‘Project Hail Mary’ Proves Ryan Gosling Is Our New Tom Hanks

This week:

• Ryan Gosling is irresistible in Project Hail Mary.
• The funniest TV news clip in years.
• Demi Lovato, forever hilarious.
• Why I love Spider-Man.
• My random thoughts of the week.

You Need to See Project Hail Mary

It turns out that spending two hours and 36 minutes staring at Ryan Gosling on a 75-foot-tall screen is an incredibly gratifying way to spend your time.

This is a new fact that I learned while watching Project Hail Mary on IMAX.

The film is directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who are sort of savants of crowd-pleasing franchises, with The LEGO Movie, 21 Jump Street, and Spider-Verse series under their belts. Drew Goddard adapted the book from Andy Weir, who also wrote The Martian, the novel the 2015 film was based on.

Gosling’s Ryland Grace is a middle school teacher who, in a past life, was a brilliant but controversial molecular biologist. We first meet him waking up from an induced coma on the Hail Mary spaceship, where he quickly discovers that he is alone—his comrades died in their sleep—and that he is on a suicide mission to save the human race from lightyears away.

Through flashbacks, it’s revealed that a microorganism is causing the sun to dim, which would cool the Earth to the point of human extinction. (The science is gone over enough that you, after a few rounds, finally understand it.)

Grace is plucked from his middle school job by a government agent, played with deadpan hilarity and touching nuance by Oscar nominee Sandra Hüller, to research how to stop this. (For the brilliant duality of Hüller’s performance, look no further than her karaoke performance of Harry Styles’ “Sign of the Times.” Yes, that happens.)

A series of unfortunate events that we won’t spoil lead to Grace being on the spaceship, where he spends the majority of the movie alone. It’s these scenes that Gosling asserts himself as, quite possibly, the best movie star working today.

He’s all charm and easy swagger, but also lets every emotion simmer to the surface, warming you with a laugh and then breaking you with a tender moment seconds later. The man has chemistry with an AI voice and even spaceship equipment. He’s that magnetic. Your crush on Ryan Gosling is going to reach unseen levels while watching this movie.

This is his The Martian. To make a more apt comparison, this is his Castaway, and he’s our next Tom Hanks.

To carry a movie as big as this while so often alone requires that Hanksian It factor, an almost radical earnestness that serves as a security blanket: the audience surrenders all trust that this actor will deliver the humanity and the humor required to anchor a film’s emotional arc alone. An ordinary man on an extraordinary journey may be a trope, but it takes a singular actor to play it.

Gosling even gets his Wilson, the volleyball, in the form of an alien he names Rocky, and the movie becomes, at turns, a hysterical buddy comedy and a heartrending love story. (Read my colleague Nick Schager’s take on that relationship here.)

In cynical times, it takes a Tom Hanks or, now, a Ryan Gosling to translate a certain thrilling sentimentality that pierces and wins over jaded moviegoers. It’s a hard-earned triumph that Project Hail Mary is being compared to movies like E.T.

You should read through this explanation of how remarkable the filmmaking and worldbuilding are for this movie. In the meantime, I’m still basking in the glow of Gosling’s radiance, and taking advantage of that rare serotonin boost to giggle at this debate that has already emerged: Is Project Hail Mary straight guys’ new favorite movie, or “Interstellar for gay people”?

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All-Time Great TV News Clip

Multiple things can be true at once. Live TV is so hard. Journalists are exhausted. Fluffy celebrity interviews can be impossibly insane. And, sometimes, reporters just ask really stupid questions.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched, and then cackled at, this clip from the Today show. Host Craig Melvin is interviewing actress Anya Taylor-Joy, who has a voice role in the upcoming Super Mario Galaxy Movie and was recently announced to play Joni Mitchell in an upcoming biopic.

In an inexplicable attempt to tie the two projects together, Melvin asked, well, less of a question and more a wonderfully baffling series of words: “You’re rumored to be playing Joni Mitchell, speaking of through lines. One of the arguably most singularly important women in music over the last generation or so. Princess Peach, one of the most iconic women in gaming history. What’s the connection there?”

What is the connection between Joni Mitchell and Princess Peach?

Just amazing stuff.

It’s here that we all have to give a standing ovation to Taylor-Joy and perhaps consider nominating the PR team responsible for her media training for a Nobel Prize. You can almost see the “what the f---?” that is shrieking in her brain make its way into a facial expression—almost—as she very smartly repeats the ludicrous question to buy herself time to come up with an answer. And then she manages to give a real, not insane, response.

The poster who made this clip go viral captioned it, “I will never cut the cord. Television forever.” Truly. This kind of moment can only happen when a network is programming like seven hours of morning television every day. It’s beautiful.

Viral Internet History Is Being Corrected

Let me take you back to January 2024. Each year, the American Heart Association hosts a “Red Dress” fundraiser to support cardiovascular health and research. That particular year, pop star Demi Lovato was booked to perform, and she sang, of all songs, her single “Heart Attack.”

“Heart Attack.” At a cardiovascular health event.

The incongruous, daresay offensive, song choice has gone viral multiple times over in memes and callbacks in the years since. In a new interview, Lovato, quite hilariously, addressed the phenomenon. Essentially: It ain’t her fault.

“They asked me to sing that. I flagged it beforehand and was like, ‘Isn’t this, like, not the vibe?’ They were like, ‘No, they wanna hear it.’ I was like, ‘Okay?’ And then of course people online are like, ‘Why did she sing that?’ Y’all, it wasn’t me! I flagged it!”

There you have it. Demi Lovato innocent!

One Ticket for Spider-Man, Please

It’s no secret, and certainly not a surprise, that superhero movies are generally not my thing. That said, I like good movies, regardless of the genre.

That’s why I’ve always had a soft spot and affinity for the various Spider-Man franchises. They’re well-cast, have a youthful and more fun spirit, and, as the internet seems to have picked up on now that the trailer for Spider-Man: Brand New Day has been released, have one more thing going for them:

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Some Final Errant Thoughts

I want everything for Kirsten Dunst, including, I guess, a role in the new Minecraft movie.

The petty part of me that loves a glamorous mess (and is fully aware that he is nowhere near invite-level for an event like this) did enjoy reading this very dishy on-the-scene report about the Vanity Fair Oscars Party.

Miley Cyrus revealed how her godmother, Dolly Parton, played a part in the Hannah Montana anniversary: “I learned this terrible habit — but I actually think it was good advice from Dolly, she told me that if you want something to happen, promote it before it exists. Then no one can say no. So l just started promoting a ‘Hannah Montana’ 20th-anniversary special that literally did not exist.”

In that spirit, I’d like to end this newsletter by promoting my $250,000 raise, multi-million-dollar book deal, and upcoming marriage to Jonathan Bailey.

More From The Daily Beast’s Obsessed

I tried to explain why the Bachelorette/Secret Lives of Mormon Wives/domestic violence is so shocking, and how the network had it coming. Read more.

It is so important, for your happiness and well-being, that you watch the new season of The Comeback, a perfect show. Read more.

The Pitt delivered its best episode of the season, with an emotionally intense storyline involving ICE. Read more.

What to watch this week:

Project Hail Mary: The best movie of the year. Destined to become some people’s favorite of all time. (Now in theaters)

The Comeback: A perfect end to a perfect, miraculously funny and poignant trilogy. (Sun. on HBO)

Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat: Somehow, they captured lightning in a bottle twice. An absolute delight. (Now on Prime Video)

What to skip this week:

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come: I just can’t with this title. (Now in theaters)