Interstellar is one of Christopher Nolan’s best movies that has remained popular for years since it was released. Part of that is certainly because it’s simply a great film, but one should not discount the fact that the film continues to be part of the cultural conversation. This is, at least partly, due to the popularity of one scene as an internet meme.
If you spend any time on social media, you have likely seen Matthew McConaughey breaking down in tears, being used by somebody referencing some other emotional moment. In a recent appearance on John Mayer’s SiriusXM show, McConaughey revealed that he apparently had no idea the scene was a meme, but he doesn’t mind, as he knows there are different reasons for different moments in films to exist. He said…
That's one of those ‘simply confusion’ things. You know, worry about what you can do something about, don't worry about what you can't. I understand that, and again, that's the objective jumbotron eye. I understand clips. I understand in a movie, if we're going like, ‘This line, say this one to camera, it's a trailer line.’ Okay, that's what it is. I understand. Somebody goes, ‘Hey, will you say this?” “Ah, it's not really true.’ ‘I know it's bullshit, but will you say it?’ Now that we're admitting it's bullshit, I understand if you go, ‘This is a good marketing idea.’
While the meme makes the scene in Interstellar into something of a joke, it’s actually a harrowing emotional moment. McConaughey’s character has ended up spending far too long on a planet suffering the effects of time dilation. As a result, he returns to his ship to a slew of messages that reveal his children have grown up without him.
When the scene stars McConaughey's son is played by Timothee Chalamet, but by the end, he becomes Casey Affleck. It's in this scene that Jessica Chastain joins the cast as the adult daughter who ultimately becomes the film's protagonist at this point.
Matthew McConaughey may not be aware his emotional breakdown is a meme, but I’m so glad Mayer asked the question because what follows is an intriguing discussion into the actor’s process on set and the way that emotional moments like this still affect him. He reveals that he only recently rewatched Interstellar with one of his children, and the scene still hit him just as hard. He explained…
No, I'd feel it. I watched it with my son four months ago, Levi. I got choked up in that scene again. I remember the day. I remember the morning. I remember it was on a Monday. We'd had a long weekend, and it was the first scene up, and much like in the ‘Time to Kill’ scene, where the closing arguments. Those emotional scenes like this, I like to do them first up, and let's get the close-up, so I remember sitting down, and Nolan was like, ‘Okay, so let's rehearse, and we'll run the video.’ I was like, and I'm not talking at this time, and I have in my hand a piece of paper that says ‘C.U.,’ which means close-up, and I'm just not looking. I just wave my hand and I hand him ‘C.U.’ And he's like, ‘All right, move the cameras in, and now let's do it live.’
I can’t imagine jumping into a scene like this at the very beginning of a week’s work, but for McConaughey, it’s what works for him. It sounds like most of what we see in the scene is from the first take that was made, because the Oscar-winner says in the first take he’s not acting, because he’s reacting to everything for the first time. He explained…
Why? Because everything after take one is acting, but take one, I don't know what I'm going to see, so if I can be relaxed enough, and I know the scenes where I'm going to see my children who have evidently grown older, and I haven't. The idea that how much, have I personalized that, oh my gosh. If I was dead, what if I didn't see Vida and Levi and Livingston for that many, oh, that's a sick feeling.’ Okay, stop right there. Just relax in that feeling, and now just react. Bam. That all happened, take one.
The actor says that the reason rewatching the scene recently got to him just as much was because he was reacting to the fact that he no longer needed to feel such emotions, and that he didn’t need to consider the idea of not seeing his kids again. Next time I watch Interstellar, I’m pretty sure I’ll be crying again too.
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