'Project Hail Mary's Unbalanced Centrifuge Is Getting the Wrong Kind of Attention

One of the more challenging aspects of making a movie is trying to get all the details just right. While a film's cast and crew may not be experts on a film's subject, some viewers are, and they have to make sure they're doing right by those professionals. Most production companies will hire consultants, but even the most elite are just human and may not notice an error. That seems to have been the case with Project Hail Mary and the unbalanced centrifuge in the film.

While most moviegoers don't even know what a centrifuge is, let alone that it should be balanced, those with lab experience and knowledge caught the error right away, and they were not pleased.

Rather than risk explaining this incorrectly and further angering fans, we're going to let this expert on Reddit say it: "There is a scene about a third of the way into the film where Grace uses a centrifuge without adding a counterweight. He even places two samples in the centrifuge! And they’re right next to each other! How could anyone have let this happen?"

Essentially, the problem is that a centrifuge must be balanced. Anyone who works in a lab would know to put the samples on opposite ends. However, Ryland, who is a supposed molecular biologist turned science teacher, didn't seem to be aware of this. He put two samples side by side, which is a mistake no one at his character's level of experience in labs would make.

While many fans were just as angry as the aforementioned Reddit poster, others didn't let the mistake ruin their moviegoing experience. One person wrote, "I’m in IT. My wife’s an RN. If we were this picky about mistakes movies make in our field, we’d never enjoy pretty much anything." Another pointed out, "If I wanted to read 100 percent accurate science literature, I’d read a textbook!!" In what we hope was a sarcastic comment, a third person asserted, "Just cancelled my 8:00 p.m. viewing tomorrow."

Despite this glaring mistake, there were actually experts deeply involved in the sci-fi movie. According to NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)'s own website, they served as consultants on the film, in a "collaboration between scientists and creative media." JPL made themselves available to Project Hail Mary's crew and met with lead actor Ryan Gosling to teach him what it's like to be an astronaut. So, it's safe to say, the moviemakers really did their due diligence.

Perhaps they weren't asked to review this specific scene of the movie, or maybe they just missed this detail when examining everything; we might never know. It is interesting that there are so many people who have to give the green light for a movie's release, yet it was the viewers who caught such an apparently blatant mistake. Well, we're just grateful we're not smart enough for that to ruin the film for us!