‘Project Hail Mary' sends Ryan Gosling, and Comic-Con, into outer space
Gosling described his character as 'a scared guy who has to do something impossible.' 'I knew it would be brilliant, because it's Andy [Weir],' Gosling told the crowd. 'It took me places I've never been. It showed me things I had never seen. It was as heartbreaking as it was funny and I was... not just blown away, but also overwhelmed.' Weir for his part said it was 'so cool' to see his book come to life and complimented Gosling for giving 'many layers to this character I made up.'
Lord and Miller, the Oscar-winning duo behind the 'Spider-Verse' Spider-Man animated films, talked about the challenges of shooting a 'crazy ambitious' film which takes place inside a spaceship for the most part. 'We had to build an entire spaceship in two modes of gravity, and then we built this entire massive tunnel at scale,' Miller said. 'This is insane, to build a tunnel that was like 100 feet (30 meters) long, filled up an entire stage.'
US actress Holly Hunter attends "Star Trek: Starfleet Academy" panel in Hall H of the convention center during Comic Con International in San Diego, California.
Ryan Gosling speaks onstage at Amazon MGM Studios "Project Hail Mary" Panel during 2025 Comic-Con International: San Diego at San Diego Convention Center.
The event also showcased various clips from the film, receiving a positive response from fans, who noted the bond formed between Gosling's character and an alien named Rocky. 'The relationship between these two characters is the heart of the movie,' Miller said. 'I loved it,' attendee April Rodriguez, who also read the book, gushed about the film. 'I just never, like, envisioned it that way. So that was pretty cool.'
Star Trek
Comic-Con, which bring some 130,000 fans for the convention in San Diego, California, welcomed the Star Trek universe to the main stage earlier in the day Saturday to showcase its upcoming releases. Thousands of fans filled the hall to watch exclusive footage from the fourth season of 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' before it premieres on Paramount+.
One clip showed Captain Christopher Pike played by Anson Mount in an entire episode where the cast is depicted like puppets from Jim Henson's Creature Shop. Fans were also offered a first look of a new Star Trek series, dubbed 'Star Trek: Starfleet Academy' starring Holly Hunter. Hunter plays Nahla Ake, the academy's chancellor and captain of the USS Athena, who in a clip shown at Comic-Con welcomes a new class of cadets.
'It was really interesting to get the offer to be the captain, but then also to combine that with being the chancellor,' Hunter said. 'The captain is there to analyze in emergency situations, and then to delegate. And the chancellor is there to guide, to collaborate and to have tremendous empathy. 'It was just a wonderful combination of things,' she added. Comic-Con continues on Sunday for its final day of events. — AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Kuwait Times
3 days ago
- Kuwait Times
‘Peaky Blinders' creator to pen new James Bond movie: Studio
English film director Steven Knight poses during a photo session during the 2nd edition of the Cannes International Series Festival (Canneseries) on April 8, 2019 in Cannes, southern France.--AFP Steven Knight, the creator of gritty TV crime series 'Peaky Blinders,' will write the highly anticipated next James Bond movie, studio Amazon MGM announced Thursday. Knight will work alongside previously announced director Denis Villeneuve ('Dune') to bring the world's most famous fictional spy back to the big screen after a prolonged absence. Amazon MGM Studios acquired creative control of the 007 movies in February, and has moved quickly to get one of Hollywood's most valuable franchises back into production. There has been no new Bond film since 2021's 'No Time To Die.' Knight is best known as the mind behind violent British gangster series 'Peaky Blinders,' which was set in industrial England at the turn of the 20th century and became a global hit. Running for six seasons, and with a Netflix film version currently in the works, 'Peaky Blinders' turbo-charged the careers of leading man Cillian Murphy, alongside a stellar supporting cast including Tom Hardy, Anya Taylor-Joy and Kingsley Ben-Adir. In addition to 'Peaky Blinders,' Knight also co-created the wildly popular television quiz show 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire' and has penned four novels. The Birmingham, England-based screenwriter, producer and director's other TV credits include 'Taboo,' 'See,' 'This Town,' and 'All the Light We Cannot See.' The Bond films, based on Ian Fleming's novels, have earned more than $7 billion collectively at the global box office since debuting in 1962. No release date or title has yet been set for the film franchise's 26th installment. And despite frenzied speculation among fans, there has been no announcement on which actor will replace Daniel Craig as the suave British super-spy. Among the actors most discussed to be the next Bond are Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Tom Holland, Harris Dickinson, Jacob Elordi, and Ben-Adir -- but Amazon MGM has so far refused to disclose the franchise's most closely guarded secret.— AFP
Kuwait Times
29-07-2025
- Kuwait Times
George Lucas brings the force to Comic-Con in historic first visit
Comic-Con fans pulled out their lightsabers Sunday to welcome 'Star Wars' creator George Lucas to the prominent pop culture convention for the very first time. Attendees lined up for hours to grab a seat inside the 6,500-person capacity venue in San Diego, California to see the legendary filmmaker behind the 'Indiana Jones' franchise speak at the event on its final day. Comic-Con, which draws some 130,000 attendees, has become an important platform for movie studios and their stars to showcase the latest film and television offerings, especially those with a genre fan base. 'We've been waiting five decades for this!' said panel moderator Queen Latifah, who oversaw the discussion by Lucas and other filmmakers. Instead of discussing his film works, however, Lucas graced the convention to preview the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art -- opening in Los Angeles in 2026 -- which the director co-founded with his wife, businesswoman Mellody Hobson. 'I've been collecting art since I was in college,' Lucas, 81, told the crowd, adding that he has amassed tens of thousands of pieces in his collection. 'I've been doing this for 50 years now, and then it occurred to me that what am I going to do with it all because I, I refuse to sell it. 'I could never do that, it's just, it's not what I think art is -- I think it's more about an emotional connection,' the director said. In his description of the museum, Lucas said the institution will feature a blend of works. US actress/singer Queen Latifah speaks at the Sneak Peek of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art panel in Hall H of the convention center during Comic Con International in San Diego. US filmmaker George Lucas speaks during the Sneak Peek of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art panel in Hall H of the convention center during Comic Con International in San Diego. They include illustrations by Normal Rockwell, Jessie Willcox Smith and N.C. Wyeth; artworks by Frida Kahlo, Jacob Lawrence, Charles White and Robert Colescott; and pieces by cartoonists and artists like Winsor McCay, Frank Frazetta and Jack Kirby. 'This is sort of a temple to the people's art,' he said in summation. The museum, housed in a sleek, curved building, will also feature items from Lucas's films and other exclusive pieces. For the 'Star Wars' mastermind, the museum aims to be a tribute to the importance of narrative art. 'When you're born, the baseline is fear. And as you go through life, you're curious about things, but you're especially curious about things you don't understand, and therefore that's a threat to you. 'And as a result, you make up stories to make it feel good,' he continued. 'Science fiction is a myth... but we've made it real because of science fiction books and art.' 'A critical moment' Among the other members of the panel were Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro and production designer Doug Chiang, who shaped the aesthetic of the 'Star Wars' universe for decades. 'What's remarkable about George is that he leads from the heart, and this museum is him,' Chiang said. Del Toro, who will release his latest film 'Frankenstein' in November, said many of the museum's pieces will celebrate freedom of speech. 'We are in a critical moment in which one of the things they like to disappear is the past, you know, and this is memorializing a popular, vociferous, expressive and eloquent moment in our visual past that belongs to all of us,' Del Toro said. The fantasy filmmaker also described comics as a medium with 'a lot of social conscience' and joked that comic artists 'were the first one to punch a Nazi' in their works. 'What a panel!' said attendee Jesse Goldwater, who traveled to San Diego from Los Angeles. 'They are the embodiment of Comic-Con itself, without them Comic-Con wouldn't exist.' — AFP
Kuwait Times
29-07-2025
- Kuwait Times
Godzilla fans fete the monster as it turns 70
Godzilla has morphed over the years, but one constant is the devotion of its fans, who celebrated the Japanese monster's 70th anniversary at the pop culture convention Comic-Con. The Japanese studio Toho, which created Godzilla, maintains a calendar of events to celebrate the beast often called the king of monsters, and Comic-Con is on the agenda. Godzilla was born on November 3, 1954 with the launch of the first movie about it, directed by Ishiro Honda. 'I am a very big fan of Godzilla,' said Angela Hill, a teacher who traveled from Arizona to take part in Comic-Con, which this year featured events and displays celebrating Godzilla. One of the world's largest celebrations of pop culture, Comic-Con brings together 130,000 people, many of whom come dressed as wizards, princesses or characters from movies, games or TV series. As the story of Godzilla goes, a prehistoric amphibious beast is awakened and mutated by nuclear bomb testing in the Pacific. It emerges from the sea and attacks Japan in a rage, symbolizing the deadly power of nukes. 'I think because he came from such a historic event -- like, a lot of other monsters are just interesting creatures, but they don't hold the grief of a nation,' Hill said, referring to the US nuclear bomb attacks against Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II. At the pop culture watering hole in San Diego, people lined up to shoot pictures and video with an image of Godzilla, which was also the theme of a panel discussion on Friday that featured Shinji Higuchi, who co-directed a reboot in 2016 called 'Shin Godzilla.' The movie franchise includes nearly 40 films and has spawned hundreds of animated productions about the monster as well as TV series and graphic work. Attendees pose for photos with Godzilla during Comic-Con International. Authors Steve Ryfle (left) and Ed Godziszewski pose their book "Godzilla: The First 70 Years" during Comic Con International. A miniature Godzilla is displayed at the Bandai booth during Comic-Con International. An attendee poses for photos with Godzilla during Comic-Con International. An attendee poses for photos with Godzilla during Comic-Con International. 'Rooting for him' On Saturday the writers Ed Godziszewski and Steve Ryfle signed autographs of their book 'Godzilla: The First 70 Years,' which sold out at Comic-Con. 'It's a rich history,' Ryfle told AFP. 'This is the longest running feature film franchise in cinematic history that's focused on a single, continuous character. It's been around longer than James Bond.' He said the key to its longevity is that Godzilla has evolved over time but stayed faithful to its origins. 'Godzilla has been serious, it's been scary, it's been heroic, it's been funny. But at the same time this is a movie character that's rooted in something that's very real,' Ryfle said. 'And that's the trauma that Japan experienced, both during World War II, and also the trauma of the aftermath of World War II, the aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,' he added. He said Honda, who directed the first Godzilla movie, was a veteran who used the film to send a message against war and in particular against nuclear weapons. Michelle Pena, a Godzilla fan who waited in line to get the autograph of the two writers, said part of the monster's charm is how it has changed over the years. 'Good, bad, hero, anti-hero, you know. And I like that,' she said. 'He's not, like, lovable,' she added. 'He's a big dinosaur-looking thing, you know. He's scary. But, like, you really, really find yourself rooting for him.' — AFP
