'We made 300 iterations of him, easily': Project Hail Mary directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller on the year-long journey to bring the new sci-fi movie's cute alien Rocky to life
Exclusive: 'The design team put on fashion shows to help us figure all of that stuff out'
· TechRadarNews By Tom Power published 17 March 2026
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- Project Hail Mary's directors have revealed how long it took to come up with Rocky's final look
- The sci-fi movie's art team came up with 300 designs for the adorable alien
- The filmmakers have explained why he was shown in the trailers, too
Project Hail Mary's (PHM) directing team has revealed how long it took to settle on the final look for its cute extraterrestrial Rocky.
In an exclusive chat with TechRadar, Phil Lord and Chris Miller discussed the year-long process of bringing the spider-like creature to life. As part of the same interview, they also outlined their reasons for Rocky's appearance in Project Hail Mary's first trailer and subsequent teasers after some people questioned why his reveal wasn't held back for the final cut.
But let's start at the beginning. For the uninitiated: Rocky is an adorable yet highly intelligent alien that Ryan Gosling's Ryland Grace meets in one of this year's most exciting new movies. Agreeing to work together to solve an intergalactic mystery — read more about its plot in my Project Hail Mary review — the pair soon forge a close bond amid their perilous spacefaring quest.
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Naturally, the first obstacle that Lord, Miller, and the film's art department had to overcome was Rocky's design.
A helping hand was afforded by the alien's description in Andy Weir's book namesake. However, with readers of said novel likely imagining Rocky in their own unique way, PHM's crew knew they wouldn't be able to please everyone.
Nevertheless, so began a period of trial and error as those responsible for bringing Rocky to life — concept artists, the visual effects team, and a group of puppeteers from Creature Shop, among others — worked towards coming up with a final look that most would be happy with.
"We easily came up with 300 iterations," Lord admitted. "We took Andy's description as a springboard, cast the net really wide, and then started to refine him down.
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