Christopher Nolan's Merging An Original Idea With Jonah Nolan's Old Screenplay For 'Interstellar'

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by Kevin Jagernauth
January 10, 2013 6:11 PM
14 Comments

It looks like Christopher Nolan fans will still have plenty to talk to about in 2013 -- and it won't all be about the Oscar snub "The Dark Knight Rises" received. Last night came word that, awards season or not, Nolan was already putting together a new project, the sci-fi pic "Interstellar." The big talking point around the movie was that it was something Steven Spielberg was once kicking around, with a script by Jonah Nolan and a story developed by theoretical physicist Kip Thorne. But now, there's even more reason to be excited, as the director will be putting his own distinct stamp on the material.

According to Deadline, Nolan is taking the script that his brother wrote, and combining it with his own original idea, and writing a new script (the movie will retain the title). Thorne is still on board as a technical consultant. As for the exact story, yesterday it was said that it will follow a group of explorers who go through a wormhole, in a story about time travel and alternate dimensions. While today, things are a bit more vague, as stating it will "depict a heroic interstellar voyage to the farthest borders of our scientific understanding."

We can only imagine that just like the early days of "The Dark Knight Rises," there will be plenty of speculation and guesswork, but either way, I think we can all agree that Nolan taking his ambition on a bigger scale is something to really look forward to. He'll spend the early part of the year as executive producer on his friend and cinematographer Wally Pfister's directorial debut "Transcendence," and of course there's "Man Of Steel" coming this summer. It sounds as if he's still putting things together for "Interstellar," and if he's doing more writing, then it might not be camera-ready just yet. But hopefully once his commitments to those two movies wrap up, this won't be too far behind.

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More: Interstellar, Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan

14 Comments

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Benjamin | January 12, 2013 8:34 AMReply

Oscar snub? It'd be a snub if TDKR was on par with any of the other movies that were nominated. I really like Nolan and loved all the Batmans but the last instalment did have massive holes and was no where near as good as The Dark Knight.

I'm excited to see him break some new ground in science fiction and add to this revival of Hollywood sci-fi (there's heaps of potentially good films coming out in the next two years). Hopefully he can write fast otherwise production might not start til next year which would suck.
Erin | January 11, 2013 7:00 PMReply

WHOS PUMPED? I'M PUMPED! I love Christopher Nolan. He is honestly my idol x100, and I'm so glad that Spielberg dropped out so that he could replace him!
NotGarySinise | January 11, 2013 6:32 PMReply

Hell yeah! i just hope Spielberg keep away of this project. I mean, he has done an excellent films like schindler, JP, Jaws, Indy 1-3, but his last Sci-Fi endings was just Shit (the ending of IA is just Laughtable, and the Minority Report incredibly stupid, War of Worlds it was just Spielberg Playing Michael Bay, and of course! Transformers in he was executive produced... yuck!
Jah | January 11, 2013 8:54 AMReply

Can't wait!
zatopek | January 11, 2013 6:23 AMReply

...INTERSTELLAR! (damn typo)
zatopek | January 11, 2013 6:22 AMReply

"A physicist/astronaut is haunted by the images of his dead wife. He embarks on a journey through a wormhole to a different dimension where she didn't die only to realize that his actions could destroy the known universe!

This summer Leonardo DiCaprio goes... INSTELLAR!"
cirkusfolk | January 10, 2013 8:59 PMReply

Didn't Wally Pfister say he will never DP another Nolan film now that he's moved on to directing himself. If this is true, no matter what the film is about or how big the scale, it will never look as good as Nolan's previous work. Sad but true.
MJ | January 10, 2013 8:11 PMReply

I've been a fan of Nolan's since Memento, but I'm really disappointed to see Spielberg walk away, he's the one that initiated this project and had been developing it for ages now, it seemed perfect yesterday with that needless robot project being shelved, it's hard to argue that anyone else has a better track record with big budget science fiction than Spielberg.
DG | January 10, 2013 7:43 PMReply

At first I was vaguely dissapointed he wasn't doing something smaller (I really wanted him to return to Prestige territory) but really this is better, he's at the point now where he has the clout to take the kind of risks on a blockbuster scale that maybe only one or two other directors in the world can get away and I think he should runwith that while its there. Also he's maybe the only director who makes blockbusters that I actually care about seeing and I don't think I'm alone in that. Here's hoping the script is good cause the concept sounds promising, and also that he'll reunite with Hathaway again, out of all his usual circle I'd like to see them do something together again most.
Chr | January 10, 2013 6:48 PMReply

Hardly a surprise, Nolan would never phone in directing another writer's vision as the visionary auteur he is. He'll put his stamp on the screenplay, for better.
Alan B | January 12, 2013 8:43 PM

So a Batman film in which Batman only appears 40 minutes in, and disappears for an hour in the middle act, is phoning it in? Sure, whatever ...
Dee Dee | January 10, 2013 9:39 PM

No, these days he phones in his own work, like with Dark Knight Rises which was just a retread of his previous Batman films, and with a lesser result. On the positive side something new might reinvigorate him.
kiikk | January 10, 2013 7:27 PM

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0278504/ Insomnia he directed this without writing
yer | January 10, 2013 7:24 PM

I bet his jizz tastes like honey.