Gosling's hail mary: a sci-fi epic nearly four hours long?

Ryan Gosling's latest foray into science fiction, Project Hail Mary, has landed in Spanish cinemas, clocking in at a substantial 156 minutes – over two and a half hours. But the final cut represents a dramatic slimming down of what could have been a truly sprawling cinematic experience, according to the film’s directors, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.

Early screenings revealed a monster length

During a recent appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Chris Miller revealed the pair’s penchant for extensive pre-release screenings, a ritual involving friends, family, and industry colleagues. Project Hail Mary, adapted from Andy Weir's novel, proved to be a particularly ambitious undertaking, initially taking shape as a film exceeding four hours in length. That initial build, they confessed, ballooned to a staggering three hours and forty-five minutes before being showcased to a select group of filmmaker peers.

“It was mortifying,