Interstellar: 20 Easter Eggs & References You Need To See

2. It's Basically 2001 Reborn... But Not Really

The single most enduring link for Interstellar will no doubt forever be to 2001: A Space Odyssey and it goes well beyond the video calls and the musical cues. Nolan seems to have channelled 2001 very consciously: the aesthetics and shot composition is very much like Kubrick (they have the same perverse fascination with the horrible majesty of man-made technology, seeking to make it look alien with awe), the robots look like monoliths, and the general feel of the film is hugely familiar. The plots could be siblings, Cooper could be Dave in another time, and the technology feels like they belong together in the same universe. Obviously the use of charismatic robots is a conscious misdirection - but the HAL-like degeneration still exists in Mann's deception. More than anything, 2001 was a film about humanity's relationship with everything around it, and that is a major point in Interstellar, but Nolan goes further into establishing man's relationship with mankind as a species. That is where the two differ, but they are certainly still close bed-fellows.