Filmmaker Christopher Nolan is reminiscing about how exactly he ended up directing “Interstellar” as his brother Jonathan Nolan (now behind the popular “Fallout” series at Prime after doing HBO‘s “Westworld“) was tasked to help write the movie based on theoretical science concerning black holes (with contributions from physicist Kip Thorne), which eventually morphed into an extremely compelling emotional drama with a heartwrenching father-daughter element, with the sci-fi pic ending on an optimistic and romantic note. Nolan was enlisted for the movie after Steven Spielberg had to exit.
During an exchange between Nolan and Timothée Chalamet (who had a minor role in the movie playing the son of Matthew McConaughey‘s Cooper) for a Q&A reunion at a presentation of “Interstellar” at the AMC Universal Citywalk in Los Angeles to screen the sci-fi film in IMAX 70mm (via Nolan Archives and Variety), the director talked about how he got involved with it.
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“Right after we collaborated on ‘Dark Knight,’ my brother [Jonathan Nolan] got the job and went to work with Steven [Spielberg]. He worked on it for a lot of years. It had incredible ideas and moved through all these different iterations, but until Steven was ready to make it, whatever it is, it never quite got that momentum. Steven went off to do another film, so it became available. I had a lot of conversations with Jonathan over the years and what he was doing and what his ambitions was. I was excited by it. I was incredibly struck by his first act. I had been working on a time travel idea… things looking at time. I had half-baked projects that I hadn’t committed to. When it became available, it was a case of me saying to Jonathan, ‘How would you feel if I took this and tried to combine it with some of my ideas and change a bit with what it was?’ He was fine with it. He could tell the spirit of what I was trying to do was to get to what he was initially excited about it,” Nolan told Chalamet of how his iteration came together with his screenwriting brother.
Chalamet also mentioned his own pride in being part of the movie, “It’s remained my favorite project I’ve ever been in. It’s the film I’ve seen the most of, of all the films ever made in human history.”
Despite his new position as the president of the DGA, Nolan isn’t slowing down as his fantastical Greek myth pic “The Odyssey” is heading to theaters on July 17, with a collection of talented actors among the cast such as Matt Damon, Robert Pattinson, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Jon Bernthal, Charlize Theron, Himesh Patel, Zendaya, Mia Goth, Elliot Page, Benny Safdie, John Leguizamo, Corey Hawkins, Ryan Hurst, Lupita Nyong’o, Logan Marshall-Green, Will Yun Lee, Samantha Morton, Travis Scott, and more.
You can view that Q&A below, thanks to the Nolan Archives for recording and uploading that insightful discussion to YouTube. We’re excited to learn some concrete details of what is next for Nolan, as he’s yet to officially announce what his next feature project is going to be.
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- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
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- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
