Interstellar as a project first originated in 2006, when Kip Thorne and his friend Linda Obst were having a conversation.
Based on Kip Thorne's work, the two came up with an idea for a movie: the most distant and unreachable phenomena in the universe suddenly becoming easily accessible to humanity.
This concept bears some similarity to the "technology explosion" theory proposed by Chinese sci-fi author Liu Cixin in his work The Three-Body Problem, where a civilization completes advanced technological research in an extremely short period of time, rapidly developing almost explosively on the cosmic timeline.
In June 2006, a prominent director showed great interest in this idea—Gilbert's mentor, Steven Spielberg.
At that time, DreamWorks and Paramount had a close collaboration, so Spielberg contacted Paramount and began the early stages of project approval and script preparation.
However, due to the economic crisis and the split between DreamWorks and Paramount last year, the project was left neglected at Paramount.
The project development stalled halfway, and the director had left.
Kip Thorne fell into despair, thinking that the film might never go into production. At that moment, Linda Obst had lunch with Naomi Watts.
Linda Obst had produced the film Contact, in which Jodie Foster was originally set to star but had been unable to perform due to personal issues, and Naomi Watts took over the leading role.
That film later became a classic, highly regarded by sci-fi enthusiasts, and Naomi Watts maintained contact with Linda Obst.
When the project stalled, Linda Obst naturally had to find a solution. She thought of Gilbert and asked Naomi Watts to arrange an introduction.
After hearing Linda Obst's story, Naomi Watts became very interested in the project and returned to tell Gilbert.
"You mean there's a theoretical physicist named Kip Thorne who wants to make a movie?"
"Yes. The project is currently shelved at Paramount. After hearing Linda's story, I think it's a good concept. By the way, the screenwriter is Jonathan Nolan—you can talk to him."
This was none other than Interstellar, considered by many to be a classic sci-fi film in people's imaginations.
Gilbert had been so busy that he had forgotten this classic project. Now, after all this time, it had unexpectedly returned to him—it could only be called fate.
Gilbert quickly invited Kip Thorne, Linda Obst, and Jonathan Nolan to his home for afternoon tea to discuss the project.
Kip Thorne, a physicist and also a movie enthusiast, had the idea to make a film. He was very talkative and discussed many aspects of filmmaking with Gilbert.
Gilbert also reviewed the completed script and gave his assessment.
"This is a clichéd, standard Hollywood film. There's no need to shoot it as it stands."
If anyone else had said this, Kip Thorne and Jonathan Nolan would have been unhappy.
But since it was Gilbert, they had no choice but to take it seriously.
Jonathan Nolan had previously co-written Batman Begins and The Dark Knight with Gilbert, and together with his brother Christopher Nolan, had made revisions to Gilbert's script for District 9.
He had just finished the script for Lucy, which was now in post-production. He personally greatly respected Gilbert's screenwriting ability, so he asked, "Can the script still be revised?"
"Of course."
Gilbert pointed out the changes needed: "First, remove most of the high-tech elements. Eliminate the artificial intelligence character and make the plan fully human-driven.
This also allows Professor Brand to have a character arc rather than just being a tool.
Second, the wormhole and aliens are unnecessary. The idea of Earth's deteriorating environment and humans searching for a new home is already compelling enough—there's no need for the clichéd humans-versus-aliens plot.
With this script, what's the difference from Paramount's own Star Trek?"
Jonathan Nolan took notes, planning a major rewrite of the script.
Gilbert then addressed Kip Thorne and Linda Obst: "Contact is a classic sci-fi film and one of Naomi's signature works. I think this script can serve as a spiritual successor to Contact.
However, I want this film to have a solid theoretical foundation, not just our imaginations making things up."
Kip Thorne immediately responded, "Don't worry. Once the film goes into production, I will provide the theoretical basis."
That said, since the project was shelved at Paramount, acquiring the rights from them would likely be a complicated process.
However, Gilbert did not need to worry about that. After communicating with Ivanka, he and Disney jointly exchanged some unused project equity to obtain the rights from Paramount.
At this time, Gilbert also gave the project its name: Interstellar.
The script was being replanned, but Gilbert's schedule was busy, so production would have to wait. Although Gilbert suggested Christopher Nolan as a director, the project had been stalled for too long, and Kip Thorne believed Gilbert was more reliable, so they ultimately decided to wait for Gilbert's availability.
This is the effect of fame: good projects come to you once you have a reputation.
Of course, Paramount did not see it as a valuable project. They thought Gilbert was doing charity work by exchanging several high-quality project equities for the rights.
From Paramount's perspective, they made a great deal.
This year, Paramount also invested in Mission: Impossible 4 – Ghost Protocol with Tom Cruise, which had already entered pre-production.
Tom Cruise, after taking Gilbert's advice and consulting with Brad Bird, one of Pixar's "Big Five," confirmed that Brad Bird would direct Mission: Impossible 4.
At Sony Columbia Pictures, the Spider-Man 4 project collapsed due to the economic crisis.
However, Sony Columbia Pictures was not willing to give up. According to the copyright agreement, if no new Spider-Man film is produced within five years, Marvel would regain the rights.
Therefore, Sony Columbia Pictures announced a reboot of the Spider-Man series, which is currently in preparation.
Warner Bros. also announced the production of a new film, Man of Steel, directed by Zack Snyder. Under CEO Kelly Ross's plan, this marked the beginning of Warner's attempt to reduce Gilbert's influence.
However, Warner still had The Dark Knight Rises to collaborate with Gilbert on, so completely eliminating his influence was impossible.
Meanwhile, Melon Studio wasn't idle, with the Twilight series, The Hunger Games, and the concluding installments of the Harry Potter series.
In addition, continued investment in the Fast & Furious franchise, combined with Christopher Nolan's Lucy, ensured multiple successful ventures.
Disney, relying on Melon Studio's strong performance, continued to maintain its position as the number one Hollywood studio.
At the same time, the tripartite negotiations between Disney, Melon, and Lucasfilm had reached a critical stage.
...
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