Project Hail Mary Author Andy Weir Took One Cool Prop Home From The Movie's Set

Aside from the lifetime of sweet, sweet residual checks, consider this the best part of being the original author behind a breakout blockbuster hit: walking away with a prized prop as a memento. The release of "Project Hail Mary" was a success story in every sense of the phrase, sweeping up moviegoers in the collective hype of space exploration and delivering a refreshingly optimistic answer to the question of whether life is out there — which is clearly lingering throughout the year, considering the interest and box-office potential surrounding Steven Spielberg's "Disclosure Day." 

But while the rest of us will remember the joyous bromance between Rocky (James Ortiz) and Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling), "Project Hail Mary" novelist and producer/science consultant Andy Weir has something much cooler and more tangible to hang his hat on.

With a movie like this, one can imagine all sorts of fun possibilities for keepsakes or souvenirs from the set of "Project Hail Mary." Maybe that glorious, comfy-looking, fox-themed cardigan that Gosling gets to wear in so many scenes? How about Ryland's crochet hacky sack shaped like Earth that plays an unexpectedly emotional role later in the film? Heck, since we know that the lovable extraterrestrial was a practical creation, why not Rocky himself?

As it so happens, Weir came away with something much nerdier. In an interview with Space.com, the author revealed that he opted for a few leftover props:

"I got my 'Andy Weir – Project Hail Mary – Producer' cloth backing from my producer chair. And I also took some of the xenonite trinkets from the set. The model shop made everything, and all the xenonite stuff was crafted by them. They had a few misprints, or the directors didn't like this, or that version, and so I took some of the rejects home."

Normal people remember "Project Hail Mary" most for its spectacular visuals of the cosmos, the heartwarming buddy comedy at its center, and Ryan Gosling as the most charming astronaut in all of fiction — I remember it for Andy Weir straight-up inventing a whole new addition to the periodic table. We are not the same. 

The indestructible, highly-malleable material known as xenonite may be based on the real-life element known as xenon, but it sure doesn't behave the same way at all. For one thing, xenon is a colorless gas that's not exactly compatible with human physiology. The xenonite in the movie is alien in every sense of the word, taking on the form of a solid made up of a compound of several different (and unknown) elements.

Take note, aspiring writers. When in doubt, simply make up your own plot device to do whatever you need it to do! In "Project Hail Mary," this ends up serving several different roles. The mysterious compound is what makes up the exterior (and interior) of Rocky's space ship, that cylindrical object that Rocky literally throws at Ryland when they first meet in orbit around Tau Ceti, and even all the cool little models of the galaxy that the alien uses to communicate with our human hero — the latter of which, apparently, Weir took for himself. Honestly, we can't even blame him.

Even months after its release, we're still thinking about this excellent space movie and giving it a big, fat thumbs down. (Complimentary.) For now, "Project Hail Mary" is available to stream on MGM+ and eventually Prime Video.