--- title: Watch: Christopher Nolan and Kip Thorne on the Physics of Interstellar description: From space travel to moving beyond the speed of light: the challenges and lessons learned when making a movie that pushes boundaries. canonical: https://time.com/3602525/christopher-nolan-physics-interstellar-kip-thorne/ author: Jeffrey Kluger article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-24T18:36:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T02:19:42.837Z article:section: Science og:title: Interstellar Director on The Science Behind The Movie og:description: From space travel to moving beyond the speed of light: the challenges and lessons learned when making a movie that pushes boundaries. og:url: https://time.com/3602525/christopher-nolan-physics-interstellar-kip-thorne/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt36426df2926ba29d/6987632155a859f607a837a0/interstellar.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: INTERSTELLAR og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Interstellar Director on The Science Behind The Movie twitter:description: From space travel to moving beyond the speed of light: the challenges and lessons learned when making a movie that pushes boundaries. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt36426df2926ba29d/6987632155a859f607a837a0/interstellar.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch Christopher Nolan and Kip Thorne Discuss the Physics of _Interstellar_  by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large Nov 24, 2014 6:36 PM UTC  Matthew McConaughey in Interstellar Matthew McConaughey in InterstellarMelinda Sue Gordon—Paramount  by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large Nov 24, 2014 6:36 PM UTC There’s no arguing about the blockbuster status of _Interstellar_, director Chris Nolan’s latest box office phenomenon. But plenty of people are debating the science component of that sci-fi tale—which is how it always is when a movie based in something as non-negotiable as physics has to take just enough liberties to make the fiction part of the story fly. Nolan was determined to keep his narrative scientifically honest, which is why he signed on as technical adviser celebrated Caltech physicist Kip Thorne—who literally wrote the book on (much of) the movie’s cosmology. TIME’s Jeffrey Kluger sat down with Nolan and Thorne to talk about human curiosity, the art of sci-fi filmmaking and the one time the two of them locked horns over a plot point. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3602525/christopher-nolan-physics-interstellar-kip-thorne/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3602525/christopher-nolan-physics-interstellar-kip-thorne/"},"headline":"Watch Christopher Nolan and Kip Thorne Discuss the Physics of Interstellar","datePublished":"2014-11-24T18:36:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:19:42.837Z","description":"Thorne literally wrote the book on (much of) the movie's cosmology","url":"https://time.com/3602525/christopher-nolan-physics-interstellar-kip-thorne/","keywords":["Space"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt36426df2926ba29d/6987632155a859f607a837a0/interstellar.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jeffrey Kluger","jobTitle":"Editor at Large","url":"https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt36426df2926ba29d/6987632155a859f607a837a0/interstellar.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"INTERSTELLAR","caption":"INTERSTELLAR","creditText":"Melinda Sue Gordon—Paramount","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3602525/christopher-nolan-physics-interstellar-kip-thorne/","name":"Watch Christopher Nolan and Kip Thorne Discuss the Physics of Interstellar"}}]}] ```