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'Project Hail Mary' Star, James Ortiz Surprisingly Eligible for Oscar and Other Major Awards

By Judah Carroll Men's Journal

Updated April 22, 2026 6:12 AM

Project Hail Mary has been such an immense success since hitting theaters in March. The emotional space adventure is already an early contender for the 2027 awards season.

The Phil Lord and Christopher Miller-directed film will likely get an array of nominations for best picture and many technical categories. It's still early in 2026, but Ryan Gosling is certainly a favorite at this point to receive recognition for his acting performance. Though he is the only actual human present in a large portion of the sci-fi story, Gosling may not be the only one to receive an award nomination for a performance.

‘Project Hail Mary' contains not a single green screen shot in the entire movie, director Christopher Miller says.

"There is no green screen in the movie whatsoever. Not a single green or blue screen was used. The whole ship was built as a set from inside." pic.twitter.com/j7qvVxeVet
— Best Movie Moments (@BestMovieMom) April 9, 2026

Variety reported Tuesday that James Ortiz, the puppeteer for Gosling's alien co-star Rocky, would be eligible for best supporting actor nominations at major award shows and that Amazon MGM Studios plans to submit Ortiz for consideration.

In addition to controlling the on-set puppet version of Rocky, Ortiz also provided the voice for the fan-favorite character of 2026. Production originally planned to hire an actor to provide the alien's voice after filming, but after Ortiz performed the lines on set for Gosling to act off of, the directors decided to keep the puppeteer as Rocky.

Ortiz spoke about the reality of going from the puppeteer to actually being Rocky.

"I definitely felt some pressure playing Rocky," Ortiz said. "It doesn't take very long - sort of four minutes on the internet - to go, ‘Oh, there's a lot of love for this character.' So, I didn't want to mess it up. I really wanted to honor him."

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Under regulations for each specific award, Ortiz will be eligible for nomination at the Academy Awards and the Screen Actors Guild Awards. He is not eligible for the Golden Globe Awards.

Going from the puppeteer to being nominated for an acting Oscar within the same project would be one of the great awards season stories we've had in recent memory.

Project Hail Mary is currently playing in theaters everywhere.

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Apr 22, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

This story was originally published April 22, 2026 at 5:00 AM.

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