You cant pretend 2001 doesnt exist when youre making Interstellar, so says Christopher Nolan of Stanley Kubricks 1968 masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey, and watching it isnt just good prep for Interstellar but practically a rite of passage for any true film enthusiast. A beguiling, unique movie experience, 2001 begins with the famous scene of primitive apes encountering a mysterious black monolith that kick-starts the evolution of mankind, and the discovery of a similar object on the moon leads a team of astronauts to travel to Jupiter in an attempt to determine its origins and ours. Met with bemusement by some critics on release and declared a work of genius by others, 2001: A Space Odyssey casts an enormous rectangular shadow over the entire sci-fi genre. Naturally, therefore, it shares common ground with Interstellar, as both films document a pioneering voyage of discovery undertaken by a small crew and touch upon weighty themes of humanitys destiny and purpose. Early Interstellar reviews suggest that, of all the films to which it can be compared, 2001 is clearly the most obvious counterpart, and Nolan has never shied away from the parallels to be found in this seminal work and the others weve covered: I think the best you can hope for as a film-maker is that youve been respectful towards your influences and youve done something fresh with the combination of things that youve put together. Any favourites of yours make the list? The comments section is all yours.
I watch movies and I watch sport. I also watch movies about sport, and if there were a sport about movies I'd watch that too. The internet was the closest thing I could find.
