Arizona Tribune - 'Project Hail Mary' sends Ryan Gosling, and Comic-Con, into outer space

Gosling was joined on a convention panel by directing duo Christopher Miller and Phil Lord, as well as screenwriter Drew Goddard and book author Andy Weir -- whose previous novel "The Martian" was also turned into an Oscar-nominated film starring Matt Damon.

Based on Weir's 2021 book of the same title, "Project Hail Mary" follows astronaut Ryland Grace (Gosling), a science teacher waking up to learn he was recruited for a space mission to save Earth from an existential solar threat.

Gosling described his character as "a scared guy who has to do something impossible."

"I knew it would be brilliant, because it's Andy [Weir]," Gosling told the crowd.

"It took me places I've never been. It showed me things I had never seen. It was as heartbreaking as it was funny and I was... not just blown away, but also overwhelmed."

Weir for his part said it was "so cool" to see his book come to life and complimented Gosling for giving "many layers to this character I made up."

Lord and Miller, the Oscar-winning duo behind the "Spider-Verse" Spider-Man animated films, talked about the challenges of shooting a "crazy ambitious" film which takes place inside a spaceship for the most part.

"We had to build an entire spaceship in two modes of gravity, and then we built this entire massive tunnel at scale," Miller said.

"This is insane, to build a tunnel that was like 100 feet (30 meters) long, filled up an entire stage."

The event also showcased various clips from the film, receiving a positive response from fans, who noted the bond formed between Gosling's character and an alien named Rocky.

"The relationship between these two characters is the heart of the movie," Miller said.

"I loved it," attendee April Rodriguez, who also read the book, gushed about the film.

"I just never, like, envisioned it that way. So that was pretty cool."

- Star Trek -

Comic-Con, which bring some 130,000 fans for the convention in San Diego, California, welcomed the Star Trek universe to the main stage earlier in the day Saturday to showcase its upcoming releases.

Thousands of fans filled the hall to watch exclusive footage from the fourth season of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" before it premieres on Paramount+.

One clip showed Captain Christopher Pike played by Anson Mount in an entire episode where the cast is depicted like puppets from Jim Henson's Creature Shop.

Fans were also offered a first look of a new Star Trek series, dubbed "Star Trek: Starfleet Academy" starring Holly Hunter.

Hunter plays Nahla Ake, the academy's chancellor and captain of the USS Athena, who in a clip shown at Comic-Con welcomes a new class of cadets.

"It was really interesting to get the offer to be the captain, but then also to combine that with being the chancellor," Hunter said.

"The captain is there to analyze in emergency situations, and then to delegate. And the chancellor is there to guide, to collaborate and to have tremendous empathy.

"It was just a wonderful combination of things," she added.

Comic-Con continues on Sunday for its final day of events.

M.White--AT