Christopher Nolan on Initial Mixed Reviews For ‘Interstellar’: “Critics Weren’t Ready for The Film”

Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar” was not met with raves when it came out in 2014 — earning only 73% on Rotten Tomatoes — but its stock has risen considerably over the past 12 years, and many now consider it one of, if not the best, film Nolan has ever made. A glance at the IMDb Top 250 shows “Interstellar” boasting an impressive 8.6 rating, good enough for 25th place on the site’s all-time list.

Two years ago, a poll of more than 5,000 Nolan fans named “Interstellar” the filmmaker’s best film. Yet critics still aren’t budging; a Nolan critics poll conducted over a year ago had “Interstellar” finishing at No. 7.

At a recent Q&A, Nolan admitted the mixed response to the film’s release took him aback and suggested that perhaps audiences just weren’t ready for it (via Variety)

You’re trying to be polite. The film was received in a slightly ambiguous way. It was a little bit sniffy. Some of the responses were a bit sniffy from critics and a little from audiences. It made very good money around the world. There was a sense of people not quite being… it sounds egotistical to say they weren’t ready… but [critics] weren’t ready for it from me.

Nolan said it was “an incredible relief and a humbling experience” when “Interstellar” became a box office success despite receiving mixed reviews. He added that the film “seems to touch people more and more each year and continues to grow” in its impact.

“When you make a film on that scale… every screening we did as we were finishing the film, there would be somebody who would be in tears and deeply moved by it. That’s enough,” Nolan said. “You can’t also ask the culture to immediately embrace something. It’s asking too much in a way. If you talk to individuals who’ve connected with the film in a really profound way, then you know it’s there. You’ve done your job. The rest is about the zeitgeist and where you fit in with it.”

Nolan also noted that these days, the film most fans mention to him in person is no longer “The Dark Knight,” as used to be the case, but rather “Interstellar.”

“For years, people would recognize me somewhere and talk about ‘Dark Knight,’” Nolan explained. “But over the last 10 years it’s become ‘Interstellar.’ It’s a wonderful thing. We re-released it two years ago and it made $5M. It’s amazing the success it’s had. It’s incredibly rewarding.”

I’ll have to side with Nolan on this one. I was impressed by “Interstellar” the minute I saw it — it’s a flawed but incredibly ambitious film, with absolutely jaw-dropping sequences spread throughout its nearly three-hour runtime, especially in its final stretch. I’m thinking particularly of the moment when McConaughey’s Cooper falls into a black hole that allows him to travel through time and space.