PORT HURON, Mich. (WXYZ) — “Project Hail Mary” is back on IMAX screens this weekend, about a month after its highly anticipated release. The film has grossed hundreds of millions of dollars across the globe, and left moviegoers enamored with the cinematography, the character Rocky, and Ryan Gosling’s fox sweater.
That sweater, worn by Gosling’s character, Dr. Ryland Grace, is actually from a fourth-generation family-owned company headquartered in Port Huron.
That company, Mary Maxim, offers a wide selection of yarns, plus a library of kits and patterns. However, Mitch McPhedrain, the fourth-generation president of Mary Maxim, said the company was founded and grew with the popularity of sweaters like the one worn in the film.
He said that the film’s costume designer, Glyn Dillon, reached out after seeing the original wolf sweater at a vintage fair in London.
“I think he was somewhat familiar with the sweaters, but he brought it on site and then, everyone on set just loved it, including Ryan Gosling,” McPhedrain told me.
According to an article in Indiewire, Gosling was the person who suggested a version of the sweater with fox faces and fox footprints instead of the wolf ones.
“They basically just changed a couple of things, like the eyes and the mouth. They didn't really modify a whole lot, to be honest, but there were some slight changes, and then they also changed the color to make it look more like a fox,” McPhedrain said.
McPhedrain said the team asked for permission to use the sweater and make the changes.
He told us that when the movie came out, he, his mom, and some of the staff from the Port Huron office went to the theatre to see the movie. McPhedrain and his mom wore the sweater.
“I didn’t realize how much it was actually going to be in the movie,” he said. “Just seeing it the first time was just amazing, and from there, just the amount that they wore it, I was like, ‘wow, this is, this is awesome.’”
He said the entire Mary Maxim staff is a great team and was incredibly proud to see the sweater in the film.
“I'm just thrilled with how much attention it's getting,” he told me. “I just really like the sweaters in particular, and I’m just happy that they’re getting all the attention, and my goal is to keep bringing them back and maybe resurface some older designs that we have and come out with some new designs.”
After the film came out, comments about the sweater and Gosling’s outfits were all over social media. It’s likely going to be a popular Halloween costume this year, and McPhedrain said before the film, they had sold the original wolf pattern as a downloadable pattern only.
Now, Mary Maxim is selling the Wolf Cardigan kit “Project Hail Mary” version on its website. You can get it in a variety of colors. But like that long space journey to the Petrova line, getting to wear the iconic sweater will take some work. Because plot twist: the kit from Mary Maxim requires you to knit it yourself.
Of course, it's not stopping the demand. The kit is temporarily sold out, but you can make a preorder
Right now, Mary Maxim is working with their main supplier and other vendors from whom they get yarn to meet demand.
“We’re assembling as many as we can, and shipping them out,” he said, but it could take a few weeks to a month to get them out to people who pre-ordered them.
McPhedrain said he is grateful for the crochet/knit community and the industry, and that these designs are resurfacing again. His hope is that the film brings attention back to knitting and crocheting and drives people to want to learn to knit again.
“My goal is to keep bringing out new designs like this that people can make,” he said.
