LEGO Model Designer Nathan Heigert explains how the characters of Ryland and Rocky were made for LEGO Icons 11389 Project Hail Mary.
LEGO Icons 11389 Project Hail Mary features a minifigure of Ryland and a brick-built figure of Rocky, the film’s two main characters — learn how the characters’ deep friendship was captured for the set.
Spoilers for the book and film ahead!
Project Hail Mary is a sci-fi film based on the novel of the same name by Andy Weir. Directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the story follows Ryland Grace on his journey through the stars, and along the way, he meets an alien he comes to call Rocky. As the story centres around the duo, Model Designer Nathan Heigert had to make sure the characters were captured in just the right way for the set.
“I’ve started to get a sense of what a rabid fanbase the book has,” Nathan laughs. “I wasn’t totally aware of that beforehand. I’ve never heard of a book that has such widespread love for it like that. And what was really clear was that Ryland and Rocky are the emotional pair that is the heart of the film. That was the most important to depict.”
Since Ryland is human, the design of the minifigure would be handled by graphic designers. But Rocky, a rather unique-looking alien, would be left up to Nathan.
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When it comes to non-standard characters like Rocky, who can’t easily (or at all) be made into minifigure form, there’s always the lingering question of whether they can be built from existing parts or if the character is best made from a new, specialised piece.
“It was not on the table,” Nathan says in regard to making Rocky a unique moulded element. “So I worked within what I had to deliver. But I actually think the solution was pretty effective, because he is this less-than-organic-looking creature. The most useful part was this new Botanicals element, which was developed for that theme. It has five different attachment points all the way around, so it was just the perfect element to depict a five-legged creature.
“I got a chance to see reference material for him, 3D turnarounds and all that, which changed the way we designed him — less spider and more rock creature. We saw that he’s a very rocky, hence the name. And I didn’t feel like it was something that required a novel element when he had our choice of different appendages that we could attach to the Botanicals element.”
The choice of different elements for Rocky ended up leading to multiple parts being used for his limbs, which was something the filmmakers pushed for.
“It came from the filmmakers that it shouldn’t be too uniform in the way his limbs appear because he is this asymmetrically, inorganically shaped creature. And so they encouraged us to use several different elements in order to depict that,” Nathan explains.
In the finished set, Rocky has a place on the display stand opposite Ryland, which reflects the characters’ connection in the film.
“The filmmakers had described just how sweet this relationship was between the two characters that I hadn’t picked up on quite yet,” Nathan says. “But once you see the trailers, you can really tell what they’re going for in the film. And we needed to devote some attention to that.”
This led to the display stand’s alternate version — Ryland and Rocky’s sections of the stand can be combined, with an extra section added in between, to recreate their fateful meeting.
“Lord and Miller (the directors of the film) identified that moment as a key emotional beat from the film, the meeting of Ryland and Rocky in the tunnel. So they made it quite clear that it would be a real opportune moment to depict in the set. So that gave us the inspiration to include the xenonite wall and to do something with the detachable display so that we can highlight that story element.”
While the Hail Mary itself obviously remains the focal point of the set, the true heart of the film is on full display whttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZpaXAr88VEith Ryland and Rocky at its base, highlighting their journey and friendship — something Nathan is glad to have in the final model.
“When I was building the model, I was listening to the audio book,” Nathan says. “It’s really well produced, and I started to feel this connection to Ryland and Rocky because they’re both sort of engineers that go out on this undefined mission to save the world. They have to put together solutions to the problems they encounter on the fly. And I felt like that was sort of a little bit akin to what I was experiencing at the same time. So I would say that I hope you get a little bit of that taste of what it’s like to be confronted with a challenge and then find a solution and execute on it, just like the work I did, and that Ryland and Rocky did.”
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