Matthew McConaughey reveals how Interstellar's iconic 23 years scene was filmed

Matthew McConaughey, who played Joseph Cooper in Interstellar, has opened up about filming one of the movie's most unforgettable moments. In an interview with Josh Horowitz, while discussing the iconic 23-year scene, McConaughey said that he insisted on filming it without rehearsals. To tap into Cooper's overwhelming emotions, the actor pictured how his own children would have grown during the long separation.

Directed by Christopher Nolan, this 2014 epic sci-fi film follows a group of astronauts who embark on a mission to find a new home for humanity before Earth becomes uninhabitable. During the mission, Cooper and his crew arrive on Miller's planet located near the supermassive black hole Gargantua and experience extreme time dilation. Turns out, one hour on the surface equals seven years outside the ship.

Back on the ship, Cooper played the video messages his children had sent him from Earth over 23 years. The scene turned emotional as Cooper broke down watching his children grow into adults, celebrating life's major milestones and enduring painful losses, all without him.

Here's more about it.

Matthew McConaughey shares how Interstellar's 23 years scene was shot without rehearsal

Speaking in a YouTube interview with Josh Horowitz, the Oscar-winning actor recalled how the iconic 23 years scene was shot. Turns out, the actor also refused to watch the 'emotional video message from Earth' beforehand. He wanted his emotions to be raw and pure. He said,

"Everything after Take one is acting. Everything after take one is fraudulent. But the first time in any scene the first time you see something you don't know what's coming. If you relax and can react to it that's as pure as it can get."

McConaughey further added that it was a Monday morning and the production had just moved to L.A. He knew that the emotional scene was scheduled for that day, and so he wanted to stay calm. Apparently, he spent the weekend with his family before filming the heartbreaking scene.

When he arrived on the set of Interstellar, he handed a note to Nolan. Nolan then asked him whether he would watch the video message before shooting so that he could rehearse, but McConaughey said no. He wanted to experience the moment for the first time while the cameras were rolling.

He further shared that when he was filming for the scene, he thought about his own children. He imagined how he would feel if he was away from them for twenty-three years and missed everything that happened in their lives in the time span. As he recalled the moment, he got emotional

"So it (the video message) came on they were older. It was going through my head about my own children what if I left for them it was 30 years and for me it was whatever three weeks whatever the time. What a loan. What a regret. What a sense of loss. It was my choice. And then that's what came. It was a reaction and not a plan."

In Interstellar, Cooper returned from the Millers' planet and watched 23 years' worth of video messages from his family on the ship. He eventually realized how much time had passed on Earth and broke down. In just a few minutes, McConaughey carried the emotional weight of twenty-three years.

Through the message, he learnt about his son Tom's wedding, the birth of his grandchild, the loss of loved ones, and an emotional message from his daughter Murphy. The scene had no complex dialogue or a climactic action sequence, but it's McConaughey's performance that made it one of the most unforgettable scenes of Interstellar.