Long before it became a modern sci-fi classic, Interstellar was once in the hands of Steven Spielberg.
While little was previously known about the legendary director’s take on Interstellar (other than the fact Jonathan Nolan had started penning a script, based on a treatment from author and astrophysicist Kip S. Thorne), Spielberg has decided to open up on the project that never was, his initial research, and Christopher Nolan taking over the project in a new interview with Empire.
“I was involved with Interstellar for a year,” Spielberg said. Kip Thorne brought me the project with Lynda Obst, the producer, and I became fascinated with it. I spent a lot of time at the [Jet Propulsion Laboratory] in Pasadena, California, talking to the scientists there and the aerospace engineers.”
On how far along the project was, Spielberg revealed, “I actually hired Chris Nolan’s brother Jonah to write the first and second draft for me, but it didn’t stick. Jonah actually said, ‘If there comes a point where you decide not to make this movie, I can tell you who’s gonna grab it. He’s already bugging me about it. And that’s my brother Chris.'”
Spielberg added, “He was absolutely right. The second I decided not to make it, Chris jumped on board, probably the next day. Interstellar was a much better movie in Chris Nolan’s hands than it would have been in mine.”
Interstellar, of course, went on to become one of Nolan’s leading works, often regarded as one of the finest sci-fi movies of all time.
It stars Matthew McConaughey as Coop, a NASA pilot pulled out of retirement on a mission to uncover habitable planets for a dying Earth’s population. The cast also featured Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, and Michael Caine.
According to Nolan himself in Tom Shone’s The Nolan Variations, his jumping on board wasn’t quite as instantaneous as Spielberg recalled.
“When the project became available, I said to Jonah, ‘I’d like to get involved on the basis that I want to take your script, combine it with a couple of other ideas, other scripts I’ve been working on on my own, to do with time… What Jonah had written was this phenomenal character, this phenomenal relationship with his son, a great first act, and an incredible ending.”
Spielberg is next set to helm alien-centric thriller Disclosure Day (out June 12), with Christopher Nolan directing The Odyssey (July 17).
For more, check out the rest of 2026’s biggest movie release dates. Then read why it took me a decade to finally ‘get’ Interstellar.