Interstellar (movie) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Interstellar |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Christopher Nolan |
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| Written by |
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| Music by | Hans Zimmer |
| Cinematography | Hoyte van Hoytema |
| Editing by | Lee Smith |
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| Release date(s) | October 26, 2014 (TCL Chinese Theatre) November 5, 2014 (United States) November 7, 2014 (United Kingdom) |
| Running time | 169 minutes |
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| Language | English |
| Budget | $165 million |
| Money made | $675.1 million |
Interstellar is an exciting science fiction film from 2014. It was directed, co-written, and co-produced by Christopher Nolan. The movie stars famous actors like Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, and Jessica Chastain.
The story takes place in a future where humanity is struggling to survive. Earth's crops are dying, and huge dust storms are making life very difficult. The film follows a group of brave astronauts. They travel through a special shortcut in space called a wormhole. Their mission is to find a new planet where humans can live.
Interstellar first showed in Los Angeles on October 26, 2014. It earned over $675 million around the world. This made it one of the top-earning films of 2014. People praised the movie for its amazing science fiction ideas, stunning visual effects, and great music. At the 87th Academy Awards, the film won an Oscar for Best Visual Effects. It was also nominated for four other awards.
Story of the Film
In the middle of the 21st century, Earth is in big trouble. Plant diseases and giant dust storms are making it hard for people to survive. Joseph Cooper, a former NASA pilot, now works on a farm. He lives with his father-in-law, his son Tom, and his daughter Murphy. Cooper encourages Murphy to be curious and observe the world around her.
One day, Murphy notices strange dust patterns in her room. She first thinks it's a ghost. But Cooper realizes it's caused by changes in gravity. These patterns lead them to secret coordinates. They follow them to a hidden NASA facility. There, Cooper meets his old boss, Professor John Brand.
Professor Brand explains a huge discovery. Forty-eight years ago, a wormhole appeared near Saturn. This wormhole leads to a faraway galaxy. In that galaxy, there are twelve planets that might be able to support life. Brave volunteers have already traveled through the wormhole to check these planets. Three of them, Miller, Edmunds, and Mann, sent back good news.
NASA has two plans to save humanity. Plan A is to develop a new way to use gravity for travel. This would allow everyone on Earth to leave. Plan B is to send a spacecraft called the Endurance with 5,000 frozen human embryos. These embryos would start a new colony on a habitable planet. Cooper is asked to pilot the Endurance. He agrees, even though Murphy is very upset. As he leaves, he gives her his wristwatch. He tells her to compare their time when he returns.
The Endurance crew includes Cooper, the robots TARS and CASE, and scientists Dr. Amelia Brand (Professor Brand's daughter), Romilly, and Doyle. They travel through the wormhole. First, Cooper, Doyle, and Brand visit Miller's planet. This planet has a huge problem: time moves very slowly there. Just a few hours on the planet mean many years pass on the Endurance. They find only wreckage from Miller's mission. A giant tidal wave hits, killing Doyle and damaging their lander. By the time they fix the lander, 23 years have passed on the Endurance!
With little fuel left, they must choose between the other two planets. They decide to go to Mann's planet because he is still sending signals. On the way, they receive messages from Earth. Murphy Cooper is now a grown-up scientist. She is working on Plan A. Professor Brand, on his deathbed, tells Murphy a secret. He knew Plan A was impossible without studying black holes. So, Plan B was his only real hope.
On Mann's planet, they wake him from his frozen sleep. He says the planet is good for living. But during an exploration, Mann tries to harm Cooper. He admits he lied about the planet's data, hoping to be rescued. Mann steals Cooper's lander and heads for the Endurance. A trap set by Mann kills Romilly. Brand rescues Cooper, and they race to the Endurance. Mann tries to dock his ship manually but fails, causing huge damage to the Endurance. Cooper manages a difficult docking maneuver and regains control.
With not enough fuel, they use a slingshot maneuver around the huge black hole, Gargantua. To save Brand and CASE, Cooper and TARS must release their landers and fall into Gargantua's event horizon. Inside, they find themselves in a strange, special place called a tesseract. It might have been built by humans from the far future. Cooper can see into Murphy's room on Earth, across different times. He can also weakly affect gravity there. He realizes he is the "ghost" Murphy saw. He uses Morse code to move the second hand of the wristwatch he gave her. This sends Murphy the important data TARS collected. With this data, Murphy can solve Professor Brand's gravity equations.
The tesseract then disappears, sending Cooper and TARS out. Cooper wakes up on a giant space station. It is named after his daughter, Cooper Station, and orbits Saturn. He reunites with Murphy, who is now an old woman. She was able to develop the gravity travel theory. Murphy reminds Cooper that Amelia Brand is still out there alone. Cooper and TARS take a spacecraft to join Brand and CASE. They are setting up a human colony on Edmunds' habitable planet.
Spaceships and Robots
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Interstellar features three main spacecraft: the Ranger, the Endurance, and the Lander.
- The Ranger is like a Space Shuttle. It can fly into and out of a planet's atmosphere.
- The Endurance is the crew's main ship. It's shaped like a circle with 12 parts. Four parts hold equipment for colonizing planets. Four parts are engines. The other four parts are for the cockpit, medical labs, and living areas. The movie's production designer, Nathan Crowley, said the Endurance was based on the International Space Station.
- The Lander carries the colonization equipment down to planet surfaces. Crowley compared it to a "heavy Russian helicopter."
The film also has two unique robots, CASE and TARS. There was also a third robot, KIPP, that was taken apart. Director Christopher Nolan wanted the robots to look different from humans. He chose a flat, five-foot (1.5 m) quadrilateral design. Nolan explained that their design is based on complex math. They have four main blocks that can connect in different ways.
The human space habitats seen at the end of the film look like O'Neill cylinders. These are theoretical designs for giant space colonies. A physicist named Gerard K. O'Neill first suggested them in 1976.
Science in the Film
A theoretical physicist named Kip Thorne was a scientific advisor for Interstellar. His job was to make sure the movie's science was as accurate as possible. This included how wormholes and relativity were shown.
Thorne explained that they discussed how to show these complex ideas. Then, he worked on the math equations. These equations helped trace how light would travel through a wormhole or around a black hole. So, what you see in the movie is based on Einstein's general relativity equations. This means the movie tried to show real science in a visual way.
Images for kids
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The Dust Bowl of the 1930s inspired the dust storms in the film.
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Miller's planet orbiting Gargantua, the black hole.
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The first real image of a black hole's event horizon, taken by the Event Horizon Telescope.
See also
In Spanish: Interstellar para niños
