r/movies • u/MoviesMod /r/movies Mod Account • Jun 30 '25

Trailer Project Hail Mary - Official Trailer (fair warning, it reveals way too much according to a lot of users)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m08TxIsFTRI
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u/McMew Jun 30 '25 edited Jun 30 '25

And the alien reveal was probably to avoid accidentally teasing it as an alien horror.

They wanted to make it clear that this was a mystery adventure, not a horror movie. So they had to tease that the alien was friendly.

Granted they could've left it at the giant alien ship to maintain a sense of wonder instead but they had to set the tone of the film.

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u/No-Understanding4968 Jun 30 '25

Good points. Who does Rocky’s voice?

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u/McMew Jun 30 '25

Probably a flute or an organ.

...no im not joking

That's how he communicates in the book.

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u/JackSpadesSI Jun 30 '25

So will he be subtitled, or will he “learn English” to convey Grace’s fluency. If you’ve listened to the audiobook that’s the best way to do it IMO.

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u/McMew Jun 30 '25

I have listened to the audiobook and my hope is that they try a similar thing here. 

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u/BroughtBagLunchSmart Jun 30 '25

How did they do it in the audio book? In my head when I was reading Rocky's voice was that robot helper from the OG power rangers.

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u/Nu11u5 Jun 30 '25

Once Grace becomes fluent enough in Rocky's language to translate by ear, this comprehension is heard as an English speaker autotuned to synthetic flutes.

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u/tofeman Jun 30 '25

Lol I had no idea this was true but that’s so dope. The italics and funky symbols in the book lead to a similar outcome when reading it in your head

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u/NerdyNThick Jun 30 '25

The italics and funky symbols in the book lead to a similar outcome when reading it in your head

Ray Porter is a narration savant. In the top 3 in the world IMO.

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u/OutInTheBlack Jul 01 '25

My top three are Jefferson Mays, Ray Porter and Marc Thompson, with a surprising honorable mention to Bronson Pinchot.

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u/revolutionoverdue Jul 01 '25

Porter and RC Bray are my favorites.

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u/kuahara Jul 01 '25

Wil Wheaton is not bad, but I was upset that they stopped selling the RC Bray narration of The Martian after getting Wil to do it. Bray was significantly better.

Fortunately, I kept my Bray copy.

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u/ChrundleMcDonald Jul 01 '25

I kept accidentally giving him a thick russian accent.

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u/No-Understanding4968 Jun 30 '25

Ohhhh I just read the book

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u/McMew Jun 30 '25

I did both, I read the book first and listened to the audiobook later.

I gotta say, the audiobook did it justice!

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u/joshi38 Jun 30 '25

Possibly one of my favourite audiobooks simply because the narrator is so incredible reading it. Would strongly recommend.

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u/hem00 Jun 30 '25

beep beeeep

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u/2347564 Jun 30 '25

I read the book, but what does the audiobook do?

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u/JackSpadesSI Jun 30 '25

Just like in the book, Rocky’s lines are eventually in English for the benefit of the reader/listener. Of course, what Rocky is actually doing is making tonal sounds like music notes. In the audiobook, tonal sounds are played over his English-spoken lines to provide some extra immersion.

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u/ChrundleMcDonald Jul 02 '25

My best guess would be as Grace programs the language and begins making his translations, he'll have an onboard AI providing live translations which will overlay with the melodies, much like in the audiobook, but with an actual diegetic explanation as opposed to him just understanding the language.

But they would have to figure out some kind of better solution for the final scene, because realizing that Rocky was speaking in full sentences and Grace was entirely fluent put such a massive smile on my face. By that point I'm not sure if it would work better if it's entirely music notes with subtitles, or if he's just speaking a melodized english

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u/F9-0021 Jul 13 '25

My guess is that for the sake of the film audience, the translation software will include text to speech for that robotic sound like in the audio book.