20 Things You Didn't Know About Interstellar

5. Irrfan Khan Turned Down A Major Role In The Film

Irrfan Khan Jurassic World
Universal Pictures

The late Irrfan Khan - who a lot of folks will recognise from his roles in Jurassic World and Life Of Pi - came very close to landing a highly-coveted role in Interstellar.

In 2013, it was revealed that Khan had actually turned the unspecified role down, stating that a four-month filming commitment was too long a stretch.

It's been speculated that Khan was up for Matt Damon's role, but because Damon only spent two weeks on set, that doesn't add up. Four months is closer to the shooting schedule for the entire project, so it's more likely that Khan was in talks for a leading role.

Whatever the case, Khan also stated that turning down Nolan was "one of the most difficult decisions" he made in his career.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!