{"id":33810,"date":"2026-03-05T22:01:34","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T14:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=33810"},"modified":"2026-03-05T22:01:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T14:01:34","slug":"project-hail-mary-director-issues-clarification-after-saying-there-isnt-a-single-green-screen-shot-in-the-entire-movie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=33810","title":{"rendered":"Project Hail Mary Director Issues Clarification After Saying There Isn&#8217;t a Single Green Screen Shot in the Entire Movie"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Project Hail Mary co-director Christopher Miller has moved to clarify recent comments in which he said there isn&#8217;t a single green screen shot in the entire movie.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">The Ryan Gosling sci-fi film, due out March 20, is based on The Martian author Andy Weir\u2019s hard-science novel of the same name, and revolves around an astronaut who encounters an alien while trying to save Earth.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">In interviews with the press, Miller, who directed Project Hail Mary alongside collaborator Phil Lord, said there is no green screen at all, the ship was built as a set, and the alien character, called Rocky, was actually in the scenes as a puppet. This, Miller said, helps make Project Hail Mary feel real.<\/p>\n<p><output class=\"box-wrapper jsx-2673806401\" data-cy=\"article-video\"\/><\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Those comments sparked a mixed reaction, with some expressing disbelief, especially when you consider Project Hail Mary spends much of its runtime in space. \u201cThey actually shot in space,\u201d joked author Zo\u00eb Rose Bryant.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Now, Miller has issued a clarification statement, taking to X \/ Twitter to say &#8220;no green screen&#8221; doesn\u2019t mean &#8220;no VFX.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">\u201cThere were, in fact, thousands of VFX shots in the film (2018!),\u201d Miller went on to say. \u201cGreen screen is sometimes used in lieu of building sets or figuring out locations\/lighting in advance, which can be noticeable if not done carefully, and is something we didn\u2019t want to do. We built the entire interior of the Hail Mary ship \u2014 but within the ship, there were still wire and puppeteer removals and ceiling replacements, etc.<\/p>\n<p><output class=\"box-wrapper jsx-2673806401\" data-cy=\"article-slideshow\"><button type=\"button\" style=\"display:none\" class=\"jsx-2228525885\"\/><span data-cy=\"slideshow-view-trigger\"><\/p>\n<div data-cy=\"slideshow-preview\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 slideshow-preview\">\n<h3 class=\"title5 jsx-62124236 jsx-1085005187\" data-cy=\"slideshow-preview-title\">The Biggest Movies Coming in 2026<\/h3>\n<div data-cy=\"slideshow-images-container\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 images-container\"><button type=\"button\" data-cy=\"hero-image\" aria-label=\"Open Slideshow\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 hero-image\"><img alt=\"2026 is here, so let's look at what Hollywood's got in store for us over the next 12 months, ranging from horror and sci-fi to superheroes and fantasy to whatever Disney and Pixar have planned. &lt;p&gt;&#10;&#10;Check out the movies we can't wait to catch in 2026!\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"progressive-image jsx-2021719738 image aspect-ratio aspect-ratio-16-9 jsx-2605834259 jsx-2338608387 hover-opacity\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-cy=\"progressive-image\"\/><span class=\"button-text jsx-729543028 button button--primary jsx-3381835873 jsx-4266531355 row-pagination-button next contained centered round large\" data-cy=\"paginate next\" title=\"Open Slideshow\"><span class=\"ign-icon right-chevron jsx-2750866048 jsx-2919720488\" role=\"presentation\" aria-hidden=\"true\" data-cy=\"right-chevron\" style=\"mask:url(https:\/\/kraken.ignimgs.com\/_next\/static\/media\/RightChevron.272be43c.svg) no-repeat center center \/ contain;background:currentColor\"\/><\/span><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/output><\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">\u201cWhen Ryan is outside on the hull of the ship, we shot him in front of a black background for space and a shifting hue background when he was up against the aurora of a planet which allowed for truer interactive light on him than a green screen would. The wide space exteriors and spaceship shots were entirely digital and beautifully done by ILM. Rocky was a seamless blend of puppetry and animation from Framestore. And other great work from many more. It really does take a village and we had the best of the best on our side.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">So, Miller was correct in saying no green screen was used, but that doesn\u2019t mean there aren\u2019t visual effects in Project Hail Mary, which some had taken it to mean.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">One high-profile fan of the approach taken for Project Hail Mary is Hellboy director Guillermo del Toro, who praised Miller and Lord in a social media post. &#8220;What Phil and Chris did here, the amount of PRACTICAL sets and effects and puppets is just so beautiful to see,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-theme=\"light\">\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\" lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">What Phil and Chris did here- the amount of PRACTICAl sets and effects and puppets is just so beautiful to see- so inspiring to hold- it&#8217;s a goal- and aspiration and a commitment. Specially now- so much- now. https:\/\/t.co\/7GjAdUC2wA<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RealGDT\/status\/2029036012236881939?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" class=\"link jsx-1337145738 jsx-3925284146 underlined\" data-cy=\"styled-link\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 4, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">The first trailer for Project Hail Mary was released at the end of June last year \u2014 and it blew up online, garnering <u>over 400 million views in a single week<\/u>. At the time, that was a record for a film that was not a sequel or a remake.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Project Hail Mary stars Ryan Gosling as a professor, scientist, and astronaut who wakes up one day on a spaceship with no recollection of how he got there and a new mission that will put him at the center of saving humanity from a catastrophic event. Sandra Huller and Milana Vayntrub star alongside Gosling, who also produced the project. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse fame have teamed up once again for their first directed film in 12 years following 2014\u2019s <u>22 Jump Street<\/u>.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\"><em>Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/project-hail-mary-director-issues-clarification-after-saying-there-isnt-a-single-green-screen-shot-in-the-entire-movie\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Project Hail Mary co-director Christopher Miller has moved to clarify recent comments in which he said there isn&#8217;t a single green screen shot in the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33811,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[17313,2626,3747,2502,17312,605,3952,6202,1543,781,3221,4210,2451],"class_list":["post-33810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-gadgets-reviews","tag-clarification","tag-director","tag-entire","tag-green","tag-hail","tag-isnt","tag-issues","tag-mary","tag-movie","tag-project","tag-screen","tag-shot","tag-single","wpcat-32-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}