Director Chris Miller is sipping an Aperol Spritz during a well-earned family vacation to the Dolomites, marveling at the success of his and co-director Phil Lord’s film Project Hail Mary.
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Starring Ryan Gosling, the movie about a hapless schoolteacher who is blasted off into space to save civilization has also done something otherworldly: become a box office hit. To date, it has grossed $300 million globally, a miraculous feat for a movie in the modern era that isn’t a sequel or based on existing IP. (Industry observers point to 2023’s Oppenheimer as the last example of a similar hit). One could even say that its rare success at the box office mimics the improbable story told in the film.
“When you’re doing something that’s a big risk at a time when things are not looking great and it works, it’s very gratifying,” Miller told Billboard via Zoom in between orange-hued sips, of both the film itself and its box office. “In a way, it was its own Hail Mary.”
Aside from an emotional and inspiring story (which was adapted from a 2021 novel by Andy Weir) coupled with eye-popping visual effects, the film is fueled by an eclectic soundtrack utilizing both head-turning needle drops and an innovative score which is equally atmospheric and soaring.
“We initially had a few ideas we were circling when it came to the music,” Miller told Billboard. “One of them was to have music from all over the world because we wanted it to feel like a global mission with everyone rooting Ryan’s character on.” That includes anything-but-mainstream placements like “Gracias a la Vida” from the Argentine singer Mercedes Sosa and “Po Atarau” courtesy the Turakina Māori Girls’ Choir out of New Zealand, spearheaded by music supervisor Kier Lehman. “We tried using more modern tracks in it, but it didn’t ever want to stick,” said Miller.
There was one outlier. The movie’s most memorable musical moment comes from a haunting performance by the no-nonsense character charged with heading the international task force to save Earth, played stoically by Sandra Hüller. During a key moment in the film, the team gathers to blow off steam and sing karaoke, with Hüller belting out Harry Styles’ Billboard Hot 100 top 5 hit “Sign of the Times,” a setup that was inspired by a location scout the directorial duo embarked on.
“We went onto the USS Abraham Lincoln in San Diego and noticed that the most interesting parts of the ship were the social spaces,” Lord recalls. “Some of them have all sorts of quirky things, like 15 versions of Monopoly and a karaoke machine. We were thinking, this is also a movie about social anxiety and the way our connections with each other become so valuable.”
Inspired to include a karaoke scene in the script for dramatic effect, initially Hüller’s character wasn’t even slated to take the mic. But in a story Gosling later relayed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, days before they shot the scene, the star randomly heard Hüller from her dressing room. “I heard the voice of an angel and I was like, ‘What is that?’ I went down the hallway and said, ‘You can sing? Please sing in the movie.’ And she was like, ‘I’ll think about it.’”
Eventually, Lord said that Hüller agreed with one caveat: “She said, ‘I’ll do it, but only if I get to pick the song.’” The team girded themselves, but her choice was “Sign of the Times,” as she and her daughter would both sing along to the Styles track. But the clock was ticking: the production only had 36 hours left on the ship where they were filming in London; barely enough time to practice, let alone clear the megahit considering the time difference. Gosling told Fallon of the reaction: “Can you choose an easier song to clear?”
“We spent over a month getting ready to film that scene, pre-recording everybody and overpreparing with options,” Lehman said, until the musical wrench was thrown into his plans. “I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, so we immediately jumped into it.” Their first call was to Universal Music Publishing who represents Styles. Eventually, the film’s powerhouse producer Amy Pascal got involved, as well as Jody Gerson, chairman/CEO of Universal Music Publishing Group. “She got in touch with Harry and told him what a special movie it was going to be.”
In the 11th hour, they narrowly cleared the song. “Just in time for her to sing, but just barely,” said Lehman. “There was no prep for her.” According to Lord, she only crooned it on camera twice. “We also didn’t tell anybody there what she was going to do, so those reactions are genuine reactions from the cast who didn’t even expect her to show up.”
As Gosling told Fallon, “It became the anthem of the film,” with the actor even singing it to Harry Styles during a recent hosting gig on Saturday Night Live. Adding to the kismet, Styles is back in the spotlight promoting his Billboard 200-topping album Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally in tandem with the movie’s release. “It’sone of those incredible moments,” said Lehman, noting even specific lyrics like “We gotta get away from here” match the scene perfectly in the lead-up to Gosling launching into space. “I think it comes from leading with the creative first and not being afraid to take a chance on the right song, even though the backend part of the process wasn’t the ideal situation for my position as a supervisor,” Lehman admits.
In addition to clearing Styles on a time crunch, Lehman also had a Beatles song to contend with. The source material novel is rife with Beatles references, which carry over on screen. Even the capsules Gosling eventually sends back to Earth are named for the respective members of the Fab Four. With that in mind, the goal was to include at least one Beatles tune: no small feat for the famously clearance-averse and typically prohibitively expensive act.
“There were some interesting covers that we had tried from early on because we assumed we never would be able to actually get one in,” said Miller. They included David Bowie’s spin on “Across the Universe” as well as “Here Comes the Sun” courtesy Cat Stevens. Eventually, they narrowed in on two songs: “Don’t Let Me Down” for the end credits, and “Two of Us” during a pivotal scene before the film ends. According to Lehman, the process was layered: “The first I was told was that it’d be very expensive, and they’d need a lot of information in order to make a final decision.”
With that, the filmmakers handed over scripts, a rough cut, and then, unusually, the final cut of the scene late in the process, so the powers that be had full understanding of the song’s inclusion which later got the greenlight. “Our producing partner Aditya Sood pitched ‘Two of Us,’ and when we included it, it fit it so perfectly,” said Miller, alluding to the fact that while the song on its face is about John and Paul’s friendship, it has double meaning given it’s also a nod to Ryan Gosling’s character and the alien he (spoiler alert) becomes close with.”
With the placements in place, the rest of the universe of music is populated by a score from Daniel Pemberton, who previously teamed up with Lord and Miller on Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. “I wanted to make something that felt magical and strange, that captured both the awe and wonder of the universe as well as what it would be like to communicate with an alien being who turned out to be kinda fun,” Pemberton told Billboard. According to Miller, they wanted to make sure Gosling’s character “never felt alone in the scenes. That’s why there were a lot of choral elements in the score; like children stomping and clapping.”
In fact, Pemberton used an array of novel ways to record the score, including recruiting actual schoolchildren to record in none other than Abbey Road, in a nod to Gosling’s teacher character. “We had (the kids) playing a lot of the percussion parts using their bodies, stomping on the floor, clapping and slapping,” said Pemberton, who also used a 1950s-era Cristal Baschet, made of glass and metal and played with water. “There are so many unique sounds.”
“A lot of a movie’s success depends on people feeling engaged and holding their attention for the length of a concert,” said Lord. “A big part of that is having beautiful music in it. Over time, I think we managed to find the right rhythm to keep everyone locked in and that’s why you’re finding people leave the theater, telling their friends and wanting to see it again.”
