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House of R

‘Project Hail Mary’ Deep Dive. Plus: Andy Weir!

21 Mar 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What is discussed at the start of this section?

5.296 - 28.468 Mallory Rubin

Greetings, and welcome to House of R. Happy Friday. Happy Friday. We're not usually here on Fridays. It's true. Except when we're doing Talk of Thrones. Sometimes we are here on Fridays. We're a Ringerverse podcast on the Ringer Podcast Network. I'm Mallory Rubin. Joining me today to fist my bump. It's Joanna Robinson.

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29.43 - 31.152 Andy Weir

Fist bump, buddy. Fist bump.

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33.848 - 50.136 Mallory Rubin

Mary. I know. I'm so excited. It is finally Project Hail Mary time. It's not just me here today, though, right? No. We're going to do a deep dive and chat about this movie that we loved. Spoiler. Chat about this book that we have loved. Spoiler. And then who will we be hearing from at the end of this podcast?

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50.588 - 63.086 Andy Weir

Andrew, does he ever go by Andrew? I don't know. One Mr. Andy Weir is here. He does now. Andy Weir, will we look different in different clothing and different hair? Don't worry about it. It was definitely filmed today, that interview with Andy Weir.

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63.727 - 72.38 Mallory Rubin

We're in different outfits. My hair is, I'd say, the same, which is to say increasingly gray. Your hair might be different, though. You like to mix it up. Find out.

Chapter 2: What can we expect from the Project Hail Mary adaptation?

72.861 - 103.822 Mallory Rubin

After this. After this. All right, Jo. Yes. The Andy Weir chat will be at the end of the episode today. So everybody, please stay tuned for that. We genuinely had a great time chatting with him about not just this adaptation and his work, but honestly, kind of just like space nerd stuff. We talked a little Star Wars. We talked a little Doctor Who. Nerd stuff go. Nerd stuff go.

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103.862 - 116.776 Mallory Rubin

I mean, always here. Witch stuff go. Nerd stuff go. Witches, be gone. No, stay. Yeah, be stay. Yeah, be stay. Peace day, witches. Programming reminders before we get into the deep dive?

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116.796 - 131.453 Andy Weir

Great question. We've got... A bunch of people have been asking us to break down the Dune and Spidey trailers, which we will be doing. That's right. Did they drop a little earlier than we expected? Yes. They did. But we will be getting to that. We will also be checking in on Daredevil. That's right. That's launching next week.

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131.573 - 132.174 Carlos Chiriboga

That's right.

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132.194 - 133.575 Andy Weir

So we've got all that on the horizon.

133.615 - 133.696 Carlos Chiriboga

Yes.

133.716 - 138.354 Andy Weir

We've got more... Chris Nolan movies to get to before The Odyssey is here.

138.474 - 139.516 Mallory Rubin

We sure do. We're months away.

139.556 - 150.791 Andy Weir

I know, wild stuff. Very exciting. And then, despite the fact that the reboot is canceled, we will be continuing up pace with our Buffy rewatch. Mallory has watched- They can't stop us. Most of, not all of, but most of season four.

Chapter 3: How do the hosts feel about Andy Weir's work?

170.232 - 190.887 Mallory Rubin

Follow House of R on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. You can watch full video episodes of House of R and the Midnight Boys pew-pew on Ringiverse. Great stuff. And on the Ringiverse YouTube channel. But guess what? We have new social handles. So you can follow... houseofourpod, that is houseofourpod on Instagram and TikTok.

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191.148 - 208.1 Andy Weir

It's very exciting. Mallory has a big project coming up that we're hoping to document on social media. I don't want to say anything specifically about it, but it's very exciting. And we would love for you to be with us every step of the way. So how's the VAR pod?

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208.261 - 227.188 Mallory Rubin

Yeah, we've got some ideas cooking for what we're going to get up to on the old Instagram and TikTok. It's going to be fun. Also, the inbox is always open. HobbitsandDragons.gmail.com. Send us your thoughts on Buffy Season 4, on the beginning of Daredevil, on the recent Spidey and Dune trailers. Anything else that's coming up? Maul Shadowlord. What else is coming up soon?

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227.168 - 238.975 Mallory Rubin

Anything else that's airing this spring or if you want to start emailing us about things this summer, great. Do it. We'd love to hear from you. Send us all of your thoughts on Rocky, even though we're talking about the movie today. We want all of your Rocky emails. Spoiler warning. I mean, it's an obvious one today.

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239.035 - 254.44 Mallory Rubin

If it's in the film, Project Hail Mary, which just came out, we can talk about it today. Project Hail Mary? Project Hail Mary. Hair Mary, which is the wig watch TM with Joanna Robinson TM.

254.48 - 260.306 Andy Weir

Yeah, that Jesse Buckley wore as Mary Shelley in The Bride. Yeah, you're used to getting... Project Hair Mary.

260.386 - 269.975 Mallory Rubin

You're used to getting the making of featurettes. Yeah. And this is one that will recalibrate your expectations for what to expect from shoulder concept.

269.995 - 272.378 Andy Weir

Everybody loves The Bride, so what they want is more info about The Bride.

273.339 - 283.372 Mallory Rubin

If it happened in either Project Hair Mary or... Project Hail Mary. We're going to talk about it today. It's on the table. If it came up in the book, it could come up. If it came up in the film, it could come up.

Chapter 4: What are the key themes explored in Project Hail Mary?

303.443 - 309.852 Mallory Rubin

Oh, you want to eat dinosaur eggs. I don't. I don't. That's why I specifically said no. Life finds a way.

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309.872 - 314.939 Andy Weir

By life finds a way, you mean your life. You will get your protein count even if it means stopping proteins from dinosaurs.

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314.959 - 333.766 Mallory Rubin

I don't know. It just makes me think of like cracking it open and, you know, like Easter candy or some sort of like, could it be filled with Cadbury cream eggs or something? Not actual eggs, candy eggs. That sounds right. That sounds correct. Candy eggs, yeah. Eggs with a lot of sugar, maybe some caramel. That sounds Rubenesque to me. Absolutely. Wonderful. Okay.

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333.786 - 355 Mallory Rubin

Any other programming reminders, notes about things that may or may not be coming? We're only going to have one pod next week. We didn't say that. But one pod next week because I will be on a family visit and then we'll be back after that. Yeah. And that's all there is to say about that. And now let's talk about Project Hair Mary. All right. Opening snapshot. All right.

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358.152 - 368.782 Mallory Rubin

Okay, normally we talk about movies on Mondays, so we have a little more context for, like, what was the box office, et cetera. It's a Friday. We don't really know. We have some projections, though.

368.802 - 388.041 Andy Weir

It looks like this movie is going to do pretty well. It does. I'm really excited about that. Yeah. We'll see exactly how well it does, but, like, if the runtime proves at all an obstacle to people because it's a chunky runtime. It's a long one, but I loved it. But really well reviewed. No, no, no. I love the movie. I think everyone should go see it, obviously, quite obviously. Yeah.

388.223 - 408.166 Andy Weir

Get out there. Really well reviewed. Really great audience reaction so far. Yes. Here's my prediction. Tell me. I think the runtime will be a slight obstacle this weekend, but the word of mouth will be so good that this will have really long, rocky-esque legs. That's what I think. Five of them? Yeah. Five weekends of good box office returns for Project Hail Mary.

408.506 - 427.258 Andy Weir

I ran into Van at the coffee shop near the office this morning, and he was trying to feed me some nonsense about how people, like, didn't like it but did like it. What? By the way, this is Friday morning, so, like, based on, I guess, people seeing it last night. Okay. He was talking about the people in general. Okay. Yeah. This is actually largely based off of...

427.458 - 440.673 Andy Weir

the review of a relative that works for this company. And he was like, but everyone feels that way. And then I went on the internet to try to find corroboration from what he said, and I found nothing. Savannah spreading misinformation, I think. So far, I've seen nothing but positive.

Chapter 5: What key elements of storytelling are highlighted in the film adaptation?

4764.968 - 4776.857 Mallory Rubin

I definitely think it's much less clear in the film that that is what's happening. We've had some people just tell us that, oh, I didn't know that's what was happening. But I also think it's like a little bit less...

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4776.837 - 4797.782 Mallory Rubin

I don't know, obviously his, like, memory coming back is, it's clear that he wakes up and does not know everything, but, like, the extent to which that is an essential thing that he is trying to overcome is just a little more central in the text, and some of that is obviously very, like, it's very funny. You know, he'll say a thing or do a thing, and he's like, what kind of

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4797.762 - 4815.343 Mallory Rubin

weirdo am I like why do I why do I say fun right it's like stuff like that I'm a teacher you know what I mean yeah I know Liberia uses imperial units but I don't know my own name that's irritating like there's a lot of comedy that comes from it at first but Am I smart? Am I smart? Am I smart is a great one.

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4816.645 - 4838.58 Mallory Rubin

But the reason I just brought this up here is when you're talking about Carl, it made me think of like one of the first things that he writes down on the whiteboard as he is trying to piece together in the film like the complete sense of who he is. Who am I and what was my life? Why am I here? Carl? Right?

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4838.68 - 4847.177 Mallory Rubin

And so the fact that, like, is that about, like, the Skittles and, like, we're fathers, Carl, and, like, are you sitting down and all of that, which is, like, really charming and wonderful, obviously.

4847.197 - 4849.362 Andy Weir

A memorable trip to the Home Depot or whatever it was.

4849.402 - 4855.855 Mallory Rubin

It really was. I don't know. That looked, like, fun to, like, you know, play basketball, basically, with the shopping cart. That looked great.

Chapter 6: How do the characters navigate their identity and relationships?

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4856.977 - 4867.694 Mallory Rubin

Bowling, some bowling. The bowling with the aluminum foil, all wonderful. Is it about all of that? Sure. They shared a very memorable thing together. Do we have an expense account? No, but I do. We know. I do.

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Chapter 7: What themes of sacrifice and bravery are discussed?

4868.736 - 4888.728 Mallory Rubin

It's definitely that last moment, though. It's the fact that Carl is a person who said the most important thing that anybody could have said to him. It's like, who's Carl? Oh, Carl's the person who told me I know who I am. Right. And there's a level of something inside of him, even though he doesn't know his own name, that knows that that matters. And that's just like incredible. Right.

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4888.788 - 4913.932 Mallory Rubin

Also, always muscles. Like you said, the heart and the humor all there all at the same time. Great story. Joanna, let me ask you a question about on the heart front, because that's like the humor, the heart, all of it's here. Space friendships. Why do we love a friendly alien? You know? What is it about a friendly alien that is so compelling to us? Is it that we don't want to be afraid?

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4914.233 - 4919.991 Mallory Rubin

We want to know that we don't have to be scared? Do we love a friendly alien? You don't love E.T.

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Chapter 8: How does Andy Weir view the role of compassion in storytelling?

4919.67 - 4919.991 Mallory Rubin

?

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4920.275 - 4928.105 Andy Weir

I don't love E.T. as much as you love... I love E.T. I don't love E.T. as much as you love E.T. So you want to be scared? No, I like the gamut.

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4928.526 - 4928.947 Mallory Rubin

Yeah.

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4928.967 - 4930.549 Andy Weir

I think sometimes you will be scared.

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4930.729 - 4931.39 Mallory Rubin

Yeah.

4931.41 - 4939.941 Andy Weir

And sometimes it's just Jeff Bridges wants to have sex with you. That's Starman. You should watch it. You know? So, like... Indeed. It could be all kinds of things.

4940.201 - 4943.286 Mallory Rubin

Oh, my God. Indeed. It could be. It could be all kinds of things.

4943.386 - 4967.072 Andy Weir

But I do like the idea that, like, you know... And it's played to great comedic effect, but when Grace first sees another ship, he's like, ah, you know, like, and tries, shittily drives the spacecraft to try to get away from them, you know, like, really funny. But like, yeah, his first instinct is like, whatever this scary looking craft is, they're here to hurt me.

4967.795 - 4982.91 Andy Weir

You know, and then the lesson is, like, no, and you have to learn to trust this person via taking your helmet off or whatever. You know, going down the thing, opening the canister that has been sent to you. Incredible stuff. All that stuff is played for laughs, but it's also just sort of like, yeah, he's fearful.

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