PHIL LORD and Chris Miller will direct “Project Hail Mary” for MGM, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. They also will produce the thriller.

The project, which has Ryan Gosling attached to star, is an adaptation of “The Martian” author Andy Weir’s forthcoming novel, which is due out next spring from Random House. It centers on an astronaut on a spaceship that is tasked with saving the planet.

Gosling, who will play the lead, last appeared on the big screen in the 2018 biopic “First Man,” in which he starred as famed astronaut Neil Armstrong.

This is the latest big swing for MGM since it hired veteran Michael De Luca as film chairman in January. In addition to picking up the Weir manuscript for an eye-popping US$3 million, De Luca also spearheaded the acquisition of “Gucci,” with Lady Gaga attached to star and Ridley Scott on board to direct, among several other strong-armed moves.

Aditya Sood, president of film for the filmmakers’ Lord Miller production banner, will also produce the thriller, as will Amy Pascal, who ran Sony when the duo made their “21 Jump Street” movies. She also was a producer with the filmmakers on “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” which won the best animated feature Oscar.

Lord and Miller inked a first-look deal at Universal last summer, and while they put several projects into development, nothing had yet emerged as a strong directing contender for them.

(SD-Agencies)