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Interstellar poster
8.6
Paramount Pictures Acclaimed

Interstellar

Standalone · Christopher Nolan Collection

2014 169 min PG-13
Critic8.6
Adventure Drama Sci-Fi
Paramount+ Prime Video Apple TV FindEdition
Trailer Where to Watch

Overview

In Earth's future, a global crop blight and second Dust Bowl are slowly rendering the planet uninhabitable. Former NASA pilot Cooper and a team of researchers travel through a wormhole near Saturn in search of a new home for humanity — confronting relativity, sacrifice, and the bond between a father and his daughter.
Story 8.5
Acting 8.8
Direction 9.0
Cinematography 9.3
Music 9.5
Pacing 7.8
Originality 9.0
Emotional Impact 9.2
Overall 8.6

Editorial Review

By FindEdition Film Desk

8.6 /10

Visual grandeur

IMAX 70mm cinematography and scientifically accurate black hole rendering make Interstellar one of the most visually stunning films ever made.

Father and daughter

McConaughey and Chastain/Foy/Burstyn as Cooper and Murph deliver one of cinema's most powerful parent-child arcs across time and space.

Hans Zimmer's score

The organ-driven soundtrack — especially 'No Time for Caution' and 'S.T.A.Y.' — elevates every scene to operatic heights.

Pros

  • Groundbreaking black hole visuals
  • McConaughey's emotional performance
  • Hans Zimmer's iconic score
  • Kip Thorne's scientific rigor
  • IMAX 70mm spectacle

Cons

  • Some dialogue intentionally inaudible
  • Sentimental third act divides viewers
  • Complex science may overwhelm some
  • 169-minute runtime
Verdict A visually resplendent, emotionally devastating sci-fi epic — Nolan at his most ambitious, anchored by McConaughey and Zimmer's organ score.

AI Review

Nolan's wormhole epic — 2001 meets The Right Stuff with a father-daughter love story that transcends spacetime, powered by Hans Zimmer's cathedral organ.

A visually resplendent, emotionally devastating sci-fi epic — Nolan at his most ambitious, anchored by McConaughey and Zimmer's organ score.

Essential in IMAX 70mm or the largest screen available. Turn up the volume — muffled dialogue is intentional.

Awards

Academy Awards

Best Visual Effects · Won

Academy Awards

Best Original Score · Nominated

Academy Awards

Best Production Design · Nominated

Academy Awards

Best Sound Editing · Nominated

Academy Awards

Best Sound Mixing · Nominated

BAFTA

Best Special Visual Effects · Won

Saturn Awards

Best Science Fiction Film · Won

Saturn Awards

Best Writing · Won

Saturn Awards

Best Music · Won

Critics' Choice Awards

Best Sci-Fi/Horror Movie · Won

Golden Globe Awards

Best Original Score · Nominated

Grammy Awards

Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media · Nominated

Timeline

Release Date
Theatrical Date
Digital Date
Physical Date
Premiere
Festival
Status
Development

Conceived by Lynda Obst and Kip Thorne in 2006; originally Steven Spielberg attached. Christopher Nolan joined 2012 after Jonathan Nolan's years of script work.

Financing

Paramount and Warner Bros. co-financed via a rare cross-studio deal including Friday the 13th and South Park stakes. Budget: $165 million.

Principal photography

August – December 2013 in Alberta, Iceland, and Los Angeles under working title Flora's Letter. 500 acres of corn planted and destroyed.

Visual effects

850 VFX shots by DNEG; black hole rendering took up to 100 hours per frame. Many effects projected in-camera behind actors.

Release

Premiered October 26, 2014. US limited film-stock release November 5, wide November 7. 10th anniversary IMAX re-release December 2024.

Academy Awards

Best Visual Effects Won

Academy Awards

Best Original Score Nominated

Academy Awards

Best Production Design Nominated

Academy Awards

Best Sound Editing Nominated

Academy Awards

Best Sound Mixing Nominated

BAFTA

Best Special Visual Effects Won

Saturn Awards

Best Science Fiction Film Won

Saturn Awards

Best Writing Won

Saturn Awards

Best Music Won

Critics' Choice Awards

Best Sci-Fi/Horror Movie Won

Golden Globe Awards

Best Original Score Nominated

Grammy Awards

Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media Nominated

Production

Development

Conceived by Lynda Obst and Kip Thorne in 2006; originally Steven Spielberg attached. Christopher Nolan joined 2012 after Jonathan Nolan's years of script work.

Financing

Paramount and Warner Bros. co-financed via a rare cross-studio deal including Friday the 13th and South Park stakes. Budget: $165 million.

Principal photography

August – December 2013 in Alberta, Iceland, and Los Angeles under working title Flora's Letter. 500 acres of corn planted and destroyed.

Visual effects

850 VFX shots by DNEG; black hole rendering took up to 100 hours per frame. Many effects projected in-camera behind actors.

Release

Premiered October 26, 2014. US limited film-stock release November 5, wide November 7. 10th anniversary IMAX re-release December 2024.

Streaming

Paramount+ Prime Video Apple TV FindEdition

Cast

Matthew McConaughey Joseph Cooper
Anne Hathaway Amelia Brand
Jessica Chastain Murphy Cooper
Mackenzie Foy Murph (10 years old)
Ellen Burstyn Murph (elderly)
Michael Caine Professor John Brand
Matt Damon Dr. Mann
Casey Affleck Tom Cooper
Timothée Chalamet Tom (15 years old)
Wes Bentley Doyle
David Gyasi Romilly
Bill Irwin TARS (voice and puppetry)
Topher Grace Getty
John Lithgow Donald

Characters

Joseph Cooper Matthew McConaughey
Amelia Brand Anne Hathaway
Murphy Cooper Jessica Chastain
Murph (10 years old) Mackenzie Foy
Murph (elderly) Ellen Burstyn
Professor John Brand Michael Caine
Dr. Mann Matt Damon
Tom Cooper Casey Affleck
Tom (15 years old) Timothée Chalamet
Doyle Wes Bentley
Romilly David Gyasi
TARS (voice and puppetry) Bill Irwin
Getty Topher Grace
Donald John Lithgow

Crew

Christopher Nolan Director
Jonathan Nolan Screenwriter
Christopher Nolan Screenwriter
Emma Thomas Producer
Lynda Obst Producer
Hans Zimmer Composer
Hoyte van Hoytema Cinematographer
Lee Smith Editor
Nathan Crowley Production Designer
Paul Franklin Visual Effects Supervisor
Kip Thorne Executive Producer / Scientific Consultant

Videos

Official Trailer

Soundtrack

  1. Cornfield Chase — Hans Zimmer
  2. Mountains — Hans Zimmer
  3. No Time for Caution — Hans Zimmer
  4. S.T.A.Y. — Hans Zimmer
  5. Afraid of Time — Hans Zimmer
  6. Day One — Hans Zimmer
  7. Coward — Hans Zimmer
  8. Where We're Going — Hans Zimmer

Trivia

  • Production planted 500 acres of real corn in Alberta — then destroyed it in an apocalyptic dust storm scene.
  • Hans Zimmer composed the score from a single page about a father leaving his child, without reading the script — using the Harrison & Harrison organ at Temple Church, London.
  • The black hole Gargantua visualization by Double Negative led to published scientific papers and predated the 2019 Event Horizon Telescope image.
  • TARS and CASE robots were played by Bill Irwin via puppetry with his image digitally removed — quadrilateral designs based on mathematics, not humanoid forms.
  • Endurance spacecraft miniatures were up to 25 feet long — nicknamed 'maxatures' by the crew.
  • Timothée Chalamet appears as 15-year-old Tom Cooper — his first role in a Christopher Nolan film before Oppenheimer.
  • 10th anniversary IMAX re-release in December 2024 became the highest-grossing IMAX re-release of all time ($24.4M).

Quotes

"Mankind was born on Earth. It was never meant to die here."

"Love is the one thing we're capable of perceiving that transcends dimensions of time and space."

"Murphy's law doesn't mean that something bad will happen. It means that whatever can happen, will happen."

"We used to look up at the sky and wonder at our place in the stars. Now we just look down and worry about our place in the dirt."

"Do not go gentle into that good night."

Goofs

  • Nolan intentionally mixed some dialogue below ambient sound levels — theaters posted notices that muffled speech was a creative choice, not a projection error.
  • Christopher Nolan removed gravitational redshift/blue shift from Gargantua's visual rendering because test audiences found the scientifically accurate asymmetric coloring confusing.

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Collections

Part of Christopher Nolan Collection

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Universe

Standalone science fiction (inspired by The Wizard of Oz themes)

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Franchise

Standalone

Standalone Christopher Nolan film — spiritual successor to 2001: A Space Odyssey, not part of a franchise.

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Recommendations & Alternatives

A similarly themed alternative is Moana.

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AI Recommendation Insight

Nolan's wormhole epic — 2001 meets The Right Stuff with a father-daughter love story that transcends spacetime, powered by Hans Zimmer's cathedral organ. Similar picks: Same Franchise, Similar Director