Earth’s Last Hope on Wilshire, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller Bring Project Hail Mary to the Hammer

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller will talk about Project Hail Mary after a screening at the Hammer Museum in Westwood on Thursday, November 12, at 7:30 p.m., part of the museum’s MoMA Contenders series, and the film returns eight nights later with a live orchestra at the Dolby Theatre.

The Hammer lists the screening as “Followed by a conversation with directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.” Its blurb describes the film, based on the Andy Weir bestseller, as starring Ryan Gosling as a high school science teacher “thrust quite unwillingly into space as Earth’s last hope for survival.” James Ortiz, the puppeteer and voice behind the film’s alien companion Rocky, received the Innovator Award at this fall’s Critics Choice Celebración.

What MoMA Contenders Brings to Westwood

MoMA Contenders is The Museum of Modern Art’s series of films from the past 12 months that it considers contenders “for lasting historical significance,” in the Hammer’s words. The Westwood run holds 10 films between October 29 and December 8, and four of them come with a filmmaker in the room.

| Date | Film | Conversation listed by the Hammer | | --- | --- | --- | | Thursday, October 29 | Coyote vs. Acme | Director Dave Green and producer Chris DeFaria | | Thursday, November 5 | I Want Your Sex | Director Gregg Araki | | Thursday, November 12 | Project Hail Mary | Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller | | Friday, November 13 | All of a Sudden | Writer and director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi |

Araki’s film follows an LA artist played by Olivia Wilde, according to the Hammer. Lord and Miller already shaped this month’s festival calendar as guest artistic directors of AFI Fest.

What the Dolby Night Adds

On Friday, November 20, at 8 p.m., the Dolby Theatre presents the full film with Daniel Pemberton’s score played live by a 70-piece orchestra and choir, a City Light Concerts production with Amazon MGM Studios. The theater says Los Angeles musicians, vocalists and local student musicians will perform, and that the score features an instrument called the Cristal Baschet. The format echoes the live-scored nights Michael Giacchino brings to Disney Hall.

What Each Night Costs

The two nights sit far apart on price. By Velvet Hollywood’s own arithmetic from the two venues’ listings, the cheapest Dolby seat costs about two and a half times the Hammer’s general admission, and the top Dolby tier costs more than 12 times as much.

| Night | Lowest price | Highest price | | --- | --- | --- | | Hammer, November 12 | $10 for members | $20 general admission | | Dolby, November 20 | $49.50 | $249.50 |

The Dolby prices include a $5 facility fee, the theater says.

Practical Details

The Hammer screening is Thursday, November 12, at 7:30 p.m. at the Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd. Tickets are $20, or $10 for members, and the museum says tickets for its first five Contenders films, this one included, are on sale now. Tickets for the remaining five go to members from Monday, October 26, and to the general public on Monday, November 2, at 11 a.m. The Dolby concert is Friday, November 20, at 8 p.m. at 6801 Hollywood Blvd., with tickets through Ticketmaster.