Rocky is an alien in the movie "Project Hail Mary." James Ortiz gives Rocky his voice and leads the team that moves him. At first, the plan was to use a machine to move Rocky. But Ortiz wanted smoother movements. His team mostly used a puppet with sticks to move it. This also helped them try new actions while filming.
One room on the spaceship had screens showing Earth. Removing the puppet team and their reflections from these images later was too difficult. Instead, they put the mechanical Rocky inside a real ball. A cable usually held him in place. The movie effects team removed the cable from the picture later.
