The “Anatomy of a Fall” Oscar nominee agreed to the scene…under one condition.

How Ryan Gosling convinced Sandra Hüller to show off this surprise talent in Project Hail Mary: ‘She smashed it’

The "Anatomy of a Fall" Oscar nominee agreed to the scene...under one condition.

By Mike Miller

Mike Miller

Mike Miller is the executive editor on the movies team at . He previously worked as a writer-reporter for PEOPLE and TMZ.

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March 20, 2026 1:00 p.m. ET

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Sandra Hüller and Ryan Gosling in 'Project Hail Mary'. Credit:

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- *Project Hail Mary *star Sandra Hüller sings Harry Styles' "Sign of the Times" in a karaoke scene.

- The scene wasn't originally in the script — Ryan Gosling came up with the idea to add it after hearing Hüller singing to herself between takes.

- Hüller agreed to it under one condition.

Who could say no to Ryan Gosling?

The *Project Hail Mary* star tells ** that he managed to convince his costar in the sci-fi epic, Oscar nominee Sandra Hüller, to do something totally off script in one of the film's most pivotal emotional scenes.

"You just couldn't have a better acting partner than Sandra Hüller," Gosling tells EW. "She brings such extraordinary intelligence and authority to this role, and she makes these pretty unbelievable scenarios seem possible, and she just grounds the whole thing."

In the film, based on the book by *The Martian *author Andrew Weir, Hüller plays Eva Stratt, the no-nonsense leader of an international team of scientists and experts tasked with saving the world after it's discovered that a strange microorganism is dimming all the stars in the galaxy, including our sun. To solve this extinction-level threat, Stratt plans to send three astronauts, including Gosling's Dr. Ryland Grace, to research another star light-years away that is mysteriously immune to these space parasites.

Sandra Hüller in 'Project Hail Mary'.

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A model of German pragmatism, Stratt isn't known for chumming it up with her underlings. So, when she picks up the microphone on karaoke night and belts out a Harry Styles tune, it's a major moment for everyone on board the Navy vessel carrying her team.

But it turns out, the scene never would have happened that way if Gosling hadn't overheard Hüller singing to herself on set.

"She has this beautiful voice that I heard down the hallway one day when we were on an aircraft carrier, and I was like, 'You can sing like that?' And she was like, 'Yeah.' And I was like, 'Can you sing in the movie?' And she was like, 'I don't know,'" Gosling shares.

"And I was like, 'Please, we're doing a karaoke scene. Please, please sing.' She said, 'I'll think about it,'" he continues. "So she showed up. She had picked this Harry Styles song. She came in, she smashed it, and it was a perfect song choice as well because it ends up becoming part of the trailers and the whole spirit of the movie."

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The film's Oscar-winning directors, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (Best Animated Feature winners for producing *Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse*), remember Gosling telling them, "It'd be crazy" not to have Hüller sing in the scene, given her vocal talents.

"We were like, well, yeah, actually it would be a great way to express that she has to keep a distance as the boss and can't get too invested, but it could be a way for her to show some empathy for the rest of the crew," Miller says.

Still, Lord adds, "It's very messed up to ask an actor, certainly someone of her caliber, to add a musical number two days ahead of the time we had to shoot it."

Sandra Huller in 'Project Hail Mary'.

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Fortunately, Hüller said yes — but under one condition.

"She said, 'I'll do it, but I get to pick the song,'" Lord says.

"We had to find a song very quickly, and I found this song by Harry Styles, and I love it very much," Hüller says. "I asked my daughter if it's actually cool or if it's just me who finds it cool at almost 48. And she approved. So I asked if we could get the rights to this song, and [producer] Amy Pascal got the rights, and then we shot it the next day."

While Hüller might not be known for her singing chops these days, it's not a total secret that she possesses the talent. In fact, back in the day, she recorded an entire album that is still floating around on the internet.

Ryan Gosling in 'Project Hail Mary'.

amazon/mgm studios

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"I was writing a lot of music when I was younger, when I didn't have any responsibility in my life," she says. "That has changed. So I don't have the time to do that anymore, but I found it incredible. It was a lot of fun. And then I made an album of it, I don't know, 10 years later. It's somewhere out there."

As for why Gosling — known for his own vocal chops as a former Mouseketeer and as *Barbie*'s Ken —doesn't sing in the karaoke scene, the filmmakers say it was a narrative decision to keep the spotlight on Stratt.

"We wanted him to not have the connection with all of the other people on earth so that he found his true soulmate in space," Miller says, teasing Grace's relationship with Rocky, the alien sidekick whom he encounters later in the movie.

*Project Hail Mary *is now in theaters.

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Source: “EW Sci-Fi”