Christopher Nolan Discusses Learning Interstellar Science Was Proven Right 5 Years Later

interstellar Director Christopher Nolan has talked about how he felt when he learned five years later that the film’s depiction of black holes was scientifically accurate. Nolan’s space epic, released in 2014, stars Matthew McConaughey as Cooper, an astronaut who embarks on a mission to find a new home for humanity after Earth is destroyed. Nolan collaborated with theoretical physicist Kip Thorne to research the scientific aspects of the film. interstellarThe depiction of black hole Gargantua proved accurate in 2019, when the Event Horizon telescope captured the first images of a black hole in a distant galaxy.

In a recent interview, BFIrecalls Nolan. interstellar‘s black hole has been proven to be scientifically accurate and shared his reaction to the news.

The filmmaker tells how the design for the black hole in the film actually came about, and reveals how Thorne played a key role in its creation. See his full comments below.

“Kip [Thorne] He insisted on talking about black holes with the visual effects guys. Ultimately, I wanted something that looked cool, so I was a little worried about that. It doesn’t really matter whether it’s scientifically accurate or not. But what Kip came up with was that he had all the equations that defined how the gravitational effect of a black hole affects the light behind it, and therefore what the black hole looks like. That’s it. He really needed the computing power of a visual effects company to render it.

“He worked closely with visual effects supervisor Paul Franklin to create this incredibly realistic rendering of a black hole. In fact, they jointly published several different scientific papers about it. And a few years later, they actually succeeded in photographing a real-life black hole.

“It was on the front page of the New York Times, and I saw it and called Kip and said, ‘Well, I guess you were right. I’m very happy to confirm that you were right and that our black hole can endure. ” Now that’s the standard view, but they were all based entirely on real science. ”

Interstellar’s Black Hole and Nolan’s take on plausible science fiction

Why his movies always feel so real (even when they’re not)

With the exception of a select few of Nolan’s biggest films, the filmmaker has always been interested in exploring aspects of science, technology, and time in his films. Everything Nolan creates feels especially grounded in reality; A clear effort on his part to portray the more outlandish sci-fi elements as real..He famously took this approach. dark Knight His down-to-earth, gritty take on Batman and his gadgets influenced the next decade of superhero stories, for better or worse.

interstellar ‘ is a science fiction movie, but it doesn’t necessarily feel like one. Working with Thorne ensured that the film always felt relatively true to reality., the drying of the Earth, black holes, gravity, time dilation, etc. Many of the effects seen in the movie aren’t things people experience every day, such as time running slower on the mirror planet due to its proximity to a black hole, but they’re all based on real science.

inception This film is the only one in Nolan’s work that doesn’t attempt to explain the science at its heart: the shared dream. doctrine It features a scene explaining how reverse entropy works. Even if the sci-fi premise doesn’t stand up to intense scrutiny. Nolan is committed to practical filmmaking techniques that often feel plausible. For story purposes. interstellar This movie has the best of both worlds. The science actually works, and the filmmaking makes it feel real.

sauce: BFI

interstellar

Directed by Christopher Nolan, Interstellar is set in a future where Earth is plagued by life-threatening famine and a small team of astronauts is sent to find a potential new home among the stars. I’m imagining. Despite putting his mission first, Coop (Matthew McConaughey) races against time to return to his family as he works to return humanity to Earth.

release date

November 7, 2014

studio

Warner Bros. Pictures, Paramount Pictures

Sales agent

Paramount Pictures, Warner Brothers Pictures

runtime

2 hours 49 minutes

budget

165 million