It is one of Matthew McConaughey’s most iconic scenes, one that has endured as both a prime example of his acting prowess and a meme. But Interstellar’s tape scene was not heavily rehearsed. Nor did McConaughey have to go through multiple takes to get the emotional reaction we see on-screen. McConaughey in fact nailed it on the first take, and he didn’t rehearse the scene at all.
For the uninitiated, the scene in question sees McConaughey, out on a time-warping deep space mission, watch 23 years of video messages sent from his children on Earth as they grow up and have kids of their own. Casey Affleck plays adult Tom Cooper, McConaughey’s son, who eventually takes charge of his father's farm (incidentally, a young Timothée Chalamet plays a 15-year-old Tom). Jessica Chastain plays adult Murphy "Murph" Cooper, Joseph's daughter.
As McConaughey watches the tapes he breaks down, sobbing at points. It is certainly one of the more memorable scenes in Christopher Nolan’s epic sci-fi flick, and McConaughey is often asked about it in interviews. Indeed he’s talked about nailing the scene in the first take before. But in a recent interview with Vanity Fair, McConaughey revealed more about his process, and how he asked Christopher Nolan to film the scene without rehearsing.
“I remember we shot it, it was a Monday morning, and it was the first scene up. And I'd gotten good rest that weekend, and I had had a pretty humble good weekend. I think it was with my family,” he said.
“I remember we got in, and Nolan was gonna set up some wides. They were about to play the tape. ‘Let's rehearse the tape.’” At this point, McConaughey hand-waved the crew away, insisting they roll cameras immediately.
“All of a sudden things came over, and cameras were there and we played the tape. And again, this is that first take. That's the one we use.”
McConaughey went on to talk about his process for this scene and why it worked so well. “I didn't have to go to a place,” he said. “When Casey Affleck and Chastain come on as older, and the way they're… The gap, the dread of having to miss that in my own life with my own kids, I just reacted, which is what I've learned I like to do if you’ve got scenes like that.
“Because everything after take one is acting for real. We can improve as actors, we can improve stuff in take two, I can too. But everything after take one — if you're fully relaxed, and just reacting — everything after take one is acting. I didn't wanna know what was coming. And that's just me relaxing, and then what happened... happened.”
McConaughey runs through many of his most famous roles in the Variety video, which is well worth a watch if you're a fan of his films. I especially enjoyed his memories of playing Rust Cohle in True Detective.
Interstellar, meanwhile, remains a talking point 11 years after it came out — and we're still debating THAT ending.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
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