Clocking in at 475 pages, though, the Project Hail Mary book presented a colossal task for adapting it to the big screen. Even though the larger structure and the biggest narrative points are present in the film, there are some distinct differences. Beyond just condensing some material so that some scenes happen at the same time and some characters aren’t featured at all, there are huge details in the pages of Project Hail Mary that are not seen in the film. These are the best ones. Spoilers for Project Hail Mary, the book and the movie, will follow.
10) The Hail Mary’s Entertainment Selection
The Hail Mary may be created with the express purpose of saving humanity, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t stocked to the gills with entertainment. While still waking up and becoming accustomed to being in space, Grace finds the library in the computer of the ship, which not only contains a copy of every textbook and every scientific paper ever published, but also a copy of the Library of Congress. This means the Hail Mary has a “digital catalog of everything that’s ever been copyrighted in the United States.” This is alluded to in the movie when Grace shows Rocky the actual feature film, Rocky, but it doesn’t go so far as to reveal that every piece of copyrighted material.
9) Grace Is Wearing the Wrong Suit
In the pages of Project Hail Mary, one of the key details about equipment for the entire mission is that Stratt refuses to have untested materials and tools put on the ship, instead opting for tried and true equipment that either won’t fail or, if it does, has a known reason for doing so. As a result, it’s decided that the space suits that will be brought onto the ship are the old school Russian Orlan-MKS2 EVA, which are bulky and cumbersome suits that open up from the back. It’s an element of the larger Hail Mary ship and Stratt’s demeanor that is cut from the film entirely. Instead, the Project Hail Mary film has Grace wear a stylish and cool astronaut suit.
8) History of Astrophage
The arrival of Astrophage is a colossal scientific discovery, but the problems that microbial life presents for life on Earth overtake the plain, simple truth that its existence proves that we’re not alone in the universe. In his study of Astrophage, though, Grace comes up with a distinct idea that the similarities between Earth and Astrophage aren’t a coincidence, and that life on Earth was “seeded by some ancestor of Astrophage.” It’s a similar theory shared by Rocky as well, that all life across the universe, be it Earthlings, Eridians, Astrophage, or Taumoeba, shares the same ancestry. It’s never proven in the book, of course, but it’s talked about enough that it seems plausible.
6) Rocky’s Laptop
The Project Hail Mary movie does include the trade between Rocky and Grace as they prepare to return home to their respective planets, with Grace gifting Rocky one of his laptops from the ship. Rocky has specifically requested it since Eridians don’t have any kind of technology like that on their planet, but what’s missing from this exchange in the movie is the contents of the laptop. In the book, Rocky calls the gift of the laptop “the greatest gift in the history” of his people, thanks to the centuries of human technology that is detailed within it. Later, Grace reveals those contents: a complete copy of Wikipedia. So, yes, Rocky will have the means to learn about relativistic physics and the history of humanity, but he’ll also have access to Wikipedia pages like McDonald’s urban legends and Toilet paper orientation.
5) The Crew’s Suicide Method
Ahead of the launch of the Hail Mary, and before Grace is enlisted to become a part of the crew, one of the details he has to collect is what each of the astronauts’ preferred method of suicide would be after their mission is complete. He meets with Commander Yáo, Ilyukhina, and Martin DuBois to ask them how they want to die in space. Yáo asks for a gun, noting that he’ll make sure he’s the last of the crew to die in order to make sure that the other methods work properly. Ilyukhina asks for heroin, and Martin DuBois asks for specific containers and modules so he can die by nitrogen asphyxiation, noting his research indicates it will be relatively painless.
These details are cut out of the Project Hail Mary movie entirely, but DuBois’ method proves to be a powerful tool to have on the ship (despite his death on Earth). The nitrogen cannisters that are placed on the Hail Mary end up being used by Grace and Rocky to breed the Taumoeba that can survive in their respective. Even though this is still a major part of the film, the book actually explains their origin (and how their experiment wouldn’t be possible without DuBois’ method).
4) How Long Grace Has Been on Erid
Image Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios
One of the biggest twists in Project Hail Mary is that Grace accompanies Rocky back to Erid instead of returning to Earth. Though the movie does include his living on the planet, it doesn’t say how long he’s been there. In the book, Rocky and Grace arrive on Erid in just three years and then have to wait another decade before it’s even clear if one of the beetles made it to Earth, and they were able to fix the astrophage problem. All of this is implied in the film, but the book makes it clear that Grace has been living on an alien planet for over a decade by the end of the story.
3) What Grace Eats on Erid
A major element of Rocky and Grace’s relationship that is central to one scene in the film is their eating habits. In the Project Hail Mary movie, it’s a gag where both find the other eating to be gross, but in the book, it goes deeper, with each learning about the contents of their food. Eridian food, for example, is largely made out of toxic metals that Grace would quite literally be unable to eat. This poses a problem ahead of their trip to Erid, since Grace will run out of provisions eventually and have nothing to eat. The first fix that they come up with for this is that Grace can eat Taumoeba, but after spending a few years on Erid, Grace reveals that the Eridian scientists have figured out a way to make food for him. One of the main meals that he has is a meat cloned from his own flesh, revealing that he eats a “me burger” every day.
2) Grace’s Age
Thanks to Ryan Gosling’s impeccable good looks, Ryland Grace appears to be the same age throughout the entirety of Project Hail Mary. In the pages of the book, though, the extensive time in space travel largely means that Grace is quite old. It’s worth noting that the initial trip on the Hail Mary takes 13 years, meaning he’s perhaps in his 40s during that section of the book. By the end of the story, though, Grace reveals that he is “technically” 71 years old when he’s on Erid, thanks to time dilation and space travel, though he’s really only in his 50s.
1) Grace’s Students on Erid
Sony Pictures
One of the best moments in Project Hail Mary is when the ending reveals that Grace’s time as a teacher is being put to good use on Erid, as he has become a science instructor for a classroom of young Eridians. Though the movie does make it clear that Eridians have a much different lifespan than humans, the film doesn’t reveal that Grace’s students are almost as old as he, each clocking in at about 30 years.
