"Hello, Jonathan."
Matthew shook hands with Jonathan Nolan as he entered the office, then invited him to sit. "Please, have a seat."
Jonathan Nolan greeted him, set down his briefcase, and took a seat on a single sofa.
"Your office is quite minimalistic," Jonathan Nolan said, glancing around. The office was spacious but sparsely decorated. The most eye-catching items were the movie posters hanging on the walls, all from films Matthew had invested in. Familiar with Matthew, he joked, "I thought billionaires' offices were all lavishly opulent."
Matthew chuckled. "Shiny things are bad for the eyes." He shifted to the main topic. "Jonathan, what brings you here?"
Jonathan Nolan, the younger brother of Christopher Nolan, was initially a novelist before transitioning to screenwriting. Most of Christopher Nolan's early films were adaptations of Jonathan's works.
The Nolan family had a distinct filmmaking model: Jonathan wrote, Christopher directed and adapted, and Emma Thomas managed the production as the producer.
"We're working on a new project. I just finished the script," Jonathan explained, making it clear this wasn't a casual visit. "I flew in from London specifically to present the script to Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures. Before leaving, Chris, who's been busy overseas promoting The Dark Knight Rises, called me to prepare an extra copy for you."
He opened his briefcase, pulled out a thick script, and handed it to Matthew. "Chris mentioned your agreement to collaborate after the Batman series."
Matthew took the script and admitted, "Yes, we did agree on that."
Both he and Christopher Nolan had been very satisfied with their previous collaboration. Great directors sought excellent actors, and great actors equally sought outstanding directors.
Christopher Nolan's name wasn't yet synonymous with greatness, but with so many excellent films under his belt, he was undoubtedly on the path to it.
Matthew glanced at the script cover, which bore only one printed line: Flora's Letter.
Was this the actual title?
Frowning slightly, Matthew recalled Christopher Nolan's films, particularly those after Batman Begins, which he had watched multiple times. He didn't recall any film with this title.
"Flora's Letter?" Matthew repeated the name aloud, suddenly thinking of a girl he had met on the Inception set. "Jonathan, is this title a placeholder? Is Flora Chris's daughter?"
Christopher Nolan's projects often used fake names during development. For example, previous working titles included Roy's First Kiss (The Dark Knight), Oliver's Arrow (Inception), and Manus Rex (The Dark Knight Rises), all inspired by his children's names.
Jonathan Nolan nodded. "We haven't decided on the final name yet, and for confidentiality, I just used my niece's name as a placeholder."
He then briefly outlined the project.
The script originated from an idea Christopher Nolan had in the mid-2000s, which he had passed on to Steven Spielberg. Spielberg had planned to direct it himself and invited Jonathan Nolan to write the screenplay.
However, after Jonathan completed the first draft, Spielberg became occupied with Robopocalypse and its budget challenges, along with DreamWorks facing several issues. Eventually, Spielberg abandoned the project, and the script returned to Jonathan and Christopher Nolan.
After completing the post-production of The Dark Knight Rises, the brothers revisited the nearly forgotten project and decided to tackle it themselves.
Technological advancements since then made many original ideas feel outdated. Christopher Nolan tasked Jonathan with rewriting the script to ground it more firmly in scientific reality.
This new version was a classic space sci-fi story. Its initial concept came from Caltech physicist Kip S. Thorne, whose groundbreaking research on theoretical wormholes and time travel provided the foundation for the project.
Jonathan Nolan explained that Kip Thorne had given him significant guidance during the scripting process.
Matthew, who was preparing for another space sci-fi film, The Martian, was already familiar with Kip Thorne's name. As one of the foremost scientists in black hole and general relativity research, Thorne was a close associate of Stephen Hawking and Carl Sagan and held a preeminent position in theoretical physics.
The rewritten script diverged greatly from what Spielberg had once intended to direct. Christopher Nolan even planned to invite Kip Thorne to teach the crew during the project's preparation phase.
Jonathan Nolan didn't stay long, leaving shortly after with a parting note to contact Christopher Nolan directly if there were any questions.
Matthew was generally enthusiastic about working with Christopher Nolan again. After their collaboration on Inception, both had expressed mutual interest in working together again.
Receiving this script directly from Christopher Nolan demonstrated his sincerity.
Frankly, major directors had a broader pool of actors to choose from, giving them the upper hand in collaborations with stars.
Over the next few days, Matthew set aside time to read through the script Jonathan Nolan had brought.
The script shared some similarities with The Martian in being a hard sci-fi film.
It was clear that after tackling the soft sci-fi of superhero films, Christopher Nolan was venturing into hard sci-fi.
The plot was more complex than the popcorn films Matthew had previously worked on.
Set in the near future, Earth's climate had rendered agriculture impossible, water resources were dwindling, and famine was rampant. Humanity faced extinction, and Earth was on the brink of collapse. Survival depended on finding a new home beyond Earth.
Scientists discovered a mysterious "space-time rift" that offered the possibility of exploring outer space. A team of explorers ventured beyond the solar system, searching for a habitable planet.
The male and female protagonists were chosen to join the mission, embarking on a journey aboard a spacecraft named Endurance to secure humanity's future.
The crew faced unprecedented challenges and unimaginable concepts. Passing through the wormhole, they realized that an hour on the spacecraft equated to seven years on Earth. Even if the mission succeeded, it might be too late to save those still alive on Earth.
The male protagonist had to choose between reuniting with his child and saving humanity's future.
It was a classic Hollywood narrative—saving the world and exploring familial bonds.
After reading the script, Matthew naturally recalled a pirated movie he had once watched overseas: Interstellar.
While he couldn't remember the English title, it was certainly not Flora's Letter.
The main storyline of the script aligned closely with his fragmented memories of Interstellar, although some differences stood out. For instance, the emotional bond between the protagonist and their child was with a son instead of a daughter.
This wasn't a significant issue, as changing a character's gender was simple.
He also remembered the protagonist's clever and endearing daughter, Murphy, played by Mackenzie Foy.
In the script, however, it was a son.
Matthew decided to discuss this detail with Christopher Nolan. A daughter seemed more fitting—after all, daughters are adorable!
Matthew didn't hesitate long before deciding to collaborate on Interstellar.
Christopher Nolan was still an ascending director, making his current projects highly likely to succeed. Teaming up again was a win-win scenario.
Moreover, Christopher Nolan was one of the few directors Matthew had remembered before his accident, indicating his enduring status as a top Hollywood filmmaker.
The film's first-tier production scale also guaranteed significant pay for Matthew.
Considering these factors, accepting the project seemed wise.
However, Matthew harbored some concerns, such as whether back-to-back space films, The Martian and Interstellar, would make his roles feel too similar.
He discussed this with Christopher Nolan, who, having read The Martian novel, assured him the two characters were entirely distinct.
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