How did Harry Styles Sign of the Times wind up in Project Hail Mary? Thank Sandra Hüller.
Project Hail Mary has shouted out Harry Styles so much, we might as well be calling it Project Hail Harry.
The sci-fi film's first trailer was set to Styles' song "Sign of the Times." Gosling then performed it during his Saturday Night Live monologue, all while Styles looked on. (Gosling also returned to SNL the following week to introduce one of Styles' musical performances.) Of course, all this Styles love stems from the fact that "Sign of the Times" appears in Project Hail Mary itself.
Based on the novel of the same name by Andy Weir, Project Hail Mary centers on a last-ditch mission to save Earth's dimming sun from an alien microbe called Astrophage. During an emotional scene in the lead-up to mission's launch, everyone involved, including biologist Ryland Grace (Gosling) and project head Eva Stratt (Sandra Hüller), gathers for karaoke. Nothing will soothe your worries about the end of the world quite like communal singing!
In the scene, the usually business-focused Stratt takes center stage to perform an almost elegiac take on "Sign of the Times." It's screenwriter Drew Goddard's favorite scene in the film, although he claims no credit for the Styles song choice.
"I had nothing to do with it," Goddard told Mashable in a video interview. "We knew we needed this sort of hangout scene. I call it the 'calm before the storm' scene."
Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller suggested karaoke for the scene, and, Goddard recalled, just a few nights before shooting, they decided to try to get Hüller to sing in the film.
"She said, 'I'll only do it if I can do the Harry Styles song,'" Goddard said. "So it was Sandra's choice, which is insane to think about, because it lines up so perfectly with the point of the movie. It actually says 'breaking through the atmosphere,' for God's sake. I could not have chosen a better song. That's all Sandra. She picked it, and thank God she did."