Phil Lord and Chris Miller are about to blast Ryan Gosling into space—although not literally, as we are now forced, contractually, to make clear. Per Variety, the Into The Spider-Verse duo has just signed on to direct a new space-adjacent thriller starring Gosling, based on an upcoming novel by The Martian’s Andy Weir. The role will mark Gosling’s second major turn as a space-o-naut in recent years, after 2018's First Man, because, hey: Dude loves space.
Meanwhile, this will be Lord and Miller’s first official trip up to The Big Vacuum, after teasing the idea with a fake movie poster in 22 Jump Street, and losing the chance to hang out up there for a bit with Solo. (Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs nearly qualifies, but mostly keeps itself to the atmosphere, tragically.)
Weir’s book is currently untitled, with a working title—Project Hail Mary—that suggests that someone (NASA) is probably going to have to throw something (Ryan Gosling) across a distance that is very far (space). That nameless status didn’t stop the book’s rights from selling for an alleged seven figures earlier this year, though, with Gosling apparently pushing for Lord and Miller to tackle the project as soon as he’d read the manuscript. Weir will also be producing on the film, alongside Gosling, Lord, Miller, and their old former-Sony pal, Amy Pascal.