Before Christopher Nolan's 2014 science fiction film Interstellar captivated audiences, the project was set to be directed by Steven Spielberg, whose original script envisioned a vastly different cinematic experience. While Nolan's version focuses on a team of astronauts venturing into deep space to find a new home for humanity as Earth faces environmental collapse, Spielberg's take introduced distinct narrative and thematic elements, including extraterrestrial life and a zero-gravity love scene.
Spielberg had been attached to direct Interstellar for approximately a year. His involvement began with developing the story alongside Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan's brother and screenwriter. However, Spielberg's departure from the project was prompted by a relocation of his production company, DreamWorks, from Paramount to Disney, necessitating his withdrawal as director. Christopher Nolan then stepped in, undertaking a significant rewrite of the script.
The divergence between the two visions is substantial, with several key plot points and character arcs differing significantly. In Nolan's film, Matthew McConaughey's character, Cooper, is a former NASA pilot grounded by the shutdown of the space program. Spielberg's script, however, presented Cooper as a resourceful engineer who discovers a space probe from deep space, leading him to a clandestine NASA base and his eventual selection for a mission.
Another notable alteration involves the character of Murph. In the final film, Murph is Cooper's daughter, a central figure in the narrative. Spielberg's original script portrayed Murph as Cooper's son, though sharing a similar personality and being integral to Cooper's motivations.
The exploration aspect of the mission also underwent a major transformation. Nolan's Interstellar features a Lazarus Project where NASA sends probes and later astronauts to investigate 12 potentially habitable planets discovered through a wormhole. Three planets—Miller's, Mann's, and Edmunds'—are explored in detail, each presenting unique challenges. Spielberg's version, conversely, streamlined this by having the wormhole lead to a single planet for investigation, with only probes having been sent prior to Cooper's mission.
Further differences emerge in the details of the alien world. Spielberg's script included the discovery of a Chinese expedition that had perished due to radiation from a nearby neutron star. More significantly, the planet itself harbored alien life. Beneath its icy surface, the crew encounters a lush, breathable environment populated by shapeshifting organisms that initially appear plant-like before revealing themselves as dangerous fauna. This inclusion aligns with Spielberg's known affinity for extraterrestrial themes in his films.
The narrative's resolution also differed. Nolan's film uses the Tesseract to allow Cooper to communicate with his daughter in the past, leading to a future where he reunites with an elderly Murph. Spielberg's screenplay proposed a different journey: after escaping the icy planet, the crew travels through a wormhole to a Chinese space station 4,000 years in the future, built by descendants of the original Chinese expedition. Here, Cooper learns of an experimental time-travel device and attempts to return to Earth. While this device works, he arrives too late, finding Earth uninhabitable, before awakening in Cooper Station to meet an aged Murph, mirroring the film's conclusion in this regard.
Perhaps the most surprising departure in Spielberg's script was the inclusion of a zero-gravity sex scene between Cooper and Brand, suggesting a more pronounced romantic arc between the characters than what was ultimately presented in the final film. These significant variations highlight how differently Interstellar could have unfolded under Spielberg's direction.