In 'Project Hail Mary,' Phil Lord and Chris Miller finally get their space odyssey

During their two decades of making films together, Phil Lord and Chris Miller showed a particular talent for bringing inanimate objects to life. They did this most notably in 2014’s “The Lego Movie,” but little in their idiosyncratic filmography doesn’t involve some degree of playful reinvention. But “Project Hail Mary” may be their biggest challenge yet: bringing an unlikely concept to life. The film based on Andy Weir’s best-selling novel stars Ryan Gosling as an astronaut sent deep into space on a mission to save Earth that brings him into contact with a faceless, rock-based alien. It hits theaters on Thursday.