Christopher Miller’s ‘Project Hail Mary’ wouldn’t exist without the Muppets

Christopher Miller is no stranger to taking existing material and reshaping it into something new: He directed “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” and “The Lego Movie” and was a producer for “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” and its sequel, among others.

However, for Miller, who was born in Everett and raised in Lake Stevens, Snohomish County, taking on a project like “Project Hail Mary,” the emotional, exhilarating new sci-fi film starring Ryan Gosling, represented something bigger than he’s ever done before. At the same time, though his latest — based on the novel of the same name by Andy Weir — explores the vast reaches of space, his first inspirations were born from an unexpected and smaller place here on Earth: the Muppets. 

“When I was very young, I saw ‘The Muppet Movie,’ which is relevant to (‘Project Hail Mary’) because there’s a big puppet character in the movie,” Miller said. “In the middle of watching that movie, when Fozzie Bear is driving a Studebaker and singing ‘Movin’ Right Along’ with Kermit, I had this thought of, ‘Like, wait a minute, that’s a puppet, how is he not crashing the car? Who’s driving? How does he see where he’s going?’ I started thinking, ‘How are these movies made?’”

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The rest is history. After drawing elaborate diagrams in his childhood bedroom where he tried to piece together how this sequence was achieved, Miller realized he had caught the filmmaking bug. It’s come to define the past several decades of his life and career. 

“After that, I started wanting to make my own things. My dad had gotten this big VHS recorder to record us as kids. I sort of took it over and started making these little short films with it,” Miller said.

When it comes to his latest creation, the puppet Miller is referring to is an adorable alien named Rocky who plays opposite Gosling’s protagonist as they both try to save the world. This central relationship is what grabbed hold of Miller when he was reading a manuscript of Weir’s novel before it was published for the express purpose of adapting the story into a feature film. 

“I ended up staying up all night until about 5 in the morning in our kitchen because I couldn’t put it down. I got really invested in Rocky as a character and their relationship,” Miller said. “It had so much spectacle and scale and stakes and all the things you want from a movie that you want to see on a big, big screen. But it also had this intimate, human relationship at the heart of it, which all the spectacle in the world is nothing if you don’t care about the characters and their journey that they’re going on.”

There is still plenty of spectacle in “Project Hail Mary,” which, as reported by Puck, had a gross budget of $248 million, making it one of the most expensive movies Amazon MGM Studios has ever made. To Miller, it was a “massive undertaking,” even for his experienced collaborators. 

“There was a point pretty early on, when Greig Fraser, our cinematographer, and Paul Lambert, our VFX supervisor, came up to us and said, ‘You know, this is by far the most complex movie either of us has ever worked on, and we just finished making two ‘Dune’ movies.’ But they were all smiling,” Miller said. “We all love a challenge. And what’s cool about the movie is that it’s about people coming together on Earth to do this impossible project. While we were making the movie, it was like people coming together on Earth to do this impossible project.” 

As for that “big, big screen” Miller wants audiences to see “Project Hail Mary” on, he has fond memories of seeing movies at the Pacific Science Center with his childhood friend and now producing partner, Aditya Sood. Unfortunately for Miller, the premium Boeing IMAX theater, the only screen in Washington state capable of showing films shot in IMAX in full frame 1.43:1, is currently closed, but the film is playing at the smaller neighboring theater, the PACCAR. Miller hopes this will still provide an experience that can similarly transport audiences as he was growing up. 

One of the most important audience members Miller was glad to immerse in the experience? His dad, whose camera he borrowed growing up, and with whom he sat at an early screening.

“He loved it. It’s very rare that I see him get choked up, so that’s special, too.” 

However, there is one thing Miller said he is sorry to immerse Seattle audiences in.

“One small apology to the people of Seattle: The character is from the Bay Area and he does wear a 49ers shirt at one point, briefly. Let me tell you, of the sacrifices you have to make for your art as a lifelong Seahawks fan, that was a bitter pill to swallow, but it was fine.”

‘Project Hail Mary’
The film opens March 19 at multiple Seattle-area theaters.

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