Cinematographer Greig Fraser described the challenges of lighting a key tunnel scene in the upcoming film Project Hail Mary, calling it his most demanding project yet. In the scene, Ryan Gosling's character Ryland Grace walks 70 feet through a tunnel made of xenonite to meet the alien Rocky for the first time. Fraser explained his innovative techniques to Variety from London.
Greig Fraser, known for his work on The Batman, Dune and Rogue One, spoke about creating a realistic sunlight effect inside the 70-foot tunnel. The tunnel, constructed from the fictional material xenonite, needed to transmit light while maintaining a sense of mystery and scariness at its entrance. Drawing inspiration from deep-sea submersible footage, Fraser's team built rigs with numerous old tungsten lights, pixel-mapped to simulate a rotating sun. They could not use enough LEDs for the effect, so they relied on these traditional sources, Fraser said in an interview with Variety conducted via Zoom from London, where he is shooting Sam Mendes' Beatles biopic films. Fraser also incorporated a rainbow filter purchased online to produce multi-colored flares that became a recurring motif. For the wide-screen look, the production shot with an Alexa 65 camera, squeezing the lenses vertically to direct flares upward. This choice aligned with directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller's desire for an analog patina reminiscent of 1970s and 1980s films like Solaris, Alien and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Close collaboration with production designer Charles Wood ensured the tunnel's interior finish allowed just the right light transmission without appearing transparent or plastic. Lighting the alien Rocky proved particularly tricky, as it required front-lighting a faceless, rock-like puppet that emoted through movement alone. 'It wasn’t just a challenge. It was a challenge on a challenge,' Fraser said. The film, based on Andy Weir's novel, features Gosling as a science teacher thrust into an interstellar mission to save Earth, diverging from typical stark space visuals with warmer orange tones.
