The iconic movie comparison Christopher Nolan found “daunting”
Even though Christopher Nolan has ventured into different subjects throughout his career, he has always demonstrated a flair for historical movies as well as sci-fi epics. Whether it be the harrowing account of the origin of nuclear weapons in Oppenheimer or the mind-bending psychological architecture explored in Inception, Nolan has especially excelled in these domains.
Nolan has even mixed the two in works like The Prestige, but when it comes to his sci-fi oeuvre, the one movie that gets repeatedly mentioned in every conversation is Interstellar. Starring big names such as Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway, the 2014 epic imagines a future where we are forced to explore the unimaginable vastness of space because of Earth’s inevitable collapse.
Combining ecocritical themes with fascinating sci-fi concepts, Interstellar definitely belongs to the genre’s long lineage as it redefines some of the frameworks for a new era of filmmaking. However, despite the modern approach, Nolan repeatedly thought of one great masterpiece that had left a huge impact on him during his formative years.
That film is none other than Stanley Kubrick’s elusive and mesmerising commentary on the human condition, 2001: A Space Odyssey. During a conversation with Entertainment Weekly, Nolan acknowledged that it was flattering for his work to be compared to Kubrick’s, but the latter operated on a level that was intimidating.
Nolan said: “It’s pretty daunting anytime anybody is mentioning your work in the same breath as 2001. You certainly don’t want people comparing you with that in some ways, but on the other hand, post-2001, you can’t make a serious science fiction film about journeying out into the universe that doesn’t acknowledge the existence of 2001. It’s too important for that, and so when we made Interstellar, we knew that our film was in dialogue with 2001, and so there are references and things that were inspired by it.”
“We tried to do a different thing,” he added. “We tried to use a different language and use a different form of engagement with the audience, so Interstellar is much more about obvious emotionality and family, but at the same time, really, for me, it was a process of being inspired to make Interstellar because of 2001, and then putting it to one side and not watching it for several years while working on that film, it was too scary.”
Interstellar would not have existed without 2001, but that’s not to take away from the cinematic experiment that Nolan conducted by drawing inspiration from the timeless classic. In addition to the critical acclaim and commercial success, the filmmaker remains grateful to have had the opportunity to revisit one of his childhood favourites during the making of his own opus.
