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'Project Hail Mary' Directors Screened a Nearly Four-Hour Cut to Other Filmmakers and Were Told to 'Get It Way Shorter': 'It Was Embarrassing'

Source: VarietyView Original
entertainmentMarch 28, 2026

Mar 27, 2026 2:49pm PT

‘Project Hail Mary’ Directors Screened a Nearly Four-Hour Cut to Other Filmmakers and Were Told to ‘Get It Way Shorter’: ‘It Was Embarrassing’

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©MGM/Courtesy Everett Collection

“Project Hail Mary” directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller recently appeared on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast and revealed they showed a nearly four-hour cut of their space movie to a group of director friends. However, the results were “embarrassing.”

“Our first official test screening went great, but we do a lot of earlier screenings for friends and family and other filmmakers and writers,” Miller explained. “This movie was massive. When we finally got the assembly cut down to under four hours long, we subjected some filmmaker friends of ours to a three hour and 45 minute cut of the movie, which was embarrassing.”

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