Ryan Gosling’s 2026 calendar release, Project Hail Mary, has been a box office hit, cementing itself as one of the best science fiction movies of recent memory, and a lot of that comes down to his performance. But that success wasn’t exactly guaranteed, especially when you factor in what he was up against on set. For large stretches of the shoot, he was working completely alone. According to the actor and filmmakers, it added up to nearly 100 days of solo work. Luckily, they found a pretty inventive way to keep him from feeling like he was drifting out there by himself.
Overall, Gosling has been open about just how isolating the role could be. The film puts him front and center as a lone astronaut trying to save humanity, which meant there weren’t many scene partners to lean on. For long stretches, it was just him, the set, and a whole lot of empty space to react to. So the solution was simple in concept but wild in execution: the filmmakers stayed in his ear while he performed. That was a request Gosling specifically made, too, as he explained to Polygon:
I asked for it. That was my idea… I was alone for 100 days or something on this film and I was in spaceships and on wires, and I… I need to have some way to communicate… it became this way to have a whole other form of communication with James [Ortiz] and Rocky.
Pulling back the curtain a bit, Gosling and the movie’s directors, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, explained how they approached the challenge of keeping a performance grounded when your lead actor is essentially talking to no one. The answer turned out to be clever, slightly chaotic, and very on-brand for this group.
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Instead of leaving The Notebook star to carry those scenes entirely on his own, the directors found a way to stay inside the moment with him, literally. They piped themselves into his ear during takes, offering live feedback, suggestions and even the occasional curveball. At first, though, they weren’t totally sold on the idea, as Christopher Miller admitted:
At first we were like, ‘I don’t know if we want to, like be in your ear,’ or, ‘It’ll take you out of the moment.’
But the Drive actor pushed for it, and once they committed, it turned into something much more dynamic than anyone expected. The other half of the directing duo, Phil Lord, added:
He asked us if we could be in his ear and offer suggestions and pitches, and just so he wasn’t doing the scenes alone. And the other thing, advantage of it is the other actor doesn’t know… what’s coming.
That unpredictability became part of the performance itself. The team even looped in puppeteer James Ortiz, who operates and voices the alien character Rocky, turning him into a kind of live conduit during scenes. Miller continued:
We ended with our puppeteer, James Ortiz, who was lead puppeteer of Rocky and the voice of Rocky. We had a microphone to his ear going like, ‘Say this to Ryan. Let’s see what he does.’
Sometimes the team didn’t even stop at dialogue. Music made its way into the process, too, giving Gosling emotional cues in real time. Miller added:
We also would sometimes play music in his ear. That was sort of like in the mood, he’s like such a reactive actor that he can process all of this stuff and then make something real out of it. It was a real revelation. It was a fun thing for us too.
It sounds like it was very much a “whatever works, do it” sort of situation on the set of the new book-to-screen adaptation, and it’s the kind of behind-the-scenes trick that feels oddly perfect for Project Hail Mary. That’s because it’s a story about a man improvising his way through isolation, so it feels fitting that the movie ended up being made in a way that leaned into that same spirit.
It would seem the directors’ trick of being in the actor’s ear paid off, as the new sci-fi flick continues to rake in the money and enjoys critical success. Not to mention, it has been a real shot in the arm for theaters, giving us hope about the future of cinema and that the theater industry isn’t on life support as we have all been hearing for some time. Apparently, even when it comes to movies, if you build it, audiences will come.
Project Hail Mary is still playing in theaters. Be sure to check your local listings for showtimes.