For an alien that looks like a giant, eyeless five-legged spider made of rocks, Rocky in Project Hail Mary is actually rather cute. He has a peppy energy reminiscent of a puppy (not to mention that he is approximately dog-sized), and it’s fun to just watch him wonder at all of the new discoveries he encounters during his time with Ryan Gosling‘s Ryland Grace. But before you start having fantasies and penning any fan fiction, the film’s directors want to make something clear: Rocky is definitely not a pet.
It seems somewhat silly, but this is actually something that filmmakers Phil Lord and Chris Miller had to contend with in the making of Project Hail Mary, and they discussed it during an interview with CinemaBlend during the movie’s Los Angeles press day. While comparisons have been made between Rocky and ET from E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial, for example, there was a clear intention with the film to establish that the alien in the new 2026 movie and Grace are beings with equal standing. Miller explained,
You know, there’s something about… you can’t help when something is that size; we want to turn it into a pet. But that’s what’s great about Rocky is that he doesn’t let you treat him like a pet. He’s an equal. And these are two equal beings that have to work together and be the peanut butter and chocolate to solve this problem.
Obviously one huge difference maker is communication. Rocky is arguably at his most “pet-like” when Grace first encounters him in the tunnel that is forged between the Blip A and the Hail Mary. Perfect example: when Grace gives him a tape measure so that they can discuss units of measurements, Rocky’s first instinct is to treat it like a toy – pulling out the tape and then letting it shoot back in. Of course, the reason for this behavior is because the Eridian doesn’t have eyes and can’t see the numbers printed on the metal.
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The relationship evolves as Rocky and Grace begin to have real conversations, but the former truly eclipses any kind of pet status when we start to understand his attitude. As is made abundantly clear during one of Grace’s video diaries, he finds his extraterrestrial pal to be quite bossy. This was not only part of the script but a part of the direction that was given to James Ortiz, who both voices Rocky and was the character’s main puppeteer on set. Phil Lord told us that there were explicit conversations with the actor about Rocky’s feelings toward Grace:
One of the things we talked about with James Ortiz, who plays Rocky, ‘You think you’re superior to Ryan. You’re 500 years old, you have 300 kids. You’re a grown up and you have pity on him.’ And so it was we all had to shake off the idea that he was little and cute.
Project Hail Mary isn’t a “boy and his dog” story; it’s a classic buddy adventure – and audiences are loving it. For the second straight week, the blockbuster topped the weekend box office, and it did so with the best weekend-to-weekend drop for a domestic #1 in 2026. People are clearly loving the movie, and we’ll have plenty more coverage in the days and weeks to come here on CinemaBlend.
