Whether you knew it from the trailers or having read the book, Project Hail Mary also stars an alien rock named Rocky. Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller have previously spoken about making him using practical puppets, and now concept art shows what else he could’ve looked like in the film.
On BlueSky, artist Kris Anka, who’s previously done work for the Spider-Verse movies (and drawn hot DC and Marvel characters) showed off some early Rocky designs he made in 2023. According to him, the art team had to “find interesting ways to play with asymmetry, silhouette, and texture.” While following that directive, Anka also looked at different ways to establish “depict culture,” hence having design 2C having barnacles for decoration and to denote his rank.
In each design, Anka leans into the idea of Rocky having an arachnid-like body, particularly in designs 1E, 1G, and 1K. While most designs fit close to author Andy Weir’s description of Rocky as “smaller than a human, about the size of a Labrador,” it’s 2A, 1E, 1F, and 1I that keep his skin, said to be “weird, brownish-black rock.” The second round of designs feature notes that try to explain or make sense of his physiology: 2E gives him a crystal-shaped body and more defined mouth, and that and 2D give him patterned growths over what’s otherwise a conventional alien body.
After the Rocky puppet was made, Anka returned to help figure out Rocky’s emotions. There, he explored “different ways to use body acting, making sounds, [and] moving rocks around to evoke feelings.” Some of his work made it to screen, and he also helped figure out how Rocky’s fingers work.
Anka wasn’t the only artist to show off Rocky designs. Artist Jesús Alonso Iglesias went for a design with a rounder “head” full of holes and long legs not unlike Anka’s 2E and 2D. Iglesias’ art shows us his Rocky would’ve used his hands similar to humans (to the point of doing a Rubik’s Cube) and sleep in ways that made him look alien. Designing Rocky was “one of the most difficult [challenges] I’ve worked on so far,” but one that taught him about character design.
The Rocky designs Anka and Iglesias released make us think about what Project Hail Mary would’ve looked like if the team went in a different direction for its co-lead…and we’d also like for the film’s art book to drop so we can see what else the film could’ve looked like. Hopefully such a book is coming in time for the movie’s physical release, or even the holiday season.
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