Steven Spielberg Says “Interstellar ”Was a 'Much Better Movie' After Christopher Nolan Took Over the Project

Victoria EdelFri, April 10, 2026 at 5:49 PM UTC

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Steve Spielberg (left) and Christiopher Nolan (right) in February 2026Credit: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty -

Steven Spielberg reflected on how he developed the early versions of Interstellar

The 2014 film was ultimately directed by Christopher Nolan

Spielberg said that Interstellar was a "much better movie" in Nolan's hands than in his own

Steven Spielberg almost directed Interstellar, but he thinks the decision not to was for the best.

Spielberg, 79, opened up about his time developing the science fiction film in a new interview with Empire Magazine (via Total Film). The movie, released in 2014, was ultimately directed by Christopher Nolan.

"I was involved with Interstellar for a year," Spielberg explained. “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."

Spielberg even went so far as to hire a screenwriter to work on the film: Nolan’s brother Jonathan, acclaimed for his work on Person of Interest and Westworld, as well as collaborations with Nolan like Memento, The Prestige and The Dark Knight. Spielberg said he wrote the first and second drafts, but “It didn’t stick.”

Matthew McConaughey in 'Interstellar'Credit: Paramount/Warner Brothers/Kobal/Shutterstock

But the Jurassic Park director said that Jonathan, 49, almost knew where the movie would ultimately land. Spielberg remembered, “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 continued, “He was absolutely right. The second I decided not to make it, Chris jumped on board, probably the next day.”

He praised the work Nolan, 55, ultimately did on the film. “Interstellar was a much better movie in Chris Nolan's hands than it would have been in mine,” he said.

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Interstellar stars Matthew McConaughey as Coop, a NASA pilot who tries to find habitable planets as Earth becomes a wasteland. It also starred Anne Hathaway as Dr. Amelia Brand, Jessica Chastain as Coop’s daughter Murph and Casey Affleck as Coop’s son Tom. Other members of the movie’s ensemble include Michael Caine, Matt Damon, Topher Grace, David Gyasi and John Lithgow.

The movie also starred Timothée Chalamet as the younger version of Coop’s son, Tom. Back in February, he reunited with Nolan for a screening of the movie. "The whole experience with Nolan, I felt totally like 17 again," Chalamet said. "I went home, it was shocking ...That was a crazy car ride home for me. I was like, 'Holy s---, I feel like, you know, the 13 years that elapsed haven’t elapsed.' "

Matthew McConaughey (left) and Anne Hathaway in 'Interstellar'Credit: Paramount/Warner Brothers/Kobal/Shutterstock

“We were taking pictures together ... and he throws me in a headlock and starts giving me a noogie," he recalled. "I'm like, 'Holy s---, Chris Nolan’s hitting me with a noogie right now.' "

"I said to him, ‘Chris, I'm a 30-year-old man,’ ” Chalamet remembered. “He said, ‘Not to me, you're not.’ ”

During that conversation with Chalamet, Nolan remembered that Interstellar, despite making over $770 million at the box office, was not well-received by critics or by many audiences.

But now, 12 years later, “The project seems to touch people more and more year after year and sort of grows,” he said, per Variety. “For years, people would recognize me somewhere and talk about Dark Knight. But over the last 10 years it’s become Interstellar.”

Meanwhile, this summer Spielberg will return to blockbuster filmmaking with Disclosure Day, an alien thriller starring Emily Blunt, Josh O'Connor, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson and Colman Domingo. It will be released on June 12. Nolan, meanwhile, will release his film The Odyssey on July 17. It will see him reteam with Damon and Hathaway and will also star Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong'o and Charlize Theron.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”