Phil Lord and Chris Miller will direct Ryan Gosling's 'Project Hail Mary'.

The 39-year-old actor will both act in and produce an adaptation of a new novel written by Andy Weir, who previously penned 'The Martian', and now 'The Lego Movie' filmmakers have signed on to direct.

The novel, which is also titled 'Project Hail Mary', will be published by Random House in Spring 2021, with the film adaptation likely to follow closely behind.

'Project Hail Mary' tells the story of an astronaut - who will be played by Gosling in the movie - on a spaceship that is tasked with saving the planet.

Gosling will also produce the flick alongside Amy Pascal, Ken Kao and Aditya Sood, whilst MGM - which is now headed by Michael De Luca - has acquired the package.

De Luca and Pamela Abdy, MGM's film group president, told Variety: ''All of us at MGM are incredibly excited by this literal dream team coming together around Andy's astounding novel. With their masterful ability to balance drama, action, and humour, Phil and Chris are the perfect filmmakers to take on this unique material and we are thrilled to have them partner with Ryan, Ken, Andy, Amy and Aditya to bring this movie to life for big screens everywhere.

Pascal added: ''I couldn't be more excited to be working with this dream team of filmmakers. Mike, Chris, Phil, Ryan, Andy and Aditya are all the best of the best in their fields. I can't wait to get going on this amazing project with them.''

'Project Hail Mary' will come as a return to the world of space and science fiction for Gosling, who was last seen on screens playing Neil Armstrong in Damien Chazelle's 'First Man' in 2018.