Interstellar (film)

''Interstellar'' is a 2014 epic science fiction film co-written, directed, and produced by Christopher Nolan. It stars Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Bill Irwin, Ellen Burstyn, Matt Damon, and Michael Caine. Set in a dystopian future where humanity is struggling to survive, the film follows a group of astronauts who travel through a wormhole near Saturn in search of a new home for mankind.

Brothers Christopher and Jonathan Nolan wrote the screenplay, which had its origins in a script Jonathan developed in 2007. Caltech theoretical physicist and 2017 Nobel laureate in Physics Kip Thorne was an executive producer, acted as a scientific consultant, and wrote a tie-in book, '' The Science of Interstellar''. Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema shot it on 35 mm movie film in the Panavision anamorphic format and IMAX 70 mm. Principal photography began in late 2013 and took place in Alberta, Iceland, and Los Angeles. ''Interstellar'' uses extensive practical and miniature effects and the company Double Negative created additional digital effects.

''Interstellar'' premiered on October 26, 2014, in Los Angeles, California. In the United States, it was first released on film stock, expanding to venues using digital projectors. The film had a worldwide gross over $677 million (and $773 million with subsequent re-releases), making it the tenth-highest grossing film of 2014. It received acclaim for its performances, direction, screenplay, musical score, visual effects, ambition, themes, and emotional weight. It has also received praise from many astronomers for its scientific accuracy and portrayal of theoretical astrophysics. Since its premiere, ''Interstellar'' gained a cult following, and now is regarded by many sci-fi experts as one of the best science-fiction films of all time. ''Interstellar'' was nominated for five awards at the 87th Academy Awards, winning Best Visual Effects, and received numerous other accolades.

Plot

In 2067, ex-NASA pilot Joseph Cooper is forced to work as a farmer due to a global famine caused by blight. The famine is severe enough that it has had major effects on human society, including the abandonment of any scientific pursuit that is not directly related to solving the world's food problem. Government-run schools actively discourage students from studying subjects such as space exploration, claiming that historical events like the moon landing were a political hoax and that scientific organizations such as NASA were shut down due to a belief that it was a waste of money and resources.

Cooper ignores his daughter, Murph, when she claims a ghost is communicating to her through her bookshelf, but later finds dust particles forming an inexplicable pattern on Murph's bedroom floor. He studies the pattern and discovers a coded message leading him to a secret government facility where Professor Brand explains that NASA was not shut down, but rather has been secretly tasked by the government to explore the possibility of finding humanity a new home away from Earth. Blight, dust storms, and failing crops have rendered humans incapable of surviving. Brand claims to be working on a gravity equation to make this mission possible, and asks Cooper to pilot an exploratory spacecraft. Cooper agrees, promising a distraught Murph that he will return. He pilots a shuttle carrying scientists Romilly, Doyle, and Brand’s daughter Amelia to dock with the spacecraft ''Endurance''. The ship is headed towards a wormhole that mysteriously appeared near Saturn decades ago.

The ''Endurance'' passes through the wormhole into another galaxy with a planetary system orbiting a supermassive black hole called Gargantua. The crew intends to investigate three planets, each previously explored by NASA volunteers, who shared positive reports for habitability. The first planet is an aqua planet with massive tidal waves and no dry land. Doyle drowns after failing to get into the probe and getting knocked off by one of the waves, and Amelia and Cooper fly back to the ''Endurance'', only to find that decades have passed due to the time slippage caused by the planet's proximity to Gargantua. Romilly, having remained onboard, has aged 23 years. Cooper replays messages from Earth, learning that Murph is now his age and has become a scientist working with Brand.

The crew journeys to the second planet to find the previous NASA explorer, Mann, who is still alive and has established a base. On Earth, Murph learns from a dying Professor Brand that he gave up on solving his gravity equation years ago because it would take data from inside a black hole to reconcile, which is impossible to achieve. He reveals that he never intended for their mission to evacuate humanity from Earth to succeed, and was instead planning for Cooper and his fellow astronauts to try to establish their colony and hopefully restart the human race themselves. He dies, and a distraught Murph relays this information to the crew. As they explore the second planet, they discover that Mann falsified the data in his reports so that the NASA mission would come to rescue him. Romilly is killed by Mann's booby trap when he tries to access the logs, and Mann attempts to hijack the ''Endurance'', but fails to dock properly, blowing out the hatch and killing himself in the process. Cooper and Amelia catch up with the damaged ''Endurance'' and dock safely.

With limited resources available to use their engines, Cooper proposes a slingshot move around Gargantua, using its gravity to propel them toward the final planet. To shed mass, Cooper sacrifices himself at the last minute, dropping into the black hole and leaving Amelia to complete the journey. Falling past the event horizon, Cooper finds himself inside a five-dimensional tesseract. He deduces that it was placed there by future humans with access to higher dimensions, as was the wormhole. He realizes that by using gravity, he can send messages to Murph and his past self. On Earth, Murph visits her childhood house after Professor Brand's death. She finds her father's old watch on her bookshelf and notices the seconds-hand moving irregularly. She initially believes her "ghost" is back, only to realize that it was Cooper all along, sending her messages from a higher dimension. Cooper feeds Murph scientific data about the black hole's singularity, which she eventually uses to solve the gravity equation, helping humanity escape Earth.

His mission is now complete, and Cooper is ejected by future beings from the tesseract. He is sent back through the wormhole and picked up by a ranger orbiting Saturn. Due to the time slippage around Gargantua, almost 90 years have passed in Earth time since Cooper left, though he has barely aged. He awakens on a cylindrical space station and reunites with Murph, now a celebrated scientist who helped humans survive extinction. Nearing death, she advises Cooper not to wait around to see her die and urges him to find Amelia, who may have settled on the other planet that could become their new home. Cooper steals a spacecraft and sets off on his new journey. On the other planet, Amelia is building a new colony for future humans to inhabit. She removes her helmet and breathes the air, showing that the planet is capable of supporting life.

Cast

* Matthew McConaughey as Joseph Cooper, a widowed NASA pilot who, after the agency was closed by the government, had become a farmer
* Anne Hathaway as Dr. Amelia Brand, a NASA scientist, and astronaut
* Jessica Chastain as Murphy "Murph" Cooper, Joseph's daughter, who eventually becomes a NASA scientist
** Mackenzie Foy as young Murph
** Ellen Burstyn as elderly Murph
* John Lithgow as Donald, Cooper's elderly father-in-law
* Michael Caine as Professor John Brand, a high-ranking NASA scientist, ideator of Plan A, former mentor of Cooper, and father of Amelia
* David Gyasi as Romilly, another high-ranking NASA member, and ''Endurance'' crew member
* Wes Bentley as Doyle, a high-ranking NASA member, and ''Endurance'' crew member
* Casey Affleck as Tom Cooper, Joseph's son, who eventually grows up to become a farmer
** Timothée Chalamet as young Tom
* Matt Damon as Mann, a NASA astronaut sent to an icy planet during the Lazarus program
* Bill Irwin as TARS and CASE
* Josh Stewart as CASE
* Topher Grace as Getty, Murph's colleague and love interest
* Leah Cairns as Lois, Tom's wife
* David Oyelowo as School Principal
* Collette Wolfe as Ms. Hanley
* William Devane as Williams, another NASA member
* Elyes Gabel as Administrator
* Jeff Hephner as Doctor
* Russ Fega as Crew Chief

Production

Crew

* Christopher Nolan – Director, producer, writer
* Jonathan Nolan – Writer
* Emma Thomas – Producer
* Lynda Obst – Producer
* Hoyte van Hoytema – Cinematographer
* Nathan Crowley – Production designer
* Mary Zophres – Costume designer
* Lee Smith – Editor
* Hans Zimmer – Music composer
* Paul Franklin – Visual effects supervisor
* Kip Thorne – Consultant, executive producer

Development and financing

The premise for ''Interstellar'' was conceived by producer Lynda Obst and theoretical physicist Kip Thorne, who collaborated on the film ''Contact'' (1997), and had known each other since Carl Sagan set them up on a blind date. The two conceived a scenario, based on Thorne's work, about "the most exotic events in the universe suddenly becoming accessible to humans," and attracted filmmaker Steven Spielberg's interest in directing. The film began development in June 2006, when Spielberg and Paramount Pictures announced plans for a science-fiction film based on an eight-page treatment written by Obst and Thorne. Obst was attached to produce. By March 2007, Jonathan Nolan was hired to write a screenplay.

After Spielberg moved his production studio DreamWorks from Paramount to Walt Disney Studios in 2009, Paramount needed a new director for ''Interstellar''. Jonathan Nolan recommended his brother Christopher, who joined the project in 2012. Christopher Nolan met with Thorne, then attached as executive producer, to discuss the use of spacetime in the story. In January 2013, Paramount and Warner Bros. announced that Christopher Nolan was in negotiations to direct ''Interstellar''. Nolan said he wanted to encourage the goal of human spaceflight, and intended to merge his brother's screenplay with his own. By the following March, Nolan was confirmed to direct ''Interstellar'', which would be produced under his label Syncopy and Lynda Obst Productions

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