Ryan Gosling’s Space Saga: How ‘Project Hail Mary’ and a Mop Saved the Day with Julia Roberts’ Help

Back in 2020, Andy Weir sent Ryan Gosling an unpublished manuscript of ‘Project Hail Mary,’ and Gosling was instantly hooked. He felt like the book had a knife in his ribs, pushing him to call up Phil Lord and Chris Miller to direct, and Amy Pascal to produce. Six years later, the film is a massive hit, with Gosling in every single scene of the 156-minute movie, delivering a performance that’s both hilarious and heartbreaking. What made it tough? He had to act opposite a rock-like alien puppet named Rocky, played by James Ortiz and a team of puppeteers. The set was chaotic—sometimes the puppet would break, like the ‘Jaws’ shark, and Gosling was acting alone for most of it. He got so tired of solo acting that he ran into Julia Roberts, who invited him to her set. That visit inspired him to ask Lord and Miller for a mop to act with, and they went all out building ‘Moppy Ringwald.’ It turned out to be a creative spark that made the film shine, proving that sometimes, the best solutions come from talking to a friend like Julia Roberts.