Visionary directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have opened up about the staggering length of the initial cut for their upcoming sci-fi epic, “Project Hail Mary.”

According to the filmmaking duo, the first assembly of the film ran for nearly four hours, leading to advice that they should tighten the narrative significantly.

“Our first official test screening went great, but before that, we held numerous early sessions for friends, family, and fellow directors and writers. The movie was gargantuan. When we finally trimmed it down to four hours, we subjected some of our filmmaking peers to a version that was three hours and 45 minutes long—it was honestly quite awkward… We thought every moment was charming, but some beats just weren’t landing. That experience made it much easier to eventually bring the runtime down to three hours,”

— Lord recalled during his appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast.

“Project Hail Mary” is an adaptation of the celebrated novel by Andy Weir, the author behind “The Martian.” The plot follows a humble school teacher (played by Ryan Gosling) who is thrust into deep space on a desperate mission to prevent the Sun’s extinction. Given the source material’s pedigree and the 95% critical acclaim associated with Weir’s previous adaptations, expectations for the film are sky-high.

Photo: Amazon MGM