Project Hail Mary

[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, I just got out of Project Hail Mary, aka the crying about a rock for two hours movie, and I get out worried to talk about it. [SPEAKER_02]: Oh my god. [SPEAKER_00]: I think you can hear the sound of the dancing grove fountains. [SPEAKER_00]: I just got out of Project Hail Mary and it was so cute. [SPEAKER_00]: It was so cute. [SPEAKER_00]: That's the main thing I have to say. [SPEAKER_00]: I was hoping they'd end up together forever and they did and it was so cute.

[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to Medium Literat, the podcast where two longtime best friends try to sharpen our media literacy skills by having a long conversation about a new release movie in Theaters every week. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm Emily Fay and my co-host is Monica Scott, and this week we are talking about Project Hail Mary. [SPEAKER_00]: All spoilers from this point. [SPEAKER_00]: So if you haven't seen it, maybe you want to come back later. [SPEAKER_00]: And if you are just listening, you can also watch the full episode on YouTube.

[SPEAKER_00]: So here's our conversation.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're here. [SPEAKER_00]: We got a little baby cat in the background. [SPEAKER_00]: Oh my god, cameo. [SPEAKER_00]: Did you get? [SPEAKER_00]: Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,

[SPEAKER_03]: You mean this one, this one right here, the very one, you know, yeah, I read it last year. [SPEAKER_03]: And I'm not that fast of a reader. [SPEAKER_03]: It takes me like a month, probably, to get through a book. [SPEAKER_03]: And I read it in like four days. [SPEAKER_03]: And it's, you know, 500 pages. [SPEAKER_03]: And I got to be honest, a lot of them are of people doing math. [SPEAKER_03]: Uh-huh. [SPEAKER_03]: Really? [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_03]: So, I'm impressed, but I've never read, I never read the Martian.

[SPEAKER_03]: So I don't, I wasn't really familiar with Andy Wears game, I guess, but his characters, I guess, he's known for like characters that are so, it's like fun to be with them. [SPEAKER_03]: So you're like fully in their perspective and just the pattern of their internal monologue is like fun to read. [SPEAKER_03]: And I've heard the audiobook is like a really good time. [SPEAKER_03]: I've never [SPEAKER_03]: after seeing the movie twice reading the book once. [SPEAKER_03]: I think I should add to that pile.

[SPEAKER_00]: Might as well.

[SPEAKER_03]: But yeah, I just I don't know. [SPEAKER_03]: It was it's this story is not necessarily like I'm a kind of cynical person which I'm not proud of. [SPEAKER_03]: I try not to be but I am.

[SPEAKER_03]: And yet, I just, it works for me. [SPEAKER_03]: I love it so much. [SPEAKER_03]: And I think maybe that's what my passion, where my passion comes from, is like, a lot of hopeful pieces of media don't break through to me. [SPEAKER_03]: And this one does. [SPEAKER_00]: Uh-huh. [SPEAKER_03]: So I think that's why that's where my passion came from. [SPEAKER_00]: I had no expectations. [SPEAKER_00]: Like, I, [SPEAKER_00]: wasn't even looking forward to this movie. [SPEAKER_00]: Because I just don't really like space stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes. [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know. [SPEAKER_00]: It just didn't seem like my kind of thing. [SPEAKER_00]: And I loved it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I do it. [SPEAKER_00]: I might see it again tonight. [SPEAKER_00]: me today week we got her.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was I was surprised but I I loved it and I found myself thinking about it even more the next day where I was like gosh I really loved this movie. [SPEAKER_03]: really love to this movie. [SPEAKER_03]: Um, and it's funny, I feel I have felt a little cautious about overhyping it to people like you in my life who don't like love a sci-fi, because upon a second viewing I was, I, I saw twice this week. [SPEAKER_03]: I saw it on Thursday, you know, I'm Max. [SPEAKER_00]: I also said Thursday and I'm Max.

[SPEAKER_03]: And it was great in I'm Max, but I had a friend who is like a format person. [SPEAKER_03]: And she was like, do you want to see this in 70 at the music box theater? [SPEAKER_03]: And I was like, okay. [SPEAKER_03]: So I went again on Saturday morning at 11 a.m.

[SPEAKER_00]: I do feel like that's actually the perfect time to see like a two and a half hour movie though, you know, you get out. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, still they time. [SPEAKER_03]: You know what was funny is just in Chicago. [SPEAKER_03]: So when I went into the movie at 11 a.m. it was like 39 degrees and cloudy and when I came out, it was 70 and sunny. [SPEAKER_03]: And so movie did that coming outside like it's an old movie theater. [SPEAKER_03]: So you're just like, there's no sort of like easing into seeing windows and like getting used to the outside.

[SPEAKER_03]: So you just are like dark movie theater to being outside and everybody that was coming outside was like, oh my god. [SPEAKER_03]: Just kind of. [SPEAKER_03]: hissing at the sun, but yeah, I mean, I I loved seeing it in 70. [SPEAKER_03]: I just loved I just love it so much. [SPEAKER_03]: I will have some smart thoughts shortly. [SPEAKER_00]: I, yeah, I just, yeah, I had no expectations. [SPEAKER_00]: I knew that there was a little guy in it. [SPEAKER_00]: So I, I didn't know that there was a little guy involved.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm always, I always like a little guy. [SPEAKER_00]: But I was surprised at how much those two and their friendship swept me off my feet. [SPEAKER_00]: I know. [SPEAKER_00]: They got my ass. [SPEAKER_03]: You know, I have to say that I had the same experience with the book when the little guy shows up in the book. [SPEAKER_03]: It's only like six chapters in or something. [SPEAKER_03]: So it's got early enough that you're like, oh, okay. [SPEAKER_03]: Okay, this is a little guy, but like I had seen the movie of the Martian.

[SPEAKER_03]: So I knew it was like, [SPEAKER_03]: a relatively straight forward serious science movie, you know what I mean. [SPEAKER_03]: And so I feel like a little guy is a bit of a fantastical element, even though, you know, it is done with. [SPEAKER_03]: a lot of intention towards like, like I've listened to interviews with Andy Weir where he's like, if we were to encounter aliens, if you think about what another civilization would have to do, [SPEAKER_03]: to get to space travel. [SPEAKER_03]: They'd have to have an inclination to be pack animals because they'd have to have a certain level of empathy for other people and they'd have to be able to work together because you can't get to intergalactic travel if you are like a society that is like individualistic and they'd have to have a certain amount of empathy and curiosity and so he's like all of this evidence to me points towards [SPEAKER_03]: a first encounter with aliens would actually be positive and like friendly and that is sort of the thought process that went into like the friendly rock alien and but when he shows up in the book I was like oh this is like what is this [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, like I had kind of gotten the book thinking like I was going to challenge myself with like a science fiction that's like more serious because I don't even read them because I get confused Not to sound like too much of a genius, but um And then a little buddy shows up and so I was like really hesitant like in the first few chapters of Rocky, but it's so charming [SPEAKER_03]: that it swept me off my feet too.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's such a good character and I really love that like aesthetically and I'm sure they describe him the book or whatever, but like he's not cute to look at [SPEAKER_00]: You're not, he's a ruck, he's a ruck spider in all my face. [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, cute. [SPEAKER_00]: And, but it's like his personality makes him so cute. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and I mean, so for I think for any like book readers, that was like the big fear when they hurt, when like people heard that this movie was getting made.

[SPEAKER_03]: Because in the book, you don't, he's not described too deeply like, you know, you get the idea, you're kind of picturing what they ended up making. [SPEAKER_03]: But,

[SPEAKER_03]: you hear that this movie's getting made and you're like, they better get Rocky right or the entire movie doesn't work. [SPEAKER_03]: So like the pressure was really on to do something incredibly challenging because this is a rock. [SPEAKER_03]: The body language is like essentially the entire communication of the sweetness of this character. [SPEAKER_03]: And it's incredible. [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, it's amazing. [SPEAKER_00]: It's because, you know, the trailer for like, something I will truly never see Mandalorian and group plays before it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you're like, okay, yeah, with like, Grogu, they just have, he's cute. [SPEAKER_00]: He looks like a baby. [SPEAKER_00]: They gave him baby features. [SPEAKER_00]: You know, a cute little alien that looks like a baby, which also, I'm not gonna get into this, but Grogoo came out after they named him, there's a baby alien on American dad named Grogoo.

[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, I didn't know about this drama. [SPEAKER_00]: And I don't know if this is drama, it's just something I think about a lot. [SPEAKER_00]: The Grogoo came out post-rogoo. [SPEAKER_00]: And Roguel also is like a little weird baby alien. [SPEAKER_00]: Anyways, Roguel's like cute. [SPEAKER_00]: He looks like a baby. [SPEAKER_00]: And so yeah, Rocky's just like ugly. [SPEAKER_00]: But not even like, he just looks like something that would not get your, it looks like a piece of landscape.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, or even like evolutionarily, you know what I mean? [SPEAKER_03]: Like I think that we have a strong capacity to as humans to anthropomorphize anything that kind of has a face. [SPEAKER_03]: And so to have Rocky be something that truly has no face. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_03]: That's tough. [SPEAKER_03]: It's tough. [SPEAKER_03]: And I'm so just like odd by the, I even, I wore my puppet shirt [SPEAKER_03]: out of pure enthusiasm for the choice to make Rocky a puppet as opposed to CGI, which I think would have been the choice in basically any other movie.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, it's amazing, like it's amazing. [SPEAKER_00]: I think that even with the best CGI, like this is probably why this movie works so well. [SPEAKER_00]: And it does is so touching despite, you know, being someone who, yeah, is cynical. [SPEAKER_00]: But like, there's just a vibe of that like, that thing is actually there. [SPEAKER_03]: I thought a lot about the choice of making it a puppet and how that, I don't know what came first for the directors, Lord and Miller, right, like practical sets or the puppet, but one certainly feeds into the other.

[SPEAKER_03]: And the choice to have Ryan Gosling, [SPEAKER_03]: able to act against a puppet, act against something real that isn't a tennis ball, then feeds into like, and if all these sets are real and then the puppet is interacting with the sets and he can interact with that, I just think like the practical effect choice that the entire movie made, like echoes almost the message of the story where it's like prioritizing humanity [SPEAKER_03]: And it like feeds, it feeds itself. [SPEAKER_03]: Like this movie feels so human-made.

[SPEAKER_03]: Even that scene, I saw an interview with Lord and Miller where they were talking about the scene where the astrophate, it's like red and black and the astrophage is like hitting him. [SPEAKER_03]: I thought for sure that one was CGI. [SPEAKER_03]: And that is a practical effect. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, because I saw people saying that there were like zero green or blue screens use. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, which is insane. [SPEAKER_00]: I like I feel like even if someone didn't think this movie was good.

[SPEAKER_00]: How could you not be rooting for a big budget movie made in 2026? [SPEAKER_00]: That's entirely practical effects. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, because then it makes, it makes it so that the practical effects like they're not just stylistic, it's like a philosophical point that the whole movie is making and it's just so incredible. [SPEAKER_03]: It had that, so they had the same cinematographer as the Doon movies, I think. [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, okay. [SPEAKER_00]: And so do movies look great. [SPEAKER_03]: The Dune Movies look great.

[SPEAKER_03]: One of the things is the infrared cameras that they use in the Dune Movies for like the Harkin' and stuff. [SPEAKER_03]: That's how they did those red lights. [SPEAKER_03]: They put like little IR. [SPEAKER_03]: like bulbs all around him, all around Ryan. [SPEAKER_03]: And in the room, it didn't look like anything, but in the camera, you could see these like beautiful light circles all around us. [SPEAKER_03]: So crazy. [SPEAKER_03]: And I just am like, almost gonna cry. [SPEAKER_03]: I just love it.

[SPEAKER_00]: It just sticks me so excited. [SPEAKER_00]: for I feel like we are in a crisis of people not having to like figure things out to any more and yeah so the the idea that like all these things people had to figure out how to do that and make it work is so amazing and again it's like even that is like echoing what is fun [SPEAKER_03]: in a lot of ways the movie has like a procedural vibe. [SPEAKER_03]: It's like clever people solving problems or clever entities. [SPEAKER_03]: One is a rock.

[SPEAKER_03]: And that's essentially what was happening in the filmmaking. [SPEAKER_03]: And I don't know, it just makes this, it just feels very beautiful that like it's [SPEAKER_03]: it, that all of that ended up being such a well-executed adaptation, which is borderline impossible. [SPEAKER_03]: It's so hard to have an adaptation that people are happy with, and I'm sure there are some pedantic people who are mad, but you know, some of the math didn't make it in or whatever.

[SPEAKER_03]: But I just think like overall for the health of movies, for the health of like [SPEAKER_03]: human ingenuity. [SPEAKER_03]: There's just something so positive about the whole experience of this weekend in this movie and it's success and how it made everyone feel. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I'm literally right in high on the Hope Bomb that movie detonated. [SPEAKER_00]: It's just so nice. [SPEAKER_00]: I was like, we're like, [SPEAKER_00]: Movies are, they're not a necessity for survival. [SPEAKER_00]: It is like an art.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so then when something is like Marvel movies where it truly does feel like it's like, [SPEAKER_00]: also just hate those. [SPEAKER_00]: But it feels like that whole industry is like, okay, how can we just do this as easily as possible to get to the end point? [SPEAKER_00]: Like, it's all about just like, we just got to finish this thing. [SPEAKER_00]: So to have something where it's like, no, the artistry of it is the point. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and, yeah, and you just, I can really feel it, and it makes me so happy.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've got a little rock guy, and I feel like he's better than E.T. [SPEAKER_00]: Oh my god, he's so much better than E.T. [SPEAKER_00]: Because E.T. [SPEAKER_00]: is kind of like, you know, he's not very smart. [SPEAKER_03]: No, and he's slimy. [SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's too slimy? [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think E.T. [SPEAKER_00]: I think of E.T. [SPEAKER_00]: as slimy. [SPEAKER_00]: Interesting. [SPEAKER_00]: I think of him as like bone dry. [SPEAKER_00]: Drys can be, I want to slather him and wish your eyes are.

[SPEAKER_03]: Do I need to see a picture of me tag me now? [SPEAKER_03]: I think I haven't seen him in a while. [SPEAKER_03]: I mean compared to Rocky, I would say he's not bone dry. [SPEAKER_00]: That's Rocky's rule. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it does eat, he have glands, you know, weigh in, or is he like a pig where he needs to, he doesn't sweat, he doesn't have glands, he maybe eats, he should have been in a mud pit the whole time. [SPEAKER_00]: is from I think a very poor human planet. [SPEAKER_00]: So he might not have glands.

[SPEAKER_00]: He might, he might rely entirely on external forces to to moisturize him and maybe that's why he was dying. [SPEAKER_00]: This isn't about ET. [SPEAKER_00]: This is about Rocky, who is my best friend and your best friend. [SPEAKER_00]: And kind of everyone's best friend. [SPEAKER_00]: He's just like the best friend a person could have. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, he can make metal things and also glass things question like, I, how does, how does he do the glass? [SPEAKER_03]: I don't know.

[SPEAKER_03]: It doesn't say in the book. [SPEAKER_03]: um, if it did say that's like certainly something that wouldn't have stuck with me. [SPEAKER_03]: Okay. [SPEAKER_00]: I just like, I think there was like a brief, there was like a moment early on before he starts

[SPEAKER_00]: kind of coming up just visually with space stuff. [SPEAKER_00]: I think sometimes I have a hard time orienting myself like in the space where it's like I don't know what's what and which direction we're looking and what touches what or like [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, maybe because everything's anti-graphy, but in his cave when he is first meeting rocky, and also I was like, why the fuck is this glass here? [SPEAKER_00]: Is he stuck? [SPEAKER_00]: Is he trapped? [SPEAKER_00]: What's happening?

[SPEAKER_00]: But then that went away, and I was like, okay, never mind. [SPEAKER_00]: My walls are down. [SPEAKER_00]: My walls are down. [SPEAKER_00]: I like this.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I mean, it's funny when I was reading the book in the beginning of the book. [SPEAKER_03]: I wonder if I can see it here, but you'd have to be watching the video. [SPEAKER_03]: This is a great reason to subscribe to our YouTube. [SPEAKER_03]: In the book, there's all these like diagrams of what the spaceship looks like and what the centrifuge, because they refer to it a bunch and how it works. [SPEAKER_03]: I kept having to go back and be like, wait, what? [SPEAKER_03]: Where is he?

[SPEAKER_03]: And like, yeah, the way he moves through the space in the book, you kind of, it helped me to have those diagrams, because I, I just was having trouble [SPEAKER_03]: structurally, like, how do you connect to each other and stuff? [SPEAKER_00]: I did think they did a good job of like making it so that anybody watching this could understand like what the issue is and what the plan to fix it is because often with like [SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's like when you're watching industry and you're like, I don't know what they're saying, but like I'm picking up if it's good or bad based like based on their their tone and faces, but with this, it was very sort of simple and understandable for the common person aka me me and you.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I think that is part of the gift that the screenwriter has drew Goddard because he is the one who adapted the Martian as well, and I also have not seen. [SPEAKER_03]: The Martian has like a it's similar in that like it's not like the problem is that hard to understand, but it is sciencey and he I have to imagine the book was way more you know similar to this movie the book has more detail into like the science that actually solve some of these problems. [SPEAKER_03]: like translate the concepts from the book into their like most core one sentence explanations that people will need to understand.

[SPEAKER_03]: And then, you know, I think visually, probably there's some science stuff that's happening on the screen that like satisfies the people who know more about it. [SPEAKER_03]: But that's just a guess. [SPEAKER_03]: I suppose I don't really know. [SPEAKER_03]: But, [SPEAKER_03]: It's, it's cool. [SPEAKER_03]: It's like a really special skill. [SPEAKER_03]: And I think through Goddard, I want to say that he like worked on Lost. [SPEAKER_03]: He worked on like a lot of like some of the really good like exciting shows of the last 20 years.

[SPEAKER_03]: That, that makes sense. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_03]: And you know, [SPEAKER_03]: in the book, it's like, I had a few people I'll ask me over the weekend. [SPEAKER_03]: Like, oh, is there anything you're mad? [SPEAKER_03]: Like, we didn't make it in or something. [SPEAKER_03]: And I truly am like, no, the things that are cut out genuinely are like, there's like more problems that come up. [SPEAKER_03]: But, [SPEAKER_03]: It is like 10 pages of people doing experiments like the stuff toward the end of the movie when they get the amoeba that can kill the dots and the process of getting that amoeba to be nitrogen resistant is like 15 pages of like doing.

[SPEAKER_03]: experiment with me and you think Rocky's dead and you're so it's just like just kind of letting your eyes get grazed over all of it but not really ready to focus on the math. [SPEAKER_03]: I think the only thing you know if I if I may do a book corner the only thing that I missed from the book is that [SPEAKER_03]: the two people on the crew that are dead, you learn a lot more about them in the book like in the flashbacks and so so that it hits you a lot harder as it goes on that these people died like and what they also do.

[SPEAKER_03]: There's like two concepts that I've explained in the book that I think would have maybe been slightly helpful in the movie, but I don't think make or break. [SPEAKER_03]: It's just like, if you're someone who's brain went to these places, this stuff does get covered in the book. [SPEAKER_03]: One is that the coma being put in a coma, it's like one out of every seven thousand people has the gene where they can survive that. [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, and so part of what makes grace able to go on the trip is that they tested him for the gene, too, because they just tested everybody on project Hail Mary.

[SPEAKER_03]: But so like, and even if you have the gene, it's not guaranteed you survive it. [SPEAKER_03]: It's just that you [SPEAKER_03]: who would possibly survive a long-term coma, induced coma. [SPEAKER_00]: The other people just died from being in the coma. [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, okay. [SPEAKER_03]: And then the other thing that gets covered in the book is like something about the faster you're moving, the slower you experience time, [SPEAKER_03]: So that is why Ryan Gosling doesn't age the way everybody else is aging through the story.

[SPEAKER_03]: But that, you know, like I think it didn't even occur to me when I was watching the movie, like I didn't think about that, but I heard people talking about it and I was like, oh yeah, I guess it would have helped if if one person said one line that covered that yeah, because I was wondering like, [SPEAKER_00]: Did those people die of something specific or like what but in them with him I was just kind of like Ryan Gosling could look 35 he could look 45 so I'll just assume he was like 35 in the beginning and 45 at the end Yeah, he could really be anything the filler is really doing its job [SPEAKER_00]: looks great.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's amazing. [SPEAKER_00]: I didn't move in space. [SPEAKER_00]: It didn't migrate at all. [SPEAKER_00]: Just stayed right and dust that happened. [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I never thought about what filler does. [SPEAKER_00]: These dots. [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it does it on earth. [SPEAKER_00]: So I assume it would do it in space. [SPEAKER_03]: Oh my god. [SPEAKER_00]: I just kind of drops. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, but it stayed right where he put it. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, very perky, very perky face.

[SPEAKER_03]: He's got, looks great. [SPEAKER_03]: Keep it up. [SPEAKER_03]: I like to sluddy a little glass that I thought that you know, I've heard a lot of criticism of the glass is acting. [SPEAKER_00]: I liked it, I loved it. [SPEAKER_00]: Because I think, like, there was something about this script that was definitely there are things, the vibe, the tone can get very sort of corny goofy. [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that he did that so well. [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, we're like he did it earnestly, but also did lean into it.

[SPEAKER_00]: He wasn't like taking these kind of corny lines and trying to make them not corny like There this movie in many ways like did feel like a I don't know if feel I don't say this is a negative. [SPEAKER_00]: I say this is a positive. [SPEAKER_00]: It feels like it could have been like a Early 2000s like Disney movie [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I think a hundred percent. [SPEAKER_03]: And I don't think Lord and Miller have directed a movie in a long time, like maybe over 10 years or something, but like it reminded me of like how you're supposed to feel at the Lego movie or something, which is [SPEAKER_03]: great.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, there was, it's like, you know, there's one line that's specifically, I feel like Ryan Gosling's acting like stuck out to me as very charming. [SPEAKER_00]: We're like, when Rocky first comes on to the ship and he's like, [SPEAKER_00]: gonna go find my bedroom and then Ryan Gosling is like, you're a bedroom, oh boy, and it's almost like 90s sitcom, but he is just doing it with such gusto that it really worked for me. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, everything about how he physically embodied that character felt very lived in, which is why I liked the glasses acting.

[SPEAKER_03]: You know, people were saying like, oh, a glass is where wouldn't do that. [SPEAKER_03]: Wouldn't like pull them hang them on this chin or whatever. [SPEAKER_03]: I don't care. [SPEAKER_03]: I have glasses and I do that. [SPEAKER_03]: I don't like having shit on my face. [SPEAKER_03]: You felt representative. [SPEAKER_03]: So I was like, I do that all the time and cleaning it, cleaning it with his shirt, I found also I was like, yeah, that's I and doing that while in conversation, I think, makes for like, really human lived in acting.

[SPEAKER_03]: I really like it. [SPEAKER_03]: I one time I watched one of those like, [SPEAKER_03]: actor round tables last year during the Oscar run up and Kieran Kolkin said that a piece of acting advice he got one time is that if he's not sure what to do during a like a line to act like you're like cleaning something off your shirt while you're saying it and I see him do it a lot and I it does like make it kind of just like oh I'm just existing and I'm talking to you [SPEAKER_03]: choice in acting.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, because also it's like maybe in a real conversation, you would just be standing there. [SPEAKER_00]: But in a movie, [SPEAKER_00]: sometimes you need to do more than maybe you would be normal style just in the way that like you're wearing more makeup for a camera because like then you that make up that would look insane in person looks good and normal in camera right it's like yeah it's like I want to see this guy doing stuff with his hands because I'm sitting there watching this thing [SPEAKER_00]: So like, sorry to the glasses community that you don't feel represented, but I feel like maybe you're being boring with your glasses.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sorry, maybe you should be doing more with your glasses. [SPEAKER_03]: Well, it's just clearly that he doesn't need them all the time. [SPEAKER_03]: And that's what the situation is with mine. [SPEAKER_03]: I don't actually need them all the time. [SPEAKER_03]: I'm supposed to wear them at the movies and like when I'm looking at something far away. [SPEAKER_03]: But a lot of times I put them on [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I just wanted to take these off.

[SPEAKER_00]: I had a glasses prescription very briefly, but not anymore. [SPEAKER_00]: Interesting, you're cured. [SPEAKER_00]: It was a mistake. [SPEAKER_00]: I beat the needing glasses allegations at the DMV.

[SPEAKER_00]: I beat them.

[SPEAKER_03]: That sounds true. [SPEAKER_03]: I don't think we need to hear from many doctors in the comments about this. [SPEAKER_00]: Um, I thought that Sandra Uller, Uller, incredible, I love choice. [SPEAKER_00]: I loved her incredible, like, to get that just like, serious of an actor, like she has such like gravitas. [SPEAKER_00]: Yes. [SPEAKER_03]: Incredible choice. [SPEAKER_03]: And because her gravitas is what makes it believable that this woman would be put in charge of this situation.

[SPEAKER_03]: Like I saw I saw a comment on Reddit that was like that obviously was like written by the hornyest man alive but was like, I know when I was reading [SPEAKER_03]: You think in grip, you think a 27-year-old would be put in charge, also saving the fucking world. [SPEAKER_03]: Guess what? [SPEAKER_03]: She was hot in this. [SPEAKER_03]: She was hot in this. [SPEAKER_03]: Also, she's like the same age that's right in God's name. [SPEAKER_03]: Yes, literally she drew your shoulders on him.

[SPEAKER_03]: And I thought they're chemistry together because like in the book it's also there's like clear sexual chemistry between them. [SPEAKER_03]: And the same as in the movie, right? [SPEAKER_03]: Nothing ever happens, but it makes those scenes repulsive to be reading. [SPEAKER_03]: And it was the same on screen. [SPEAKER_03]: Like I really felt like you could feel the like intrigue that they had with each other. [SPEAKER_00]: I was so sure that they were gonna fuck after karaoke. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, there's also more fucking in the book.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, is there? [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, the likes in the book. [SPEAKER_03]: It's the people who are fucking in the like cruise. [SPEAKER_03]: Okay. [SPEAKER_03]: But it's a bigger issue. [SPEAKER_03]: because they are the science officer for the main crew and the backup crew and like there's some some you know yada yada they're not supposed to be in the same space because like this is the humanities last chance so like we can't run the risk of them like designated survivor yes um [SPEAKER_03]: But you know, it just, it comes up a lot more, but you know, this is obviously family friendly, this movie is like, so it's fine, but no, there was such heavy chemistry between them.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and it was really watchable, but then it's also like because of how good of an actor she is, it is extremely believable, but like even though she's like, kind of like, okay, this guy's cute, like she would turn around to be like, no, sorry, you have to go die. [SPEAKER_00]: You, you have to. [SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, you don't have a choice. [SPEAKER_00]: Like very believable with her. [SPEAKER_03]: Absolutely. [SPEAKER_03]: And what do we think about? [SPEAKER_03]: about his relationship to like bravery, is he a coward or is he not?

[SPEAKER_03]: What are your thoughts, Emily?

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I guess on paper, it's like, yeah, if you're going to save humanity like you should sacrifice yourself or whatever, but then I think that like

[SPEAKER_00]: you do understand why he's like, no, thank you because it's so the the odds of it even working are so slim. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: And it's not like, okay, here's a deal. [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, you die world gets saved. [SPEAKER_00]: It's like 95% chance it seems like you die nothing happens. [SPEAKER_00]: maybe 99% but then even that 1% it's not like a quick death trade off everyone lives it's like going into deep spaces um horrific yes desolate and horrible like it's just the worst the worst thing the human mind can imagine almost yes and

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's, I can kind of see it where he's just like, okay, yeah, find someone else, sorry, set it back a few months, find someone else. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I think that, I think that his choice to say no when asked to do this is like, [SPEAKER_03]: is him not being brave, but I thought a lot about it over the weekend. [SPEAKER_03]: I didn't really think about it at all when I read the book, but you know, online chat or kind of just like, makes you start reframing everything. [SPEAKER_03]: I don't think that I don't think he's cowardly, I don't think there is cowardice in not sacrificing yourself.

[SPEAKER_03]: Like you cannot be brave, but I don't think that's the same as not being as being cowardly, you know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_03]: Um, but [SPEAKER_03]: I thought that I thought that it made it all more believable and like made him more lovable and relatable to have him say no to this opportunity be forced into it anyway and then only find a path to [SPEAKER_03]: make the brave choice once he felt connection. [SPEAKER_03]: Like he had no connection on earth, really at all. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, but it shows that's what's like that is, him saying no does create that very beautiful little parallel later on. [SPEAKER_00]: Like it sets that whole thing up where it's like he [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's like he can theoretically maybe like save the world, but what really inspires bravery is like saving this one, this one best friend and then him ending up with the rocks in the end.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like because I was so happy that he just ended up like living there. [SPEAKER_00]: It seems to have gone into an ice age, but it's also like on earth he had no real relationships and someone was willing to sacrifice his life against his will to save others. [SPEAKER_00]: Whereas then he meets Rocky who was willing to sacrifice himself to save him. [SPEAKER_00]: And so then in turn, he's willing to, like, it's mutual sacrifice because they love each other versus just like this sense of like duty.

[SPEAKER_00]: And like this is what you should do. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and that both versions of bravery are like valid, but one is certainly more like unanimously relatable the idea that you need to feel like feeling connection is what gives you the capacity to be brave and that that character got essentially got like a journey got an arc where he [SPEAKER_03]: wasn't very of it first and was, you know, wanted to stay a loser or not, you know, he wasn't a loser, but he did call himself that. [SPEAKER_03]: But, you know, he had a job.

[SPEAKER_03]: You could do a lot worse on Tinder. [SPEAKER_03]: I think it's so and like this is the stuff that I think tone is I just can't emphasize enough how I think tone is like the hardest fucking thing to nail especially with something that's funny and uplifting and exciting like and it's amazing but this movie was able to capture that tone where the stakes felt really real and it felt really scary at some points [SPEAKER_03]: And yet, at the end, you like, oh, yeah, like love and connection is all anyone needs to rise to be their best selves.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's like very sweet. [SPEAKER_03]: Collaboration is the cure for existential dread is a note I wrote down. [SPEAKER_03]: Is that's like, I don't know. [SPEAKER_03]: I just, it really, it's really amazing and beautiful. [SPEAKER_03]: And, you know, we all need a rocky in our lives. [SPEAKER_00]: No, because it's also like every connection we did watch him make on earth. [SPEAKER_00]: Ultimately, they were absolutely willing to send him off to die. [SPEAKER_00]: Like he became buddies with Carl and okay, but I think those people all believed in him so strongly.

[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, those people were all doing the same job. [SPEAKER_03]: But the last thing he heard on earth was Carl saying, [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, the thing is, too, I think that they also made it, so it's like, the, the, like, Sandra Huller and them, all of them, you also understand where they're coming from. [SPEAKER_00]: Where it's like, her, she's literally like, I need to save Earth. [SPEAKER_00]: I need to literally save humanity and this guy is being a baby about it. [SPEAKER_00]: I, sorry, this is gonna hurt, but you gotta do this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you do also understand where she's coming from. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, totally. [SPEAKER_03]: And she's right. [SPEAKER_03]: She was right. [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, she's not wrong, but it's just like, because you like this guy, you're like, no, but then you're like, yeah. [SPEAKER_03]: His relationship with Carl and that whole montage in the beginning is so fun. [SPEAKER_00]: like him and Rocky are just like equally cute. [SPEAKER_00]: They're just they're cute. [SPEAKER_00]: They're both cute Maxing and so then when they meet it's just like it's it's magic they love each other so much and [SPEAKER_00]: I, I liked that it's also like, you know, a different version of the story.

[SPEAKER_00]: It could be like Ryan Gosling being like a grumpy, grumpy Gus, and he has to break through. [SPEAKER_00]: But they're both like sweet goofy guys. [SPEAKER_00]: And really primed for co-dependency, which is incredible, which is healthy and good. [SPEAKER_00]: I, I think I would be, [SPEAKER_00]: still happy as a codependent rock in a codependent rock society. [SPEAKER_00]: I think that seems wonderful. [SPEAKER_00]: I thought that Rocky was Matt and Grace was Jay. [SPEAKER_03]: I think that's true.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_03]: I like how smart Rocky is. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_03]: You know what's something that I think is really funny in this movie? [SPEAKER_03]: What's not in the book is that like that room that has the screens all over the sides. [SPEAKER_03]: They don't go insane. [SPEAKER_03]: Yes. [SPEAKER_03]: Here's what's nice about earth room. [SPEAKER_03]: Do you know what the volume is? [SPEAKER_03]: Now, okay, the volume is the, like, screen-sounds, massive screen-sounds stage that they shoot all the Marvel movies on and Star Wars.

[SPEAKER_03]: Okay. [SPEAKER_03]: I have no evidence of this, but I truly believe it's like some kind of inside joke that they gave them a volume in the ship in the movie, but didn't shoot at the volume. [SPEAKER_03]: This movie is the exact kind of movie that would have been shot on the volume. [SPEAKER_03]: I think it's very funny to have one in the ship for them that is like a core part of the story and the friendship. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_03]: They have so much fun in there. [SPEAKER_03]: Oh my god.

[SPEAKER_03]: The little party hat. [SPEAKER_00]: Oh my god. [SPEAKER_03]: And his and his party outfit. [SPEAKER_00]: So celebration. [SPEAKER_00]: Very handsome. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, when he like lifts himself up to meet the party hat. [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, when he's just like, I'm going watch you sleep and then you just on top of him. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, that's so cute. [SPEAKER_03]: It was also, yeah, when he's like, are you normally this close and he's like, no, closer. [SPEAKER_00]: I feel like I was getting like cuteness aggression, watching this movie where I just...

[SPEAKER_03]: I feel like I really want you to experience the book, maybe I recommend it because I think he's... You get a lot more of his cute lines in the book. [SPEAKER_00]: Okay. [SPEAKER_00]: I loved maybe waste though, too. [SPEAKER_00]: I did. [SPEAKER_00]: I loved his voice. [SPEAKER_00]: You might not be able to look at lines. [SPEAKER_03]: Maybe. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_03]: I will say I've never, I've not listened to the audiobook, but from what I understand, the audiobook is like one of the most renowned, like, highly rated audiobooks, like people frequently cite this one as like, wow, one of the most fun ones.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not a big audiobook person, but maybe maybe that would get me into it. [SPEAKER_03]: But you get to hear Rocky's voice and Rocky, like there's a really funny line in the book that comes up a bunch of times that is kind of in the movie, but it's sort of, I can't remember where it is. [SPEAKER_03]: I think it's in the like roommates sequence as he's like trying to put together the big glass panels for him.

[SPEAKER_03]: Where Rocky says something like, you are stupid when last sleep question [SPEAKER_03]: And there's like a running gag of him pointing out when Grace is stupid and then asks when he slept because he has learned that humans are stupid if they don't sleep. [SPEAKER_03]: And it's really funny. [SPEAKER_03]: But the line, I want to say things in two different directions. [SPEAKER_03]: So let me number them. [SPEAKER_03]: Number one, the line that killed me with Rocky. [SPEAKER_03]: in the movie was Grace Racky saved stars coming up on the screen.

[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, sobbing. [SPEAKER_03]: That line is just so like simple and for some reason, like that's what demolished me. [SPEAKER_03]: The other thing I wanted to say is that during the sequence where they're testing out the different voices, the audiobook reader is one of the voices, which is just like a cute little history because he's like beloved for doing this voice. [SPEAKER_03]: That is true. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and that was really Maryl Streep, which I think we all know. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I was like, soon they could get Merrill stream for this, but Andy weird is like, in interviews is like, we got Merrill stream, like he's like really impressed.

[SPEAKER_03]: He seems like the sweetest man alive.

[SPEAKER_00]: I, I think the hardest I laughed. [SPEAKER_00]: I just thought it was so cute and funny was when it was going between the building him, the glass room scene and Ryan Gosling doing the little logs and him being like annoyed with him. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: I was like, do this, you're doing it wrong. [SPEAKER_00]: Why are you doing this?

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, that whole like roommates, like real world confessional kind of thing was very funny. [SPEAKER_00]: So, I just like, I think that the character of Rocky he's so cute, but he's so cute because he has a real jaw the V about him that really translates, and he just is like rolling around, he's have been a fun time. [SPEAKER_03]: It's true. [SPEAKER_03]: I think it's true. [SPEAKER_03]: I was like new friend. [SPEAKER_03]: I think that's the way Rocky, like Rocky's personality is like very smart, but very youthful.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's very like young feeling. [SPEAKER_03]: So it almost feels like a baby or like a little kid, but yeah, but he's he's like [SPEAKER_03]: You know, maybe it doesn't come up as much in the movie, but in the book it's like clear over and over and over and over that rocky is much smarter than interesting and [SPEAKER_03]: And he really reminds me of a cat. [SPEAKER_03]: There was something about that scene where he's like rolling with the ball when he first comes in. [SPEAKER_03]: It reminds me of like when a cat is like, has dummies and is enjoying knocking everything off of something.

[SPEAKER_03]: and the running around going 30, 30, is this room for garbage? [SPEAKER_03]: It's like so good. [SPEAKER_00]: It's definitely cat-like the, the just having an agenda. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: And no, no work, cats are never worried about if they're allowed to do something. [SPEAKER_00]: Like, the way cats will just be on every surface available to them. [SPEAKER_00]: And they're they're just busy busy little guys just run around doing their thing and you can be like, please don't do that and they'll just look at you and go and then they'll keep doing it because they're like, what are you going to do they know you're not going to do anything about it.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and let's even kind of making me think about Rocky's like. [SPEAKER_00]: Body language like when he's like when Grace says something in the like middle part of his body kind of tilts like he's listening like a cat listening to you talk I yeah, I also laughed at the [SPEAKER_03]: Um, yeah, and I think, so, I think it's amazing that the puppeteer, I, I'm not not a brag that this morning, I cried at a TikTok because I was, I, I was like watching interviews of the puppeteer, so like for people who don't know, the puppeteer's name is James Ortiz.

[SPEAKER_03]: He was hired to like run the puppetry of Rocky. [SPEAKER_03]: He had a team of like five or six, I think other puppeteers. [SPEAKER_03]: It took like five people to do Rocky because it was so impressive how smooth it was. [SPEAKER_03]: Yes, and how [SPEAKER_03]: He just had the same, he had movements that he repeated that felt like, yeah, this is a guy, this is a creature and he has his like quirks and his personality. [SPEAKER_03]: And this puppeteer who has done a lot of like, he's a big theater person, he's done a lot of like puppets for like little shop of horrors or in the woods, like he's done and he's like really well respected, but he's never done a movie quite like this before.

[SPEAKER_03]: And so he was doing the Rocky Voice with Ryan Gosling on the set just to help Ryan Gosling have something to act to and to make he said an interview to make Ryan Gosling feel like he wasn't alone. [SPEAKER_03]: And they ended up using, they were planning on like hiring a famous person to be the voice and they ended up using James Ortiz, the puppeteer, his voice as Rocky's voice. [SPEAKER_03]: On set. [SPEAKER_03]: So like they didn't even really 80 or so much. [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, that's amazing.

[SPEAKER_03]: And so it's like mostly what was said on set and like the improvisation Am I okay the improvisations that they did? [SPEAKER_03]: And I just think that's so amazing. [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, I made me cry is he also was really involved he didn't design so that the designer was named I think Neil Scanlon who does like creature design for Star Wars and like [SPEAKER_03]: that you know that type of stuff he's done creature design since little shop of horrors the movie in 1986. [SPEAKER_03]: Wow.

[SPEAKER_03]: So this guy is like the creature design? [SPEAKER_03]: Yes. [SPEAKER_03]: But James Ortiz goes works with him on the creature design for Rocky. [SPEAKER_03]: James Ortiz is a puppet like designer and maker for stuff. [SPEAKER_03]: So he knows like what to ask for and they kind of they work together to get this made. [SPEAKER_03]: And I just think it's so amazing that he got to do this. [SPEAKER_03]: And then this morning I saw TikTok where a man was just making his own rocky marionette.

[SPEAKER_03]: And I, I've got a puppet sweatshirt on right now. [SPEAKER_03]: I have been enthusiastic about puppet puppetry and like that art form for so long. [SPEAKER_03]: And I just started crying thinking about like how this is beyond his wildest dreams of like the effect that his one cries. [SPEAKER_03]: That like this is beyond what he probably could have imagined for like how far reaching his work could have been. [SPEAKER_03]: There's so few famous puppets. [SPEAKER_03]: It's like almost coverage.

[SPEAKER_03]: So like I don't know who else you're making. [SPEAKER_03]: that will inspire this many people, but this man, this random guy on TikTok, like made a little rocky marionette, and then in the captions said, James Ortiz reached out to me and told me to post this like tutorial on how to make one. [SPEAKER_03]: If you want to make one and I was like, that's just so special. [SPEAKER_00]: Make a rocky! [SPEAKER_03]: I probably won't make a rocky, I do love that people do it. [SPEAKER_03]: I just don't like to own stuff.

[SPEAKER_03]: I'm not like a merch person. [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, this is something. [SPEAKER_03]: So probably not. [SPEAKER_03]: Although maybe. [SPEAKER_03]: I saw that you can on the Project Hail Mary website, um, they have a like 3D print, I don't know, like file, I don't know what it's called when you the thing you put into the program to 3D print something. [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, that's, that's of grace. [SPEAKER_03]: The little thing that Rocky makes. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I was thinking that's the only thing I would want because I'm like Rocky again as just an object is not cute.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's cute in motion, you know, in action But that little thing. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm like that's like a chic little thing. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, it's cute, you know [SPEAKER_00]: I loved, I really loved the voice. [SPEAKER_00]: Like I was thinking how much I loved the voice. [SPEAKER_00]: So that's amazing, but that wasn't even the plan. [SPEAKER_00]: No, not at all. [SPEAKER_00]: Because it was like perfect in that it was, it was so cute, but it wasn't like too baby. [SPEAKER_00]: Like you still can see them as peers, totally.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because like, if you were stuck with nobody to talk to, [SPEAKER_00]: Let's say ET for like ever. [SPEAKER_00]: You just would kill yourself anyways, you know Because he's not fun to he doesn't have like Yeah, what that's not can't do nobody nobody nobody figured out how to talk to ET Look, I don't know. [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know why I'm being so mean about ET, but it can't do witty reparte with ET. [SPEAKER_00]: It's true This guy is like a peer [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_03]: He's got an opinion.

[SPEAKER_03]: He's got a sensibility. [SPEAKER_03]: He's got a little attitude. [SPEAKER_00]: I like, I like that he's like judgmental, but in a way where it's like with so much love, like it's very like sibling like. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and he's and he's so impatient. [SPEAKER_03]: I think the impatient is very funny. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's that's kind of [SPEAKER_00]: But he's just like such a good little character. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, yeah, and he's going to be hard to top.

[SPEAKER_03]: And I wonder if this movie will make it all the way to awards conversations this time next year. [SPEAKER_00]: I, I feel like it should at least for like production design. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, production designer, even special effects. [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, like, I always think they're practical, but they are special. [SPEAKER_00]: I was that I was actually thinking of that this morning. [SPEAKER_00]: I, special effects should of course include practical effects, because that's even, that's more impressive.

[SPEAKER_00]: But does it, or is it only VFX? [SPEAKER_03]: No, I think it does. [SPEAKER_03]: Okay. [SPEAKER_03]: Could be wrong, but I didn't mad Max Fury Road. [SPEAKER_03]: One, one at the year, it was nominated, and that is all practical. [SPEAKER_03]: Pretty much. [SPEAKER_00]: She don't remember. [SPEAKER_00]: I think I think something, but could that have been production design?

[SPEAKER_03]: Pretty sure it's special effects. [SPEAKER_03]: It's like, it lost, if memory serves, it lost sound design, which everyone was like, what? [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_03]: It won editing? [SPEAKER_03]: No, or no. [SPEAKER_03]: I don't I don't think so. [SPEAKER_03]: I didn't it didn't win much. [SPEAKER_03]: I think I like to the frustration of the people that year although it was a it was a busy year [SPEAKER_03]: I like those moves. [SPEAKER_03]: That's like one of my favorite movies sometimes.

[SPEAKER_00]: So good. [SPEAKER_00]: The clothes were also everyone's talking about the clothes, Ryan Goslings. [SPEAKER_00]: Everyone wants the card again. [SPEAKER_00]: The card again is funny. [SPEAKER_03]: Did you see the backstory of the card again? [SPEAKER_03]: No. [SPEAKER_03]: It's like a famous old cardigan, but it's like a wolf that looks kind of mean. [SPEAKER_03]: And so Ryan Gosling was like, oh, they weren't even going to use that, but it was like in the costume studio. [SPEAKER_03]: And he was like, I think that's really great.

[SPEAKER_03]: And he's like, but the wolf is kind of too scary. [SPEAKER_03]: Can we make it? [SPEAKER_03]: Like, [SPEAKER_03]: an urban fox like in London because they shot in London and I guess in London they have this like fox population and he was like is there a way to make it look like more like that? [SPEAKER_03]: And so they re-did this sweater but instead of the eyes were kind of mean looking on this sweater and so they re-did the eyes to make them more cartoony and like big and sweet and then made the mouth less like snorling.

[SPEAKER_00]: And more just like, oh, I'm a little bit more cute. [SPEAKER_00]: I loved that he was wearing a cat's, the musical T-shirt, and one brief scene. [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I didn't notice that because it was all like science puns or whatever, and then he's wearing it. [SPEAKER_00]: Like a vintage cat's T-shirt, and that's really funny. [SPEAKER_03]: And then isn't there one where it's like, I am enough, or something is like a cat on [SPEAKER_03]: I feel like it's the one he kind of like tried to hide when the the crew gets onto the like job site of the project Hail Mary I saw that [SPEAKER_00]: I didn't notice this while watching, but that I guess the, all the space scenes were shot like full iMac screen and then all of the earth scenes were shot like standard, uh, ratio, yeah, which is cool because I mean the space scenes looked great, I liked really beautiful and I think that I saw some guy who does like, [SPEAKER_03]: Now, listen, I don't even know what the right word is or how this works, but space photography.

[SPEAKER_03]: Like some sort of interstellar photography and his photos were used as some of the, like, whatever, spaces for I loved the Adrian planet, the green, it almost looked like Malachi kind of. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that was like very beautiful and then there were a lot of moments because I feel like it's not [SPEAKER_00]: You don't need to really hammer home in a movie about space, like how terrifying and lonely the endless of spaces. [SPEAKER_00]: I think that's something you can kind of take for granted, and you just need to have little reminders of that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then there were just moments where Ryan Gosling would be like looking out or down, and it's like,

[SPEAKER_00]: You are like, oh, yeah, that's so scary that if you got detached from the ship, you would just float forever until you died. [SPEAKER_03]: And his horror reaction to a lot of it and his man, that like first few sequences of him. [SPEAKER_03]: You know, being clumsy and running around this spaceship and then floating and like being bad and having it being in no gravity, I was like, I was like, this is like a Charlie Chaplin for four minutes. [SPEAKER_03]: It's really good. [SPEAKER_03]: I am really so.

[SPEAKER_03]: I think I've always liked Ryan Gosling. [SPEAKER_03]: I've never thought too hard about him.

[SPEAKER_03]: But he's almost in a like, where would I play some? [SPEAKER_03]: What other celebrity is he like? [SPEAKER_03]: I just feel like he's like the movie star that can kind of do any of these like funny or serious sort. [SPEAKER_03]: Maybe I was like Brad Pitt ish, but

[SPEAKER_03]: Like there's some fundamental difference about the role's bread pit has gotten in this era that this like similar era of his career, but I think he could do any of those roles like, oh, the he can and and he has and he's doing every single thing he does. [SPEAKER_03]: yeah and he's really like he can really turn up the charm he can really turn up the mystery if he wants it's it's it's really cool like blue valentine and this you know crazy in the same process [SPEAKER_00]: insane insane and kind of scary now that's hard he's the like he's the only human for most of his scenes like that's a hard thing to do and he did he did such a good job [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and he was, I, from what I understand, he was like instrumental in making this movie made.

[SPEAKER_03]: He had the unpublished manuscript of Project Hill Mary sent it. [SPEAKER_03]: Wow. [SPEAKER_03]: So he like acquired the rights before it was even out. [SPEAKER_03]: Crazy. [SPEAKER_03]: And I just, I'm so happy he did. [SPEAKER_03]: Thank you Ryan. [SPEAKER_03]: If you see this, we'd like to say thank you. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, this just feels like, I mean, just insane crowd pleaser. [SPEAKER_00]: A movie for everyone that everyone can enjoy and like, but it's also like, [SPEAKER_00]: It is really good and I feel like there are people who are like, it's too optimistic or and it's like, okay, yeah, some movies are dark some movies are like nice and [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe a little corny.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's okay, both of those can exist. [SPEAKER_03]: Totally. [SPEAKER_03]: But I will also say, like, I'm usually that person. [SPEAKER_03]: And I still think that this threaded the needle very well. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, me too. [SPEAKER_03]: Being optimistic in a way that still felt realistic. [SPEAKER_03]: And I think one thing that Andy Weir has been saying in interviews in this press run is like that he considers himself a little bit polyana about [SPEAKER_03]: human nature and that and that he cares about putting that into the world that like Bad things happen.

[SPEAKER_03]: There are bad people, but overall Humanity and human beings want to do Good things and the right things and they do care like most people do care about other people at a baseline [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe why this worked for me, even though I am also usually the person, is because this movie, I guess I didn't feel like [SPEAKER_00]: we had to reckon with them pushing any sort of message of like yeah man and he is actually good because it's not this movie doesn't really say humanity's good it's like no like this one guy is good and this rock is good and friendship is beautiful [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and I think that it is still saying the humanity thing, but it is making it more believable by shrinking the story to be the story of this man and this rock.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and how they help each other. [SPEAKER_00]: Just so beautiful, where it's like out in the most desolate, [SPEAKER_00]: The most desolate part of the universe, they both found their platonic soulmate. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: You're going, you're doing the lonelyest thing imaginable, the most alone a person could ever possibly be. [SPEAKER_00]: And then you're gonna find a beautiful connection with your best friend and the closest person you've ever been to in your life.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's nice. [SPEAKER_00]: It's pretty nice. [SPEAKER_03]: I just so I just finished that book called Rejection by Tony to learn that. [SPEAKER_03]: And it's a book about loneliness, right? [SPEAKER_03]: And it is like coming from a quite cynical perspective. [SPEAKER_03]: It's like really dark. [SPEAKER_03]: And that's funny to re- I finished that this week. [SPEAKER_03]: And then I saw this movie and I was like thinking about how they're both about loneliness. [SPEAKER_03]: And but one just has a different [SPEAKER_03]: I just think like both versions of exploring that topic are valid and good.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because I checked this in great too. [SPEAKER_00]: It's about how loneliness makes you essentially turn into some weird twisted, you know. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: And how it version of it itself. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, in your brain and how the internet calcifies it further. [SPEAKER_03]: And this was the opposite. [SPEAKER_03]: This was like loneliness can make you not brave and not not motivated to do the things that you know are right and not motivated to do anything really unless you are compelled but once you find connection like all that strength is in you.

[SPEAKER_03]: And it managed to tell that story in a way that felt light and fun and playful and never felt like I was being preached to and just sort of carried me through a lovely talking. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's like, I have tentative plans to see it again tonight and Dolby, and the reason I want to see it again is just because I'm like, I want, I want to see them be cute again. [SPEAKER_00]: I just want to see them be a cute time together again. [SPEAKER_03]: I'd love to know what hits you hard after having already see it.

[SPEAKER_03]: what the hell.

[SPEAKER_03]: Second time seeing it. [SPEAKER_03]: Okay, I do have a question for you, non-book reader from me, book reader. [SPEAKER_03]: As we went through the movie and you were experiencing like the flashbacks and then

[SPEAKER_03]: was that clearly him remembering that flashback to you or was that just like storytelling to you? [SPEAKER_00]: I feel like there were just a couple moments that made me think okay he's remembering. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and so then I kind of was like okay think it's that but then there would be moments where it wasn't clear so then I would forget that I thought that yeah I think it was most clear to me when he's in rocky ship and like here's the beautiful sound of the strings and then there's the the memory of being kidnapped yes.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like that unlocked that. [SPEAKER_00]: I think that's what I was like, okay, these definitely were flashbacks in the book are they definitely flashbacks. [SPEAKER_03]: Yes, so the book is is completely in your in his POV, your broken his mind and his thoughts. [SPEAKER_03]: And so, like part of the comedy is like the chapter that immediately follows him remembering that that is what happened like that. [SPEAKER_03]: So you like you go to the next chapter, it's a flashback, and you're reading the whole thing of him getting kidnapped by the government, and then you go to the next chapter, and the first lines are like, what the fuck?

[SPEAKER_03]: And he's like mad. [SPEAKER_01]: You know what I mean? [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_03]: He's feeling about it. [SPEAKER_03]: And it was the only thing I kind of like wish I felt more in the movie. [SPEAKER_03]: And I understand what the movie has a lot in it. [SPEAKER_03]: So like I really am not advocating for anything else to have been added. [SPEAKER_03]: Bye. [SPEAKER_03]: But I did wish it had that feeling a little stronger because I thought the amnesia and then slow memory stuff was like a good avenue for some of the comedy of the story, too.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, totally. [SPEAKER_00]: I feel like that's a classic in first person books is like, yeah, I read, you know, a lot of [SPEAKER_00]: The Rillas and yeah, that's a good way to reveal information slowly. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, yeah, and it's really it's I mean, it they do it well in the beginning when he's like You and he wait you wake up with him on the ship and it's like He's writing on the whiteboard like always muscles question mark. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah [SPEAKER_03]: stuff like that.

[SPEAKER_03]: But yeah, it gets a little looser in the middle and I understand why, but I did kind of miss it. [SPEAKER_03]: It's like maybe the only thing. [SPEAKER_03]: It's like that and the people on the crew, you kind of miss. [SPEAKER_03]: Love the karaoke scene. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_03]: I think I think I do wish if you have Ken Long in a movie that you let him be funny a little bit more than they did with these guys like he didn't do funny. [SPEAKER_03]: No, he just had his accent.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, I don't know why I was like surprised when I was like, oh, he's from China in this. [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've just been watching a lot of industry, you know? [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and yeah, I also felt a little like, oh, right, okay, we gave made him do it. [SPEAKER_03]: I think I just, I just was expecting a different voice. [SPEAKER_00]: I was just expecting his industry, normal voice. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and I, yeah, I also was. [SPEAKER_00]: He's seen on Twitter, there's that one because there's a picture of him from like maybe like a Jeff of him from industry and somebody was like who doesn't watch industry or know who he is was like looking for it and they tweet in there like I was looking for this Jeff and they typed in like [SPEAKER_00]: Strict, strict Obama, strict, strict Chinese Obama or something, and I should find it.

[SPEAKER_03]: I guess I can kind of see it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I would have been kind of nice to get to, I guess they were, I guess they were kind of trying to fast track that by having him looking through like their photos, right? [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, definitely. [SPEAKER_03]: And that's why hit me really hard the second viewing. [SPEAKER_03]: For some reason that funeral, I was like, oh my god, it's so sad. [SPEAKER_00]: I hit me hard and I think, [SPEAKER_00]: It I didn't actually cry, but I feel like the moments I might have cried at like he goes back for Rocky and then Rocky doesn't show up for a while and then like he comes and he's like, he can't talk because they don't have the computer, but you can tell he's like, you came back for me.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and Rocky's little suit. [SPEAKER_03]: I'm sad we didn't get to meet Rocky's mate. [SPEAKER_00]: I know. [SPEAKER_00]: I wanted to see Adrienne. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I want to know all about her. [SPEAKER_00]: But I guess it's just like I really liked that there was like the exact ending you wanted to happen just because I feel like a lot of times in movies like [SPEAKER_00]: You know, it needs to be like bitter sweet and this here, not even a little bit. [SPEAKER_00]: Like there's not even a small part of you that want some to go back to earth, not not even a teeny tiny bit and it's just like, and then the baby rocks.

[SPEAKER_03]: It's very sweet. [SPEAKER_00]: I love it. [SPEAKER_03]: They love learning science. [SPEAKER_00]: So happy. [SPEAKER_00]: There's such baby rocks. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, 10 out of 10 recommend. [SPEAKER_00]: I recommend nothing makes me sadder than like the idea of like good buys between people who are close like the the first movie that made me like absolutely stop was the [SPEAKER_00]: because there's one part where they all like are going their separate ways. [SPEAKER_00]: They're breaking up and there's a song and they all just like go their separate ways to like live their own non-muppet lives.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it destroys me. [SPEAKER_00]: So then the idea of like, when they were saying goodbye, and it's like, oh my God, you love each other so much, but you're never gonna see each other again. [SPEAKER_00]: Have a standing. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: And I just didn't, I just didn't want that to be the case. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'm glad they ended up together. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm so glad. [SPEAKER_00]: And he has a lovely little bio dome. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think it's perfect. [SPEAKER_00]: I just wish they were able to do skin to skin hugs. [SPEAKER_03]: But yeah, but he doesn't seem to need that. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_03]: Some people don't need it. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's true. [SPEAKER_03]: I just wish he doesn't need a romantic.

[SPEAKER_03]: I don't know. [SPEAKER_00]: It's just so rare for like a story to forget about a man that he could become a rock [SPEAKER_00]: a mate and a family on the rock planet. [SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, he seems fine with it. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, he seems very really does. [SPEAKER_03]: He's fulfilled by teaching. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and it's like, okay, the only thing he's not getting is like sex because he has this platonic soul mate in Rocky. [SPEAKER_00]: And so he can just [SPEAKER_00]: And he's good to go.

[SPEAKER_00]: Life is perfect.

[SPEAKER_03]: Okay. [SPEAKER_03]: Any final thoughts about our lovely boys?

[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like probably yes, but I can't think of anything right now. [SPEAKER_00]: But I just pretty well. [SPEAKER_03]: It was just really good and sweet and cute and and worth supporting in theaters. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, for oh, absolutely, like this is this is a big screen movie if I've ever seen one. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, okay, I liked also that he he gets the happy ending we want, but he also did get that stuff back to earth. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, it's a truly happy ending. [SPEAKER_00]: Everybody wants it's like, okay, they made it.

[SPEAKER_00]: They made them both work. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, it's the best case scenario. [SPEAKER_03]: It does seem like Earth tipped a little bit into the ice age, but hopefully they can reverse it. [SPEAKER_00]: The timing is interesting because you're like, oh my god, this is such a long, long, long game, long, long end game. [SPEAKER_00]: Whatever. [SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean? [SPEAKER_00]: Just right. [SPEAKER_00]: I was like, who's calling me? [SPEAKER_03]: What's the gun?

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: The plan takes so long. [SPEAKER_00]: So long. [SPEAKER_00]: Like 11 years to get there, then he has to do whatever. [SPEAKER_00]: And then this stuff has to get back. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: And then they have to figure out how to get it to Venus. [SPEAKER_00]: And then it takes things a long time to get to Venus, I assume. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and then I don't know how long it would take for the amiibo to spread across the entire protrophot line.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yes. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, hopefully not much of earth died. [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, wait, I have a question. [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, you know how they make such a point of Ryan Gosling was like, I believe that there's life forms on other planets that are not water-based life forms.

[SPEAKER_00]: Mm-hmm. [SPEAKER_00]: Is Rocky supposed to not be a water-based life form? [SPEAKER_03]: sort of proving his thesis interesting I don't know the answer to that I mean I don't I don't know if it is said in the book I'm not remembering but maybe [SPEAKER_03]: because he seems to eat other rocks. [SPEAKER_00]: Like, I was like, is Rocky his best friend also proving his hypothesis that he got, you know, yelled out for, wow. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, maybe I simply didn't even think of that. [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, I just, yeah, but yeah, I just want to see it again, so that I can like hang out with, [SPEAKER_00]: the boys the boys I love the boys okay when I have an update from last week actually that doesn't have to do with the movie can I end in okay update yes so I went to the grove again concession stands still down I really wanted popcorn didn't didn't get it and you know last week we were talking about how they have a busted pipe you were saying it wasn't demons right right I I was saying that yes who has a busted pipe this week

[SPEAKER_00]: Is it you? [SPEAKER_00]: It's me. [SPEAKER_00]: My neighbor's shower is sending a waterfall into my bathroom every time they turn it on. [SPEAKER_00]: Busted pipe. [SPEAKER_00]: It's supposed to get fixed tomorrow. [SPEAKER_00]: I think it's the demons mocking us for not believing in them.

[SPEAKER_00]: I just wanted to say that.

[SPEAKER_03]: I don't know. [SPEAKER_03]: Wouldn't I have gotten the busted pipe? [SPEAKER_00]: Cause I was the one mocking? [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe. [SPEAKER_00]: I'll ask the guys tomorrow if they see demons in there when they open it up. [SPEAKER_00]: Right, for a friend. [SPEAKER_00]: And then we'll know for sure. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna be like, for a big perfect. [SPEAKER_00]: Hey boys, any demons in there?

[SPEAKER_00]: So we'll see you all. [SPEAKER_00]: I'll update next week with an answer. [SPEAKER_00]: Perfect. [SPEAKER_00]: Perfect. [SPEAKER_00]: The people who died in a no. [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, um, would you, do we, do we know what movie we're doing next week or is no, we will discuss it, and then you will just find out. [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yes, yes, surprise. [SPEAKER_03]: Okay, thanks for listening. [SPEAKER_03]: Bye.

[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, that was it. [SPEAKER_03]: That was our conversation about Project Hail Mary. [SPEAKER_03]: I have a small favor to ask you. [SPEAKER_03]: Please send this episode to someone that you think would enjoy it. [SPEAKER_03]: Just hit share, send a little text. [SPEAKER_03]: Personal recommendations are the main way. [SPEAKER_03]: Anybody finds out about any new podcast. [SPEAKER_03]: So that is my one ask to you. [SPEAKER_03]: Please and thank you. [SPEAKER_03]: This is just a reminder that our full episode video is available on YouTube every week, and I'd really love some feedback on my little accessory choice this week.

[SPEAKER_03]: So, head on over to medium-literate on YouTube and tell me what you think of my little accessory. [SPEAKER_03]: And if you're listening to audio, [SPEAKER_03]: You won't know what my little accessory was, so, you know, something to think about. [SPEAKER_03]: You can follow us online on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Patreon. [SPEAKER_03]: And next week's movie is going to be for a bit in fruits with the possibility that we will add in other movie if for a bit in fruits doesn't yield a long enough conversation.

[SPEAKER_03]: We think it will, but just in case it doesn't, we have a backup plan. [SPEAKER_03]: Okay, thank you so much for listening and see you at the movies.

[SPEAKER_03]: Median literature was created and produced by Monica Scott and Emily Fay. [SPEAKER_03]: Our theme music was composed by Christian Larson, and technical help is from Alex Luchin. [SPEAKER_03]: Thank you so much for listening and we will see you at the movies.

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