'Interstellar' spaceships soar into starring roles

The unsung stars in Christopher Nolan's Interstellar are the intricate spacecraft which take the film's explorers - Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway and David Gyasi - to new galaxies.

The director says it was crucial to construct a space station, called The Endurance, which viewers could relate to from existing technology.

'For me, the starting point of the movie is a familiar Earth. We didn't put a lot of futurism in the designs,' says Nolan, whose space spectacle opens Wednesday in select cities. 'I wanted to carry that tone into the spacecraft, not jump too far in the future.'

Nolan and his production designer Nathan Crowley spent months coming up with the initial designs, based on existing spacecraft, before giving them over to the rest of the Interstellar team - including astronaut Marsha Ivins, who gave detailed input on aspects such as the craft's docking system.

Nolan built out entire sections of the ring module interior, including the cockpit and the living quarters (the habitat module). Even the stunning images of celestial bodies seen onscreen existed on the set, as opposed to green-screen effects traditionally added later.

'So when you see us on a spaceship, (we) are on a spaceship,' says Hathaway. 'And when you see us looking out the window at a celestial body, there is a celestial body projected onto a screen outside a practical window. I don't know of any other filmmaker who can inspire people to do that.'

The Endurance features four different landing craft, which break away from the main ringed section. Nolan had two almost full-size models of the sleek crafts built and transported to snowy Iceland for key scenes of landing on an icy planet.

'It was a serious undertaking, filling the entire cargo hold of a 747 and finding a way to get one (ship) onto a glacier and in the middle of water in Iceland,' says Nolan. 'It paid off with shots which would not have been achievable any other way.'

The ships returned to the Los Angeles set and were placed on gimbals with a mounted camera to create shots comparable to NASA footage.

Nolan believes the level of detail helped the actors and will help immerse the viewers. And it made coming to work each day interesting.

'It's a childhood dream come true to be able to build ships like this and photograph them,' says Nolan. 'It's something I have waited my whole life to do.'

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