How the Co-Directors of ‘Project Hail Mary’ Caught Meryl Streep’s Interest for a Special Cameo Role

In a remarkable display of versatility, Meryl Streep lends her voice to a spindly, rock-like alien in the recently released film Project Hail Mary.

Directed by Chris Miller and Phil Lord, the sci-fi feature debuted in theaters on March 20, receiving positive reviews from both audiences and critics. The film follows Ryland Grace, played by Ryan Gosling, a school teacher-turned-astronaut who awakens on a spaceship without memories of how he arrived. As he unravels the objectives of his mission, he forms an unexpected friendship with an intelligent extraterrestrial life form, whom he names Rocky.

Once Dr. Grace develops a computer-operated translation system to communicate with Rocky, who expresses himself through musical vibrations, he selects from a menu of vocal options, including the voice of Streep, a three-time Academy Award winner.

Miller shared insights about the film’s unique voice selection process in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. “When we were on set, we did a bunch of silly voices ourselves. We had people from the crew do voices just to make Ryan laugh and give the characters something to react to,” he explained.

Lord added, “We tried to imagine voices that would be preloaded into a text-to-speech kind of translator.” This led the directors to consider Streep: “And then we [thought], wouldn’t it be fun to get Meryl Streep? And Ryan just said, ‘She can do anything,’ and that was perfect,” Miller recounted. They approached producer Amy Pascal, who had previously worked with Streep on several films, to facilitate the collaboration.

Laughing, Lord remarked, “You have never seen a group of filmmakers procrastinate longer. And then she did, and she was wonderful.”

Miller praised Streep for her enthusiastic participation in the project, stating, “She was so fun and thoughtful and playful and did a million different versions: ‘I’ll do more. You want me to try this? Try that?’”

The character Rocky is primarily brought to life by James Ortiz, one of five puppeteers responsible for portraying the alien. While much of Rocky is created through practical effects, Gosling has noted that he sometimes acts alongside stand-ins, including his two daughters.

Project Hail Mary is currently showing in theaters.