Christopher Nolan Disliked Timothée Chalamet's THIS Scene In Interstellar: ‘It Felt Too Much For Me’

A decade after Interstellar first transported audiences across galaxies, Christopher Nolan and Timothée Chalamet revisited the film during a special IMAX 70mm screening in Los Angeles. The event, hosted at AMC Universal CityWalk, turned into a reflective conversation about craft, instinct and the unpredictability of collaboration — including a moment when the director wasn’t entirely convinced by the young actor’s choices.

During the discussion, Chalamet — who portrayed Tom, the son of Matthew McConaughey’s Cooper — described the film as a defining early-career experience. “Though my role is not enormous in Interstellar — I think I was number 12 on the call sheet — this film came to me at a time in life, in my career, where things were certainly

not set yet,” he said. “And it’s remained my favourite project I’ve ever been in.”

Nolan Recalls Creative Differences On Set

Nolan opened up about directing Chalamet during the emotionally charged “messages from home” sequence, admitting he initially had reservations about the tone the actor adopted. “When you were filming the messages from home, there was a particular thing where you were hitting a dark tone,” Nolan said. “It felt too much for me. I didn’t particularly like it. I told you about it, and you went ahead and did whatever the f*** you wanted and carried on. But I was like, ‘He knows what he wants to do and has an idea.’”

Reflecting further, Nolan acknowledged that Chalamet’s conviction ultimately impressed him. “You had planned what you wanted to do and didn’t want to abandon that on a casual whim for me,” he added. “You wanted to test that and challenge that and see if I kept coming back, which I didn’t. I found a logic to that in the edit suite.”

Chalamet recalled being drawn to the project even before understanding its full scope, believing at the time that the story revolved primarily around a father-son bond. “When I got the part, I Googled the project. The original story was about a father and his son, so I thought, ‘Oh man, I made it!’” he said.

Nolan described the film as an exploration of emotional connection as much as science fiction spectacle, noting its reputation has grown steadily since release. “Over the last 10 years it’s become Interstellar. It’s a wonderful thing… the project seems to touch people more and more year after year,” he reflected.

For Chalamet, the connection remains personal. He confessed that Interstellar “makes me weep more than anything,” underlining how the film continues to resonate — with audiences and its own cast — long after its debut.