some digital effects were still used in making the film, which reportedly had a gross budget of $248 million.
“Some clarification here: ‘No green screen’ doesn’t mean ‘no VFX,” he wrote. “There were, in fact, thousands of VFX shots in the film (2018!). Green screen is sometimes used in lieu of building sets or figuring out locations/lighting in advance, which can be noticeable if not done carefully and is something we didn’t want to do.”
Miller added that “We built the entire interior of the Hail Mary ship — but within the ship, there were still wire and puppeteer removals and ceiling replacements, etc. When Ryan is outside on the hull of the ship, we shot him in front of a black background for space and a shifting hue background when he was up against the aurora of a planet which allowed for truer interactive light on him than a green screen would. The wide space exteriors and spaceship shots were entirely digital and beautifully done by ILM. Rocky was a seamless blend of puppetry and animation from Framestore. And other great work from many more. It really does take a village and we had the best of the best on our side.”
The film is already receiving rave reviews from critics who have watched advanced screenings, tossing around words like “sublime,” “a miracle,” and “an absolute masterpiece.”
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