text:
# INTERSTELLAR

 _Written by_
JONATHAN NOLAN _and_ CHRISTOPHER NOLAN

_Storyboards drawn by_
GABRIEL HARDMAN

# Contents

  1. Title Page
  2. Introduction
  3. INTERSTELLAR
  4. Screenplay
  5. Storyboards
  6. Credits
  7. Copyright

# Introduction

JONATHAN NOLAN AND CHRISTOPHER NOLAN
INTERVIEWED BY JORDAN GOLDBERG

JG Walter Donohue [ _Editor at Faber & Faber_] wanted me to start off with a question about the term _science fiction_. He's never liked the term _science fiction_ ; he prefers the term _speculative fiction_. He believes speculating about the future is a way of revealing the way we live now and providing some kind of order in the way of understanding the chaos of contemporary life.

JN For me, that was the whole jumping off point. Originally, Steven Spielberg wanted to do a contemporary space adventure. I pitched him instead something set fifty years into the future. The reason was that – in the tradition of _MASH_ being set in the Korean War but really being about the Vietnam War – I wanted to do something that reflected what I thought was the current state of human ambition. Which it is to say we congratulate ourselves every day on living in this spectacular moment of technological advancement and progress; we've invented the inter net and a variety of ways we can buy stuff online, but we're not going into space. Measured purely by altitude, the human race peaked fifty years ago.

CN But Walter's question is about the value of speculative fiction – he's not asking about futurism per se. Science fiction can be contemporary, speculative fiction can be contemporary as well. You set the story in the future so you could address the underlining problems and ideas that are going on in society right now the way the best speculative fiction does. And this project has always been in that tradition. What's interesting is that when we came to shoot the film, we went exactly in the opposite direction. So we didn't allow for any kind of futurism or any kind of difference from contemporary technology and contemporary society. The reason for that is it is more speculative fiction than science fiction. You choose what your speculations are about. And I didn't want to speculate about the color of people's trousers in the future or what kind of computer screens they'd be using. I think that speaks to the difference between science fiction and speculative fiction just as terminology.

JG Where did the specific speculations in _Interstellar_ come from? Like the dust situation?

CN For me, the whole dust situation came from looking at Jonah's original draft and focusing in on the idea of a return to an agrarian society. An agrarian society has a utopian aspect – there's a simplicity and a kind of wholesomeness associated with it – and I think Jonah's goal was to stop it from feeling dystopian. I really liked that. But what I found interesting was the idea that when you research the kind of farming community that existed in the past, they're very subject to the elements, they're subject to the natural disasters. And whilst I think the blight idea was always extremely compelling as a device, it was inherently not very visual because you're talking about things not growing or dying. We found ways to dramatize it by setting fire to the fields and the like. But I really wanted to get across two ideas with the dust situation. One was a simple way of visualizing the decay of a farming community or the ability to be able to farm. And the other key point is from watching Ken Burns's documentary _The Dust Bowl_ , which is incredible if you haven't seen it because _it is_ science fiction. It seems like science fiction. You cannot believe the images you're seeing, the real images. The descriptions are heartbreaking and amazing, but you're looking at pictures and film of things that if you put them in a movie, directly, people wouldn't believe it. When we do the dust clouds and the dust storms in the film they are toned down from the real imagery because the real imagery would never be believed. And that really happened.

JN That's amazing.

CN And I really like the idea of trying to dramatize your inherent blight situation in a sort of disaster movie mode and make it bit more visceral. But do it in a way that has already happened on our planet, for real, that has been documented. And that eventually led us to actually incorporate some of Ken's footage in the film as the real voices talking about the dust with the older Murph. I really like the idea of saying that the most threatening and outlandish visual idea of the first act has already happened in real life. It's not even under question.

JN We're sort of in this moment in which humans are obsessed that we'll prove our own undoing – that we'll poison the planet, we'll destroy ourselves, and all these things. But I thought it would be more interesting to find a slightly less personal Armageddon, or the idea that the universe obliterates you or the planet turns itself toxic because it doesn't care about you and me because we're an accident in outer space. The blight and the dust provided what I thought was a great, impersonal way for the planet to sort of gently suggest that our time here was over. That it was the moment to move on, rather than being something that we had brought on ourselves which, in its own way, feels anthropocentric.

JG Jonah, in a story like this, there needs to be a certain amount of scientific research. In the beginning when you were talking to Kip Thorne, you were in immersed in a slew of complex concepts and ideas. Where did the science end and the imagination begin?

JN Well, Kip is simultaneously a brilliant, brilliant scientist, but also a very kindly and patient explainer of science. He's of the philosophy that all these grand discoveries that he and his mates have come up with, if they can't be articulated back to regular people – people like me – then of what use are they? If you can't share them with the rest of humanity, then have you really discovered anything at all? And so Kip has devoted an enormous amount of his career and his time to trying to make these ideas accessible as his great friend Stephen Hawking has – and to a degree as Albert Einstein did - trying to make sure that these things are things you can hang onto. And in the manner of Einstein – you know, Einstein's thought experiments ultimately always involved two people on a train, or twin brothers with one headed into space – any attempt to understand general relativity seems to come back to this personal scale because it's how we see the universe. We are our own instrument for measuring the universe – ourselves, our life spans, our senses, and our relationships. And our understanding of our mortality is built through those relationships. So Kip – in his books, in his work – has concentrated on finding ways to relate these things on a human scale. And that inevitably brings you to this view of natural events as they relate to us and our families and our relationships. In terms of principles guiding us, there are a number of ideas that are common to lots and lots of speculative fiction. Wormholes being one of them. But the main thing here was to try to get all the way underneath the rule-set sufficiently that the experience becomes kind of a tactile one that you feel. I mean, a wormhole is kind of an inherently alien concept, right? We know nothing in the universe that would allow one to develop naturally. The idea of a wormhole presupposes the idea of a higher order of intelligence, so there's a certain amount of speculation just in that.

CN There are several key narrative ideas that I put into the script based on passages that Kip had led me to in his book. Those then turned out to be the things that he argued with me the most about whether they would really happen.

_Laughter_.

But I found that fascinating because it meant to me that even though he'd written it in a book ten years ago, he was still completely prepared to take it as a fresh story element, and argue about whether or not it could really be.

JN Sure.

CN And I found that surprising and a little frustrating at first, and then the more I talked to him I realized that he approaches these things from a very pure point of view. So it's not about whether he said it ten years ago or not, it's about what does he believe now. What does the science tell him. And very often it was about whether he could make the numbers work. Literally. So I would say, 'Can this happen?' And he'd say, 'Well, I'll do some calculations.' And when he did the calculations it allowed him to understand that mathematically it was possible, which I guess is kind of the genesis of the whole idea of wormholes because he doesn't believe they can be naturally occurring, but he believes them as a mathematical possibility based on Einstein's equations. But I did find that when I came to the project, there was a very, very dense amount of science that he was quite keen on that I had to ( _laughs_ ) gently pry him away from.

JN ( _laughs_ ) Yeah, sure.

CN And we were able to address some very sophisticated scientific concepts in the movie by just simplifying – just having fewer elements. I think there were so many things crammed into the original, so many scientific ideas that Kip wanted or that you wanted –

JN Yeah, there was an awful lot of stuff that we were trying to cover. Kind of everything... Well, the film's called _Interstellar_!

_Laughter_.

CN Relative to the original question, though, I definitely tried to not go too far and try to understand the complexities of science because I felt that the audience won't be able to. I have to understand it a little bit better than the audience does, but you have to be one of them...

JN You and I are not terribly keen on research. You do just enough so that you see the possibilities and not the constraints. This was a very different experience for me because I spent so long talking with Kip and reading books. Sometimes these projects go quickly, sometimes they drag on, but this one lasted a bit. I became friends with Kip – we sort of kept talking – and I think all of that helps. There was about a two-month period in 2008 in which I felt confident to say that I felt like I truly understood both special relativity and the theory of general relativity, right? And then the writers' strike happened and I've never understood it since. ( _Laughs_.) Some of these things you can understand on an intellectual level, and then hanging out with Kip long enough there are some of these things that you just start to feel are more instinctual.

CN And the instinctual ones are the worthwhile ones because the actual ones don't play for an audience at all, unless they can be summarized as a simple rule that you oppose – like you can't go faster than the speed of light, or whatever.

JG Explain the significance of Murphy's Law.

JN Murphy's Law is not quite as scientific as – ( _To_ _CN_.) I can't remember if you and I ever talked about it...

CN Well, the way you explain it in the draft – it actually is pretty scientific, funnily enough.

JN Yeah, it's kind of a lot of my speculative bullshit. What was interesting about Murphy's Law was that I thought it was a fascinating jumping-off point for a theme –

CN Well, it's not speculative bullshit! You mean in terms of it meaning whatever can happen, will happen?

JN No, that's not speculative bullshit.

CN The other end of it is complete bullshit, and Kip has explained that to me. I left it in the film because I thought it was really good.

JN What's that?

CN The scientific idea that Brand expounds that because Miller's and Mann's planets orbit a black hole that not enough elements are able to reach them. Kip went with it at first, but then he talked to some of his colleagues, and he's fairly confident that, in fact, the opposite would be true. But he was okay with me leaving it there because I'm like, 'Well, first off, she could be wrong.' And I think, interestingly for Kip, that was a major breakthrough because of his understanding of the science –

JN ( _laughing_ ) That the scientist could be wrong! Yeah, totally.

CN Yeah, that you can have a character who spouts bullshit, or speculation, or whatever – that that's okay. Once he got his head around it, he was very comfortable with it. Where we got into a certain amount of trouble and where we really tried to skirt the truth is with the gravitational pull of the black hole, because this orbital angular momentum stuff that it gets into, the way that a black hole would really attract a body, and the way that you wouldn't fall into it, you would orbit it – they're just not things that the audience is ever going to be able to understand. That was one of those early things that we said, 'The way this story is going to work, we're going to have to view gravity as a stronger force than it really is.' Or, stronger in its early stages.

JN But in turn, when you'd talk to Kip you'd realize that relativity is such an odd thing. The shape of our universe is so bizarre that at certain speeds and locations, time and space do become very unusual. The idea that I was really trying to get to with Murphy's Law was just that we live in a space in which things are permitted to happen, right? And those are good things or bad things. Death, destruction, but also life. The idea that we're here on this ball of mud hurtling through space seems to have something to do with our interactions with extra-planetary bodies and cosmic rings –

CN I think biologically and historically it's a very interesting idea, and I do think it's scientific because it actually relates to osmosis, as simply as that; it's like, a body in motion with particles going through a membrane because they just will.

JN Right. They'll find a way.

CN Exactly.

JG Talk about making abstract, complex concepts understandable by finding a way to make them emotional.

CN You do have to personalize it. Even if the audience understands it, they aren't going to care about it. There were two things that really hooked me on the project after reading the early drafts. I mean, I loved the characters. I loved the setting of the first act. But I really loved the moment where Cooper catches up with the messages he's missed. And I always felt that if you could make that the center piece of everything that happens in the second act – it just is such a powerful thing that anyone could relate to. And there is science behind it, but you're not thinking about the science at all. You're actually thinking about your own mortality. You're thinking about living life as a human being. And that was attractive to me.

If you look at what I did with the draft, mostly what I did was take out all of the other stuff in the second act and just have that scene. I always found that moment to be the most ambitious thing in the project, and the most sort of... extraordinary.

JG Walter brought up an interesting point. He said that Flannery O'Connor always said that the most important word when writing is concrete. And for him the concrete thing in this script was the emotional core between the parent and the children.

CN Yeah. Well, I always felt that was at the heart of the project. My feeling on the development process – which you ( _JN_ ) were engaged in for many years – is that it doesn't necessarily allow for choices; that is to say, the stripping down of choices. The development process inherently adds things – adds potential choices – but it's not a very good process for making the ultimate choices you have to make in terms of what to take out. And ultimately, in any moviemaking process, at some stage somebody has to come along – usually it winds up being a director, if somebody's a writer-director they've got a better chance of doing it – and going, 'Okay, yes you could make this whole other movie. You could make ten other movies, but you can't make those movies. You've got to choose one and follow that line very strongly.' So what I found in your drafts was this family. And to me, that's the thing that you follow the whole way. And ultimately what I wound up doing – and I told you after I'd done it because I did not do it on purpose – but I wound up eliminating any kind of alien life from the project. For me, that happened for two reasons. I mean, one was just me following my natural instinct about what I loved about the characters, and the story that I thought was important. The other reason has to do with the problems I have with a lot of popular science fiction films over the years, which is that they don't necessarily focus in on a momentous event to the degree that they should, and the only way to do that is with the exclusion of other momentous events.

JN Sure.

CN So, to me the idea that you could find a planet that you could walk around on and talk about living on is so extreme, that to then also have a scene where somebody encounters alien life – that to me is the next momentous event...

JN A whole other movie!

CN It's the difference between screenplays and then the screenplay that you go, 'Okay now we turn the cameras over on Monday.' It's not about taking out things that you think are good – it's just about a choice of going, 'You could make any movie out of this. What is it?' And I talked to you a lot, I remember, about genre very inarticulately for a very long period of time. Like years. Because I would say I don't want it to be an adventure story, but it was very difficult to figure out. I think ultimately it was about moving away from it being an action film and going more to – I don't even know what genre you call, like, _Treasure of the Sierra Madre_ or _Greed_ , or these films that are very much about human beings, and they tend to be quite simple stories.

JN A disaster morality tale, or something. Something in that space.

CN Yeah, I suppose you do call them adventure movies, but it's different. It's different from action-adventure.

JN Absolutely. Because _Interstellar_ isn't about an antagonist. The antagonist is the universe.

CN Exactly.

JN The antagonist is the void of the vacuum that we live in.

CN Yeah. Which is about focus. I mean, one of the things that we did very early on – well, we really did it in the shooting, but when we came to edit, we do the first docking scene on the Endurance, which in all the scripts had been fairly much a throwaway. In my draft, it was one line. But the action takes up a lot of screen time. And I think, without even really talking about it with Lee ( _Lee Smith, Editor_ ), we realized that if you make that moment important, and difficult, and dangerous, you're setting the tone in terms of just how difficult space is. If you turn the volume down you can put the focus on the mechanics of 'how do you live in space?' One of the things we talked a lot about in the sound design is not having sound effects in space. We thought that was going to be this very risky and daring thing to do, but what we discovered was that as soon as you just did it and looked at the film that way, you realized that silence is extremely threatening. It really reminds you at every stage that you just shouldn't be there.

JN You're automatically reminded of the uninhabitable aspect of that environment. It's very powerful.

JG By no means is this a message film, but it does emphasize the importance of the human impulse to explore, and it hits it pretty hard, particularly in the first act.

CN Well, I think that's a very positive message to have in the first act because it keeps an optimism to things, even though there's a negative view of 'where are we now?' But there's a real optimism to exploration. It's like in _Star Wars_ , Luke Skywalker sitting there on Tatooine trying to see what's out there and eventually he gets his chance. So, it's an incredibly optimistic thing at the beginning of the film. What I brought to it, which actually wasn't even that fresh an idea because it was something which you talked about years before trying to get it in yourself, was the idea of looping it back in on itself. So the journey returns to where it starts. Because that always seemed the appropriate journey, and I think I tried very hard to make that very literal – very mechanical almost. We loop it back in on itself, and we see the dangers of that kind of exploration. I don't just mean physic ally, but emotionally. I mean, you go all the way out there, and then you have to come back.

JN But you return to find the world has changed. That was the most important thing for me. I think where I began my journey with this film was really with the end. The idea of a man out of his own time. Sort of a time traveller. On some instinctual level we feel that time travel is not possible backwards. The universe forbids it. You feel that once events move from right to left and we progress forwards in time, there's no going back. And there's something very tragic and sad about that. You can move only in the tragic direction – tragic in the sense that you have to leave people behind, optimistic in the sense that you can glimpse the future.

CN Right.

JN And as you get older, and certainly as I've become a parent, which is this transformative moment and somewhat meaningful for me with this project, because when I started it the relationships between what was then father and son were purely speculative – Chris then changed Murph to a little girl, and then in the interim I had a little girl of my own. So now the emotional wallop of the film is completely different. But even in the short few months since I've become a parent, you begin to realize that, as you get older, you become a bit of a passenger in the universe. And I imagine I will probably get to a moment in my life shortly towards the end of it where you just want to keep living because you want to see what happens. What do our children become? What is my little girl going to be doing in forty or fifty years? I mean, the possibilities of that are staggering. And the idea – a very provocative one – that you'd be able to glimpse that on some level, that you'd be able to glimpse where all that is going, is very sad and very alluring all at once.

CN It is, but there's another factor that really feeds into that, which is that pop culture relentlessly speculates about the negative aspects of the continuing human story. So there are all these ideas of apocalyptic thinking. Every generation believes they're the last generation on Earth. Maybe one generation will eventually be right. I certainly hope it's not ours. But everyone has always believed that, so there has always been this apocalyptic mode to storytelling. What I really loved about what you'd done with the central concept is that it transcends that. It's about the way in which human beings adapt and transcend natural movements – apocalyptic-type movements. And that is where the optimism comes in. That's also where the excitement comes in. Yes, the sadness of leaving Earth is very analogous to the sadness of leaving home. But then you go somewhere and that's exciting and fascinating. I was just struck by how it had been a long time since I saw movies like the ones that Spielberg was making in the early eighties, late seventies, where you presented a sort of inevitability in life or human evolution or whatever – something that the filmmakers really believed in. Like, if you look at _Close Encounters_ or _E.T_., or whatever – stuff where you go, 'Okay, these things are going to happen. What if it happened now? Or what if we could see it happening now? What if we knew it?' And I just thought that original concept you had that the Earth is the nest and you leave the nest – I'd never seen that presented as positive. I'd never seen that presented as a simple, evolutionary sort of inevitability. Which, to me, the best science fiction films do, or the best speculative fiction films do – they present it as, 'Yes, this is going to happen. Isn't it interesting to think about what that would be like?' It's actually a lot harder to imagine something positive – a lot harder to imagine what if we have to go beyond where we are?

JN That's the fascinating question of why is it that humans are so obsessed with not just the idea of their own Armageddon, but their own culpability in it.

CN Well, I think it's actually easier to imagine hell than it is to imagine heaven, and I think if you look at paintings or anything else, the descriptions of hell are always more convincing and relatable because they're exaggerations of human suffering, which is quite tactile. But there's also massive importance to a generation that is the last human generation. I think every generation has that sort of ego to them – if you could ascribe an ego to an entire species. But there's that idea that we might be the last, and therefore we are the most important.

JN The film might be guilty of that, but ultimately not.

CN I don't think it is at all because there's nobody sitting there going, 'Yeah, we messed up; this is the end of things.' They're all sitting there kind of going, 'Yeah, we'll figure it out.' Part of the problem of where the negativity comes from has happened in the last twenty years with people trying to look in a more cynical way under the surface about motivations for why things happen. So, there's a very, very powerful belief that innovation comes from war, or human conflict. You know, we only went into space to mess with the Russians or whatever it is. And you go, 'Okay. There are interesting theories behind that. There are interesting undercurrents that, yes, in the past, might have been overlooked.' But now people aren't seeing the wood for the trees. We went to space because it was a cool thing to do. Kennedy sat there and said, 'Yeah. We should go to the moon.' I had a very interesting conversation with my friend David Lloyd years ago. We were talking about, in human history who of our times will be remembered? And who will be the most prominent person to be remembered for the last hundred years in the way that historical figures are? And if you ask people that question, you know, they'll say things like Steve Jobs, or whatever. And then you go, no, it's Neil Armstrong!

JN Right.

CN And how can it not be Neil Armstrong? If you look five hundred years in the future, it's like, the first guy who left the earth and landed somewhere else.

JN He's Christopher Columbus minus all the slavery.

CN Yes. And whatever things sort of hover around, that stop us from being able to see, will fall away over time, the same way they did for Columbus.

JN And that's how I got the job in the first place. At that moment it absolutely felt – this was my pitch – that the safe bet was in a million years that alien anthropologists would come to Earth and they would find a stick with a piece of polyester on the moon, and they would say, 'Wow, they almost made it. They got that far.' So, you wash away all the day-to-day stuff that we get caught up in – this invention or that invention. And it's like, 'No.' That drive to get out, to explore the universe, will be the residue that's left behind. Armstrong will be the person that people talk about.

This is what connects it back, for me, to Murphy's Law. Murphy's Law popularly is: if something could go wrong, it will go wrong. The eponymous Murphy was one of a group of rocket engineers working for the Air Force. And he was a grumpy guy, and the rest of the people on the team didn't like him very much because he was constantly ragging on people. And one day he came back and said, 'You know, if there was a way for these guys to mess this up, they would.' And that has been how we remember Murphy's Law, right? If there's a way for human beings to mess things up, they will. But another guy there – an engineer by the name of Nichols – had a different take on it. And by his accounting, the sentiment – as it was expressed as they were distilling this wisdom of the things going wrong in their testing – was that 'If something can happen, it will happen.' It doesn't have to be a bad thing; it doesn't have to be a good thing. Humans are capable of both. We're lucky enough to live in a universe in which both things can happen. And it's interesting to see how many films and books tend to concentrate on all the terrible things that we can do. The parasitic relationship between innovation and violence and all those sorts of things. And there's something under it, certainly. But they do tend to ignore the self-evident part too.

CN Yeah, exactly.

JN We exist. We survived. Hopefully, we will continue to survive, and that is probably a good thing.

# Interstellar
# THE SCREENPLAY
BLACK. THE GENTLE SOUND OF WIND IN CORN | 1
---|---

_A row of books. From spaces between them, dust falls._

### INTERSTELLAR

ELDERLY FEMALE VOICE

( _V.O._ )

Sure. Dad was a farmer.

BRIGHT CORN STALKS FILL THE FRAME, SWAYING IN THE BREEZE | 2
---|---

ELDERLY FEMALE VOICE

( _V.O._ )

Like everybody else back then.

 _The wind is_ RISING, _shaking the plants more_ FORCEFULLY...

_Insert cut: a_ WOMAN _in her eighties against a dark background_.

ELDERLY WOMAN

Course, he didn't start that way...

 _The_ WIND IS HOWLING, SHRIEKING _and we_ RIP INTO –

EXT. THE STRATOSPHERE – DAY | 3
---|---

BURNING _through the fringes of space_ –

INT. COCKPIT – CONTINUOUS | 4
---|---

_A young_ PILOT _fights his_ BUFFETING _craft_ –

RADIO

( _O.S_.)

Computer says you're too tight –

PILOT

I got this –

 _The Pilot grabs a panicked glance at his instruments_ –

RADIO

( _O.S._ )

Crossing the Straights... shutting it down, Cooper. Shutting it _all_ down...

PILOT

NO! I need the power up –

EXT. THE STRATOSPHERE – CONTINUOUS | 5
---|---

_The_ BLACK _and_ RED SKY _starts_ SPINNING HORRIFYINGLY –

INT. COCKPIT – DAY | 6
---|---

_As the controls_ RIP _themselves free, the pilot_ SHOUTS _and we_ –

CUT TO _:_

INT. BEDROOM, FARMHOUSE – NIGHT | 7
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_A man_ WAKES, _nightmare_ SWEATY. _This is_ COOPER.

YOUNG GIRL'S VOICE

( _O.S._ )

Dad? Dad?

 _Cooper turns: in the doorway – his sleepy ten-year-old daughter. This is_ MURPH.

COOPER

Sorry. Go back to sleep.

MURPH

I thought you were the ghost.

COOPER

There's no ghost, Murph.

MURPH

Grandpa says you can get ghosts.

COOPER

Maybe Grandpa's a little too close to being one himself. Back to sleep.

MURPH

Were you dreaming about the crash?

COOPER

Back to sleep, Murph.

 _Murph shuffles back out the door. Cooper moves to the window_. DAWN _breaks over an_ ENDLESS SEA OF CORN...

ELDERLY FEMALE VOICE

( _V.O._ )

Corn, sure. But dust. In your ears, your mouth...

INSERT CUT: AN OLD-TIMER IN CLOSE UP, WATERY-EYED, DESCRIBES DUST BOWL CONDITIONS.

OLD-TIMER

( _V.O._ )

Dust just everywhere. Everywhere.

EXT. COOPER'S FARM – MORNING | 8
---|---

_An old man, handkerchief across his face, sweeps dust out of the door onto the porch. This is Grandpa_ (DONALD).

INT. KITCHEN, FARMHOUSE – MORNING

| 9
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_Cooper pours himself coffee as Donald puts grits on the table_. TOM, _Cooper's fifteen-year-old son, stuffs his face_.

_Murph, wet hair, towel around neck, plays with pieces of a_ MODEL ( _a lunar lander_ ).

DONALD

Not at the table, Murph.

MURPH

Dad, can you fix this?

COOPER

( _takes pieces, frowning_ )

What'd you do to my lander?

MURPH

Wasn't me.

TOM

Lemme guess – your ghost?

MURPH

It knocked it off my shelf. It keeps knocking books off.

TOM

There's no such things as ghosts, dumb-ass –

COOPER

( _to Tom_ )

Hey –

MURPH

I looked it up, it's called a poltergeist.

TOM

Dad, tell her.

COOPER

Murph, you know that's not _scientific_.

MURPH

You say science is about admitting what we _don't_ know.

DONALD

She's got you there.

COOPER

( _hands her pieces_ )

Start looking after our stuff.

 _Donald looks at Cooper, admonishing. Cooper shrugs_.

COOPER

Fine. Murph, you wanna talk science, don't just tell me you're scared of some ghost – record the facts, analyze, present your conclusions.

MURPH

Sure.

 _Cooper gets up, grabs his keys_.

DONALD

Hold up. ( _Off look_.) Parent–teacher conferences. 'Parent' – not 'grandparent'.

EXT. FARMHOUSE – MOMENTS LATER

| 10
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_The kids pile into an old pickup truck, scraping_ DUST _off the seats. Cooper, coffee in hand, peers at a black cloud_.

COOPER

Dust storm?

DONALD

( _shakes his head_ )

Nelson's torching his whole crop.

COOPER

Blight?

DONALD

They're saying it's the last harvest for okra. Ever.

 _Cooper stares at the smoke. Uneasy. Gets into the truck._

COOPER

Shoulda planted corn like the rest of us.

DONALD

Be nice to Miss Hanley. She's single.

COOPER

What's that supposed to mean?

DONALD

Repopulating the Earth – start pulling your weight.

COOPER

Start minding your business.

INT./EXT. PICKUP TRUCK ON DIRT ROAD – MOMENTS LATER | 11
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_Cooper sips his coffee, steering while Murph shifts_ –

COOPER

Okay, gimme second –

 _Murph wrestles the long gear stick into second. Cooper sips_.

COOPER

Now third –

 _Murph struggles to find third_ – GRIND.

TOM

Find a gear, dumb-ass.

MURPH

Shut up, Tom!

BANG – A TIRE BLOWS OUT. _Cooper stops the truck_.

TOM

What'd you do, Murph?

COOPER

She didn't do anything. We lost a tire is all.

TOM

Murphy's Law.

MURPH

Shut up, Tom.

 _Cooper gets out of the truck, checks the flat, turns to Tom_.

COOPER

Grab the spare.

TOM

That is the spare.

COOPER

Okay, patch kit.

TOM

How'm I supposed to patch it out here?

COOPER

Figure it out. I'm not always going to be here to help you.

 _Tom moves to the back of the truck. Murph is there_.

MURPH

Why'd you and Mom name me after something bad?

COOPER

We didn't.

MURPH

_Murphy's Law?_

COOPER

Murphy's Law doesn't mean bad stuff will happen. It means 'whatever can happen, will happen'. And that sounded just fine to us.

 _Murph frowns, hearing something_...

COOPER

What?

 _Then Cooper hears it, too_. A LOW RUMBLE. _Cooper_ GRABS _Murph as a_ DRONE SOARS _low overhead_ –

COOPER

Come on!

 _Cooper jumps into the truck – he pulls out a laptop and antenna hands them to Murph – shouts at Tom_ –

COOPER

Get in!

TOM

( _jack in hand_ )

What about the tire?

INT./EXT. PICKUP TRUCK THROUGH FIELDS – MOMENTS LATER | 12
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_Close on the_ SHREDDING TIRE _as the truck_ BARRELS _through cornfields. Murph fires up the laptop. Cooper strains to see through the cornstalks, scanning the horizon_ –

TOM

There!

 _To the right, the dark shape of the drone, cruising low over the fields. Cooper_ JERKS _the wheel – the drone has long, thin wings like a U-2, but no cockpit_.

COOPER

Indian air force surveillance drone. Solar cells could power an entire farm. ( _To Tom._ ) Take the wheel –

_Tom takes the wheel – Cooper hands Murph the antenna_.

COOPER

Keep it pointed right at it –

 _Cooper works the laptop – the screen fills with Hindi._

Faster, Tom. I'm losing it.

 _Tom_ WEAVES _through the corn – they round a corner, almost_ HIT _a_ HARVESTER – BANG – _the truck loses a wing mirror_ –

_Ahead the drone_ SOARS, _banking, pulling away_ –

_The truck_ BURSTS _out of the corn, Cooper's nose is in the laptop_.

TOM

Dad?

COOPER

Almost got it. Don't stop.

 _In front of them, the drone plummets from view into the next valley – the path ahead leads to a three-hundred-foot drop._

TOM

DAD...

 _Cooper looks up._

COOPER

Tom!

 _Tom locks up the brakes. Cooper looks at him – he shrugs._

TOM

You told me to keep going.

 _Cooper grabs the laptop and opens the door._

COOPER

Guess that answers the 'if I told you to drive off a cliff' scenario.

 _Murph is still pointing the antenna._

MURPH

We lost it.

COOPER

( _smiles_ )

No, we didn't.

_The_ DRONE SOARS BACK OVER THEM – _Cooper is moving his fingers across the track pad_ , PILOTING THE DRONE.

_As the kids watch, Cooper sends the drone soaring over them, banking above the valley. Cooper crouches next to Murph_.

COOPER

Want to give it a whirl?

 _Murph, guided by Cooper, moves her fingers across the track pad – the massive drone_ BANKS _in response. Murph is in heaven_.

COOPER

Let's set her down next to the river.

EXT. RIVERBANK – MOMENTS LATER | 13
---|---

_The truck limps up to the drone. Cooper and the kids climb down. Cooper runs a hand along the smooth carbon flank of the aircraft._

TOM

How long you think it's been up there?

COOPER

Delhi mission control went down same as ours, ten years ago.

TOM

It's been up there ten years? Why'd it come down so low?

COOPER

Sun finally cooked its brain. Or it came down looking for something.

MURPH

What?

COOPER

Some kind of signal. Who knows?

 _Cooper finds an access hatch. Pries it open. Examines the black-box brain of the machine._

MURPH

What are you going to do with it?

COOPER

Give it something socially responsible to do, like drive a combine.

MURPH

Couldn't we just let it go? It's not hurting anyone.

 _Cooper looks down at his daughter. Good kid._

COOPER

This thing has to adapt, just like the rest of us.

EXT. COUNTY SCHOOL – DAY | 14
---|---

_The truck pulls up to school, drone fuselage hanging out_.

COOPER

How's this work? You guys come with?

TOM

I've got class. But _she_...

_Pats Murph on shoulder_.

Needs to wait.

 _Murph glares at Tom as he hops out_.

COOPER

Why? What?

MURPH

Dad, I had a thing... well, they'll tell you about it. Just try and...

COOPER

Am I gonna be mad?

MURPH

Not with me. Just try not to –

COOPER

Relax, I got this.

 _Murph pulls out a notebook. Starts drawing a_ BARCODE.

INT. PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE – LATER (MORNING) | 15
---|---

_Cooper enters, awkward. The_ PRINCIPAL ( _male, fifties_ ) _turns from the window_.

PRINCIPAL

Little late, Coop. ( _Indicates chair._ ) Guess you had to stop off at the Asian fighter plane store.

COOPER

( _sits, smiles_ )

Actually, sir, it's a surveillance drone. With outstanding solar cells.

 _Cooper nods at Murph's teacher, Ms Hanley, thirties, attractive_.

PRINCIPAL

We got Tom's scores back. He's going to make an excellent farmer. Congratulations.

 _The Principal slides a paper across the desk_.

COOPER

( _taken aback_ )

What about college?

PRINCIPAL

The university only takes a handful. They don't have resources –

COOPER

I'm still paying taxes – where's that go? There's no more armies.

PRINCIPAL

Not to the university. Coop, you have to be realistic.

COOPER

You're ruling him out for college _now?_ He's fifteen.

PRINCIPAL

Tom's score simply isn't high enough.

COOPER

What're you? About a thirty-six-inch waist? ( _Beat_.) Thirty-inch inseam?

PRINCIPAL

I'm not sure I see what –

COOPER

You're telling me you need two numbers to measure your own ass, but just one to measure my son's future?

 _Ms Hanley stifles a laugh. The Principal shoots her a look_.

PRINCIPAL

You're a well educated man, Coop. A trained pilot –

COOPER

And an engineer.

PRINCIPAL

Okay. Well, right now the world doesn't need more engineers. We didn't run out of planes, or television sets. We ran out of _food_.

_Cooper leans back. He's not going to win this one_.

PRINCIPAL

The world needs farmers. Good farmers, like you. And Tom. ( _Smiles benignly_.) We're a caretaker generation. And things are getting better. Maybe your grandchildren –

COOPER

Are we done, sir?

PRINCIPAL

No. Ms Hanley is here to talk about Murph.

 _Cooper shifts his gaze to Ms Hanley_.

MS HANLEY

Murph's a bright kid. A wonderful kid, Mr Cooper. But she's been having a little trouble...

 _Ms Hanley places a textbook on the desk._

She brought this to school, to show the other kids the section on the lunar landings...

COOPER

Yeah, it's one of my old textbooks, she likes the pictures.

MS HANLEY

This is an old federal textbook. We've replaced them with corrected versions.

COOPER

Corrected?

MS HANLEY

Explaining how the Apollo missions were faked to bankrupt the Soviet Union.

COOPER

You don't believe we went to the moon?

MS HANLEY

( _tolerant smile_ )

I believe it was a brilliant piece of propaganda. The Soviets bankrupted themselves pouring resources into rockets and other useless machines.

COOPER

'Useless machines'?

MS HANLEY

Yes, Mr Cooper. And if we don't want a repeat of the wastefulness and excess of the twentieth century, our children need to learn about _this_ planet, not tales of leaving it.

_Cooper considers this in silence. Looks at Ms Hanley._

COOPER

One of those useless machines they used to make was called an MRI. And if we had any of them left, the doctors might have been able to find the cyst in my wife's brain _before_ she died, rather than afterwards. Then _she_ could be sitting here listening to this, which'd be good, cos she was always the _calmer_ one...

_Ms Hanley looks at Cooper, embarrassed. Then –_

MS HANLEY

I'm sorry about your wife, Mr Cooper. But Murph got into a fist fight with several of her classmates over this Apollo nonsense and we thought it best to bring you in and see what ideas you might have for dealing with her behavior on the home front.

COOPER

Sure. Well, there's a ball game tomorrow night, and Murph's going through a bit of a baseball phase. There'll be candy and soda...

 _Ms Hanley looks at him, expectant._

COOPER

I think I'll take her to that.

 _Ms Hanley turns to the Principal, not happy_.

EXT. PICKUP TRUCK OUTSIDE SCHOOL – MOMENTS LATER | 16
---|---

_Murph looks up from her notebook at her dad, expectantly_.

MURPH

How'd it go?

COOPER

I, uh... got you suspended.

MURPH

What?!

COOPER

Sorry.

MURPH

Dad! I told you not to –

 _The CB radio_ CRACKLES _to life_.

CB OPERATOR

Cooper? Boots for Cooper.

COOPER

Cooper.

BOOTS

( _over radio_ )

Coop, those combines you rebuilt went haywire.

COOPER

Power the controllers down for a couple minutes.

BOOTS

( _over radio_ )

Did that. You should come take a look, it's kinda weird.

EXT. FARMHOUSE – DAY | 17
---|---

_Cooper and Murph pass a slow-moving harvester pulling up to the house, which is surrounded by_ AUTOMATED FARM MACHINES. _They've nosed up to the house like animals at a Nativity. Boots, the farm hand, approaches_ –

BOOTS

One by one they been peeling off from the fields and heading over.

_Cooper pops open the cabin to a harvester. Checks the auto pilot hooked up to the controls_.

BOOTS

Something's interfering with their compass...

 _Cooper jumps down and heads to the front door. Enters._

BOOTS

( _O.S._ )

Magnetism or some such...

INT. FARMHOUSE – CONTINUOUS | 18
---|---

_Cooper looks at the kitchen. Nothing. Murph comes in._

MURPH

What is it, Dad?

 _A small_ BANG _from upstairs. Cooper heads up._

INT. MURPH'S BEDROOM – CONTINUOUS | 19
---|---

_Murph's bedroom clearly used to be her mother's. Cooper, in the doorway, looks at the wall of_ BOOKS _opposite – several_ GAPS. _He looks down at some books on the floor_.

MURPH

Nothing special about _which_ books. ( _Off look_.) Been working on it, like you said.

_Murph holds up her notebook with its barcode_.

MURPH

I counted the spaces.

COOPER

Why?

MURPH

In case the ghost's trying to say something. I'm trying Morse.

COOPER

Morse?

MURPH

Yeah. Dots and dashes, used for –

COOPER

Murph, I know what Morse code is. I just don't think your bookshelf's trying to talk to you.

 _He leaves. Murph, embarrassed, turns back to the shelf._

INT. FRONT PORCH, FARMHOUSE – NIGHT | 20
---|---

_Donald hands Cooper a beer._

COOPER

Had to reset every compass clock and GPS to offset for the anomaly.

DONALD

Which is?

COOPER

No idea. If the house was built on magnetic ore, we'd've seen this the first time we switched on a tractor.

 _Donald nods. Sips._

DONALD

Sounds like your meeting at school didn't go so well.

COOPER

( _sighs_ )

We've forgotten who we are, Donald. Explorers, pioneers. Not _caretakers_.

_Donald nods, thoughtful. Weighs up his words._

DONALD

When I was a kid it felt like they made something new every day. Some gadget or idea. Like every day was Christmas. But _six billion people_... just try to imagine that. And every last one of them trying to have it all.

_He turns to Cooper._

This world isn't so bad. And Tom'll do just fine – you're the one who doesn't belong. Born forty years too late, or forty years too early. My daughter knew it, God bless her. And your kids know it. 'Specially Murph.

COOPER

We used to look up and wonder at our place in the stars. Now we just look down and worry about our place in the dirt.

DONALD

Cooper, you were good at something and you never got a chance to do anything with it. I'm sorry. But that's not your kids' fault.

 _Cooper looks up at the stars above._

OLD-TIMER

( _V.O_.)

May 14th. Never forget. Clear as a bell. You'd never think...

INSERT CUT: THE OLD-TIMER REMEMBERS. CUT TO A SECOND OLD-TIMER...

SECOND OLD-TIMER

When the first of the real big ones rolled in... I thought it was the end of the world.

EXT. BASEBALL FIELD – LATE AFTERNOON | 21
---|---

_The_ CRACK _of ball off bat – a pop-fly caught to a trickle of applause. Half-filled stands at what looks like a minor league game._

DONALD

In my day we had real ball players. Who're these bums?

 _As the team runs in from the field we see:_ NEW YORK YANKEES.

COOPER

Well, in _my_ day people were too busy fighting over food for baseball, so consider this progress.

_Murph offers Donald some popcorn._

DONALD

Fine. But popcorn at a ball game is unnatural. I want a hot dog.

MURPH

( _confused_ )

What's a hot dog?

 _Cooper sits with Tom a row in front._

COOPER

The school says you're gonna follow in my footsteps. I think that's great.

TOM

You think that's great?

MURPH

You hate farming, Dad. Grandpa said.

 _Cooper looks at Donald, who shrugs 'sorry'._

COOPER

What's important is how _you_ feel about it, Tom.

TOM

I like what you do. I like our farm.

 _On the field: the batter hits one along the ground – it rolls to an infielder's foot – but the infielder_ IGNORES _it_ , STARING _up at the sky. The crowd starts to look up_...

OLD-TIMER

( _V.O_.)

You've never seen the like. Black. Just black...

INSERT CUT: THE OLD-TIMER CHOKES BACK FEAR AS HE REMEMBERS.

_Cooper stares at the horizon, where an_ ENORMOUS BLACK DUST STORM IS MASSING. _People start leaving, tying handkerchiefs across their faces._

COOPER

Come on, guys.

INT./EXT. PICKUP TRUCK – MOMENTS LATER

| 22
---|---

_Cooper speeds along as Donald and the kids stuff_ RAGS i _nto cracks and vents... behind them the_ WALL OF BLACK DUST ADVANCES, SWALLOWING UP ROADS, BUILDINGS. _A nasty_ SOUND _is developing – the truck_ ROCKING _with_ GUSTS _of wind_...

_Suddenly_ , BLACK DUST ENVELOPS _the car_ , LIGHTNING CRACKLING.

DONALD

It's a bad one...

COOPER

Mask up, guys.

 _Murph and Tom take_ SURGICAL MASKS _out of the glove box_.

EXT. FARMHOUSE – CONTINUOUS

| 23
---|---

VISIBILITY MERE FEET _as the dust storm_ BRUTALIZES _the farm. The truck_ CRAWLS _up to the house. Cooper leans in to try and see better_... CRACK – _a panel of sheet metal_ SMASHES _into the windshield – Cooper turns – wrestles Murph out of the truck as Donald blindly stumbles towards the front door with Tom_...

INT. FARMHOUSE – CONTINUOUS | 24
---|---

_The_ SHUTTERS BANG _as the wind_ WHIPS _around the house_ , FORCING JETS OF DUST _up through cracks in the window frames, floorboards_... _Donald_ SLAMS _the door. Murph is_ COUGHING... _Cooper looks around. Sees dust coming from upstairs_.

COOPER

Did you both shut your windows?

 _Tom nods. Murph looks at Cooper. Runs for the stairs._

COOPER

Wait –

INT. MURPH'S BEDROOM – CONTINUOUS | 25
---|---

_Cooper gets to the doorway. Murph stands in the middle of the room_ , STARING. _Cooper_ SHUTS _the window. The dust hangs in the relative quiet. Murph is staring_ , TRANSFIXED, _at_ LINES _where dust is_ FALLING UNNATURALLY FAST, STREAMING DOWN _through the air, collecting on the floor in a_ PATTERN –

MURPH

The Ghost.

 _Cooper_ STARES _at dust collecting like snow on power lines_...

COOPER

Grab your pillow, sleep in with Tom.

EXT. FARMHOUSE – DAWN – MORNING | 26
---|---

_Calm. Dust settled._

INT. TOM'S ROOM – CONTINUOUS | 27
---|---

_Murph slips out of bed, wrapped in her blanket. Pads down the hall, peeks in her bedroom door at_ –

INT. MURPH'S BEDROOM – CONTINUOUS | 28
---|---

_Cooper sits, staring at the_ PATTERN _of dust: thick radial lines, like a_ CIRCULAR BARCODE.

_Murph sits down next to her dad. They_ STARE _at it together. He holds up a coin_...

COOPER

It's not a ghost...

 _Cooper tosses the coin across a line. It_ SHOOTS _at the floor –_

It's _gravity_.

INT. SAME – LATER | 29
---|---

_Donald pokes his head in._

DONALD

I'm dropping Tom, then heading to town... ( _Looks at dust pattern_.) You wanna clean that up when you've finished praying to it?

_Cooper reaches for Murph's notebook. Starts writing_...

INT. KITCHEN, FARMHOUSE – LATER | 30
---|---

_Murph fills a glass of water. Picks up a plate of sandwiches_.

INT. MURPH'S BEDROOM – CONTINUOUS | 31
---|---

_Follow Murph into the room, to find Cooper standing there_.

COOPER

I got something.

_Cooper is pointing to the thick and thin radial lines_ –

Binary. Thick is one, thin is zero – it's numbers... number _pairs_...

_He holds up the notebook to show Murph the number pairs._

_Coordinates_.

INT. KITCHEN, FARMHOUSE – MOMENTS LATER | 32
---|---

_Cooper and Murph pore over_ MAPS. _Cooper_ TOSSES _one aside, lays it out on the table. Finds a spot. Looks up at Murph_...

EXT. FARMHOUSE – MOMENTS LATER

| 33
---|---

_Cooper packing his truck – sleeping bag, flashlight_...

MURPH

You can't leave me behind!

COOPER

Grandpa's back in two hours.

MURPH

You don't know what you're going to find –

COOPER

That's why I can't take you.

INT. KITCHEN, FARMHOUSE – MOMENTS LATER | 34
---|---

_Cooper grabs the maps and a bottle of water. He calls up_ –

COOPER

Murph?

 _Nothing_.

Murph, just wait here for Grandpa. Tell him I'll call him on the radio.

INT./EXT. PICKUP TRUCK ON ROAD – MOMENTS LATER | 35
---|---

_Cooper drives, map spread on the wheel, looks for a pen – reaches over to the passenger wheel well – lifts a_ BLANKET – _Murph is there_ –

COOPER

JESUS!

 _The truck_ WOBBLES _as Cooper regains control_.

Murph, what are you doing?!

 _Murph is_ LAUGHING _as she climbs into the passenger seat_ –

COOPER

It's not funny –

 _But Murph's laugh is infectious_.

MURPH

You wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me.

 _Cooper hands Murph the map_.

COOPER

Fair enough. Make yourself useful...

 _The pickup cruises down the road, heading for the_ MOUNTAINS.

EXT. PLAINS APPROACHING MOUNTAINS – DUSK

| 36
---|---

_The tiny pickup is dwarfed by the darkening foothills_.

EXT. DIRT ROAD OFF MOUNTAIN PASS – NIGHT | 37
---|---

_Cooper pulls up to a gate in chain-link fence. Murph is asleep next to him._

COOPER

Murph. Murph.

 _Murph wakes_.

I think this is as far as we get.

 _Murph glances out at the fence. Closes her eyes again_.

MURPH

Why? You didn't bring the bolt-cutters?

COOPER

I like your spirit, young lady.

_Cooper gets out of the truck, retrieves his bolt-cutters and comes up to the fence. He looks up and down the road. Nothing. He reaches out and puts the jaws of the cutters_ –

WHAM! SPOTLIGHTS IN COOPER'S EYES – A HARSH ELECTRIC VOICE –

VOICE

STEP AWAY FROM THE FENCE.

 _Cooper drops the cutters, puts his hands in the air_ –

COOPER

Don't shoot! My child is in the car! I'm unarmed! My daughter is –

 _Murph watches, terrified as, with a ZAP_, _Cooper_ DROPS. _Murph_ SCRAMBLES _back along the seat as_ MASSIVE FOOTSTEPS APPROACH. _The door is_ WRENCHED _open – a_ BLINDING LIGHT

VOICE

DON'T BE AFRAID.

 _Murph_ SCREAMS.

INT. BRIGHT, INDUSTRIAL ROOM – LATER | 38
---|---

_Cooper comes to, sitting in a chair. Opposite him is an_ ARTICULATED MACHINE. _A_ VOICE _emanates from its side_.

MACHINE

How did you find this place?

COOPER

Where's my daughter?

MACHINE

You had the coordinates for this facility marked on your map. Where did you get them?

 _Cooper leans in to the machine._

COOPER

WHERE'S MY DAUGHTER?!

 _Cooper's scream_ REVERBERATES. _Cooper sizes up the machine_.

You might think you're still in the Marines, but the Marines don't exist anymore, pal. I've got grunts like you mowing my grass...

 _The Machine_ RISES _to its full height_.

MACHINE

How did you find us?

COOPER

But you don't look like a lawnmower to me... you, I'm gonna turn into an overqualified vacuum cleaner –

FEMALE VOICE

( _O.S_.)

No, you're not.

 _Cooper turns to see a businesslike woman in her thirties._

WOMAN

Tars, back down, please.

 _The machine_ , TARS, _sinks back down_.

COOPER

You're taking a risk using ex-military for security. They're old, their control units are unpredictable...

WOMAN

Well, that's what the government could spare.

COOPER

Who are you?

WOMAN

Dr Brand.

COOPER

I knew a Dr Brand once. But he was a professor –

WOMAN (BRAND)

What makes you think I'm not?

COOPER

And nowhere near as cute.

BRAND

You think you can _flirt_ your way out of this mess?

COOPER

( _honest, scared_ )

Dr Brand, I have no idea what this mess is. I'm scared for my little girl and I want her by my side. Then I'll tell you anything you want to know. Okay?

 _Brand considers this. Turns to Tars_.

BRAND

Get the principals and the girl into the conference room. ( _To Cooper_.) Your daughter's fine. Bright kid. ( _Rises_.) Must have a _very_ smart mother.

INT. UNDERGROUND FACILITY – MOMENTS LATER

| 39
---|---

_Cooper follows Brand into a corridor. Tars_ LURCHES _behind_.

COOPER

It's pretty clear you don't want visitors – why not let us back up from your fence and be on our way?

BRAND

It's not that simple.

COOPER

Sure it is. I don't know anything about you or this place.

BRAND

Yes, you do.

 _Brand ushers Cooper through a door into a conference room_ –

INT. CONFERENCE ROOM – CONTINUOUS | 40
---|---

_Where an_ OLD MAN _is crouched down, talking to Murph_.

MURPH

Dad!

 _Murph runs into Cooper's arms. The Old Man_ SMILES _at Cooper_.

OLD MAN

Hello, Cooper.

COOPER

( _stunned_ )

Professor Brand?

MAN AT TABLE (DOYLE)

Just take a seat, Mr Cooper.

 _Cooper and Murph sit at a table where five people are waiting – a bespectacled man_ , WILLIAMS, _leans forward to address Cooper_.

WILLIAMS

Explain how you found this facility.

COOPER

Stumbled across it. Looking for salvage and I saw the fence –

WILLIAMS

You're sitting in the world's best kept secret – you don't stumble in. And you certainly don't stumble _out_.

PROFESSOR BRAND

Cooper, please. Cooperate with these people.

 _Cooper looks nervously around the room_.

COOPER

It's hard to explain, but we learned these coordinates from an anomaly...

DOYLE

What sort of anomaly?

COOPER

I don't want to term it 'supernatural'... but...

 _Cooper is losing them. Williams leans forward. Serious_.

WILLIAMS

You're going to have to, Mr Cooper. Real quick.

COOPER

After that last storm, it was a pattern... in dust...

MURPH

It was _gravity_.

_All eyes turn to Murph. She's said the magic word. Doyle looks at Professor Brand, excited. Turns to Cooper_ –

DOYLE

Where was this gravitational anomaly?

COOPER

Look, I'm happy you're excited about gravity, but if you want more answers from us I'm gonna need assurances –

WILLIAMS

Assurances?

 _Cooper looks at Murph. Then covers Murph's ears_.

COOPER

That we're getting out of here... and not in the trunk of some car.

 _Brand laughs. Williams smiles. Cooper looks confused._

PROFESSOR BRAND

Don't you know who we are, Coop?

COOPER

No. No, I don't.

BRAND

( _points around table_ )

Williams, Doyle, Jenkins, Smith, you already know my father, Professor Brand. We're _NASA_.

COOPER

NASA?

PROFESSOR BRAND

NASA. Same NASA you flew for.

 _Now Cooper is laughing, too. Murph looks around, confused._

INT. UNDERGROUND FACILITY – MOMENTS LATER

| 41
---|---

_Professor Brand shows Cooper the facility._

COOPER

I heard you got shut down for refusing to drop bombs from the stratosphere onto starving people.

PROFESSOR BRAND

When they realized killing other people wasn't a long term solution they needed us back. Set us up in the old NORAD facility. In secret.

COOPER

Why secret?

PROFESSOR BRAND

Public opinion won't allow spending on space exploration. Not when we're struggling to put food on the table.

 _Professor Brand ushers Cooper through a large door_ –

INT. GREENHOUSE – CONTINUOUS | 42
---|---

_Professor Brand gestures to large_ PLANTATIONS _under glass_.

PROFESSOR BRAND

Blight. Wheat seven years ago, okra this year. Now there's just corn.

COOPER

But we're growing more than ever –

PROFESSOR BRAND

Like the potatoes in Ireland, like the wheat in the dust bowl, the corn will die. Soon.

 _Brand enters with Murph. She shows her the greenhouses_.

COOPER

We'll find a way, we always have.

PROFESSOR BRAND

Driven by the unshakable faith that the Earth is ours.

COOPER

Not _just_ ours, but it is our home.

PROFESSOR BRAND

Earth's atmosphere is 80 percent nitrogen. We don't even breathe nitrogen.

 _Professor Brand shows him a blighted stalk._

Blight does. And as it thrives our air contains less and less oxygen...

 _Professor Brand gestures over at Murph_...

The last people to starve will be the first to suffocate. Your daughter's generation will be the last to survive on Earth.

_Cooper looks over at Murph. Then back to Professor Brand._

COOPER

Tell me this is where you explain how you're going to save the world.

INT. VAST CIRCULAR CHAMBER (LAUNCH FACILITY) – MOMENTS LATER

| 43
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_Cooper and Professor Brand enter like ants in a grain silo. A_ ROCKET _is on a pad_ , DWARFED _by the circular chamber. Far above, a ring of mirrors reflects the dawn down into the facility_.

PROFESSOR BRAND

We're not meant to save the world... we're meant to _leave it_.

_Cooper stares up at the rocket. He recognizes the arrangement of two_ CRAFT _at the top._

COOPER

Rangers.

PROFESSOR BRAND

The last components of our one versatile ship in orbit, the Endurance. Our final expedition.

COOPER

What happened to the other vehicles?

PROFESSOR BRAND

The Lazarus missions.

COOPER

Sounds cheerful.

PROFESSOR BRAND

Lazarus came back from the dead –

COOPER

He had to die in the first place. You sent people out there looking for a new _home_...

_Professor Brand nods._

There's no planet in our solar system that can support life... and it'd take them a thousand years to reach the nearest star – that doesn't even qualify as _futile_... Where did you send them, Professor?

PROFESSOR BRAND

Cooper, I can't tell you any more unless you agree to pilot this craft. You're the best we ever had.

COOPER

I barely left the stratosphere.

PROFESSOR BRAND

This crew's never left the _simulator_. We can't program this mission from Earth, we don't know what's out there. We need a pilot. And this is the mission you were trained for.

COOPER

Without ever knowing. An hour ago, you didn't even know I was still alive. And you were going anyway.

PROFESSOR BRAND

We had no choice. But something brought you here. They _chose_ you.

COOPER

Who's 'they'?

 _Professor Brand is silent. Cooper wrestles_.

How long would I be gone?

PROFESSOR BRAND

Hard to know. Years.

COOPER

I've got my kids, Professor.

PROFESSOR BRAND

Get out there and save them.

 _Cooper considers this. Decides._

COOPER

Who's 'they'?

INT. CONFERENCE ROOM – LATER | 44
---|---

_A man in his forties has the solar system up on the screen. This is_ ROMILLY.

ROMILLY

We started detecting gravitational anomalies almost fifty years ago. Mostly small distortions to our instruments in the upper atmosphere – I believe you encountered one yourself...

COOPER

( _realizing_ )

Over the Straights – my crash – something tripped my fly-by wire –

ROMILLY

Exactly. But the most significant anomaly was _this_...

_Cooper stares at an image of Saturn and its moons. Romilly zooms in on some stars_ DISTORTED _like ripples in a pond._

ROMILLY

A disturbance of spacetime out near Saturn.

COOPER

A _wormhole_?

ROMILLY

It appeared forty-eight years ago.

COOPER

Where does it lead?

PROFESSOR BRAND

Another galaxy.

COOPER

A wormhole isn't a naturally occurring phenomenon.

BRAND

Someone placed it there.

COOPER

'They'.

BRAND

And whoever 'They' are, they appear to be looking out for us – that wormhole lets us travel to other stars. It came along right as we needed it.

DOYLE

They've put potentially habitable worlds within our reach. Twelve, in fact from our initial probes.

COOPER

You sent probes into it?

PROFESSOR BRAND

We sent _people_ into it. Ten years ago.

COOPER

The Lazarus missions.

 _Professor Brand rises and moves to a_ MEMORIAL, _pointing_ –

PROFESSOR BRAND

Twelve possible worlds. Twelve Ranger launches carrying the bravest humans ever to live, led by the remarkable Dr Mann.

DOYLE

Each person's landing pod had life support for two years – but they could use hibernation to stretch that, making observations on organics over a decade or more. Their mission was to assess their world, and if it showed promise, send a signal, bed down for the long nap, and wait to be rescued.

COOPER

And if their world didn't show promise?

DOYLE

Hence the bravery.

COOPER

Because you don't have resources to visit all twelve.

DOYLE

No. Data transmission back through the wormhole is rudimentary, simple binary 'pings' on an annual basis to give some clue as to which worlds have potential. One system shows promise.

COOPER

One? Kind of a long shot.

BRAND

One system with _three_ potential worlds... no long shot.

COOPER

So if we find a new home, what then?

PROFESSOR BRAND

_That's_ the long shot. There's Plan A and there's Plan B. Did you notice anything strange about the launch chamber...

INT. LAUNCH FACILITY – MOMENTS LATER

| 45
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_Cooper cocks his head, puzzling at the_ VAST _chamber_... _there are structures built_ SIDEWAYS _around the_ CURVED _walls_...

COOPER

This whole facility... it's a _vehicle?_ A space station?

PROFESSOR BRAND

Both. We've been working on it, and others like it for twenty-five years. Plan A.

COOPER

How does it get off the Earth?

PROFESSOR BRAND

Those first gravitational anomalies changed everything – suddenly we knew that harnessing gravity was real. So I started working on the theory – and we start building this station.

COOPER

But you haven't solved it, yet.

PROFESSOR BRAND

That's why there's a Plan B.

INT. LABORATORY – MOMENTS LATER

| 46
---|---

TECHNICIANS _work the complex, high-tech lab. Professor Brand and Cooper follow Brand to a large glass and steel apparatus_.

BRAND

The problem is gravity. How to get a viable amount of human life off this planet. This is one way – Plan B. A population bomb. Almost five thousand fertilized eggs, weighing in at under 900 kilos.

COOPER

How could you raise them?

BRAND

With equipment on board we incubate the first ten. After that, with surrogacy, the growth becomes exponential – within thirty years we might have a colony of hundreds. The real difficulty of colonization is genetic diversity, ( _Indicates vials_.) This takes care of that.

_Cooper looks at the equipment. Unenthusiastic._

COOPER

We just give up on the people here?

PROFESSOR BRAND

That's why Plan A's a lot more fun.

INT. PROFESSOR BRAND'S OFFICE | 47
---|---

_Professor Brand watches Cooper as he gazes over the vast tracts of_ ALGEBRA _covering every available surface_.

COOPER

Where have you got to?

PROFESSOR BRAND

Almost there.

COOPER

Almost? You're asking me to hang everything on an 'almost'?

 _Professor Brand moves close to Cooper_.

PROFESSOR BRAND

I'm asking you to trust me.

 _Cooper looks at the passion in Professor Brand's eyes._

COOPER

All those years of training – you never told me.

PROFESSOR BRAND

We can't always be open about everything, Coop, even if we want to be. What can you tell your children about this mission?

 _Cooper considers this. Uneasy._

PROFESSOR BRAND

Find us a new home. When you return, I'll have solved the problem of gravity. You have my word.

EXT. FARMHOUSE – LATE DAY

| 48
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_Donald, on the porch, gets to his feet as he sees Cooper's pickup approaching. The truck pulls up. Murph_ TEARS _past Grandpa into the house – Donald looks at Cooper, questioning._

INT. HALL OUTSIDE MURPH'S ROOM – CONTINUOUS

| 49
---|---

_Cooper tries to open the door, but Murph has stacked a desk and chair against it_ –

COOPER

Murph?

MURPH

Go! If you're leaving, just go!

EXT. PORCH – NIGHT | 50
---|---

_Donald looks out at the night, taking it all in_.

DONALD

This world never was enough for you, was it, Coop?

COOPER

I'm not gonna lie to you, Donald – heading out there is what I feel born to do and it excites me. That doesn't make it wrong.

 _Donald considers this. Turns to Cooper._

DONALD

It might. Don't trust the right thing done for the wrong reason. The 'why' of a thing? That's the foundation.

COOPER

( _sadly_ )

Well, the foundation's solid. ( _Gestures at landscape_.) We farmers sit here every year when the rains fail and say 'next year'. Next year ain't gonna save us. Nor the one after. This world's a treasure, Donald. But she's been telling us to leave for a while now. ( _Stares at the horizon_.) Mankind was born on Earth. It was never meant to die here.

_Donald considers this. Scoops the dust off the rail_.

DONALD

Tom'll be okay. But you have to make it right with Murph.

COOPER

I will.

DONALD

_Without_ making any promises you don't know you can keep.

_Cooper meets Donald's gaze. Looks away, nodding._

INT. MURPH'S BEDROOM – MORNING | 51
---|---

_Cooper's hand, reaching in, removes the chair from the desk, barricading the door. Murph is lying on the bed, turned away. Cooper pushes the desk back gently. Enters, quietly_.

COOPER

You have to talk to me.

 _Nothing_.

I have to fix this before I go.

 _Murph turns, tear-stained, angry cheeks blazing –_

MURPH

Then I'll keep it broken so you have to stay.

 _Cooper sits down on the bed next to Murph._

COOPER

After you kids came along, your mother said something I didn't really understand – she said, 'I look at the babies and I see myself as they'll remember me.' She said, 'It's as if we don't exist anymore, like we're ghosts, like now we're just there to be memories for our kids.' Now I realize – once we're parents, we're just the ghosts of our childrens' futures.

MURPH

You said ghosts don't exist.

COOPER

That's right. I can't be your ghost right now – I need to exist. Because they chose me. They chose me, Murph. You saw it.

 _Murph sits up. Points at the shelves. The gaps_.

MURPH

I figured out the message... ( _Opens her notebook_.) It was Morse code...

COOPER

Murph –

MURPH

One word. You know what it is?

 _Cooper shakes his head sadly. Murph holds out her notebook_ –

'STAY'. It says 'STAY', Dad.

COOPER

Oh, Murph.

MURPH

You don't believe me?! Look the books! Look at –

 _Cooper takes his daughter in his arms_...

COOPER

It's okay, it's okay...

 _Murph buries her head on Cooper's shoulder, sobbing_.

Murph, a father looks in his child's eyes and thinks – maybe it's them... maybe my child will save the world. And everyone, once a child, wants to look into their own dad's eyes and know he saw how they saved some little corner of their world. But, usually, by then, the father is gone.

MURPH

Like you will be.

 _Cooper looks at his daughter. Lies with head, not heart:_

COOPER

No. I'm coming back.

MURPH

When?

 _Cooper reaches into his pocket. Pulls out two_ WATCHES.

COOPER

One for you. One for me.

_Murph takes the watch, curious. Cooper holds up his watch_.

When I'm in hyper-sleep, or travel near the speed of light, or near a black hole, time will change for me. It'll run more slowly. When I get back we'll compare.

MURPH

Time will run differently for us?

COOPER

Yup. By the time I get back we might even be the same age. You and me. Imagine that...

 _Murph takes this in. Cooper sees he's made a mistake_.

Wait, Murph –

MURPH

You have no idea when you're coming back.

 _Cooper looks at his daughter_.

MURPH

No idea at all!

 _Murph_ THROWS _the watch_ – TURNS HER BACK.

COOPER

Don't make me leave like this.

 _Nothing_.

_Please_. I have to go now.

_Murph will not turn around. Cooper tries to rest his hand on the back of her head, but she shakes it off_.

COOPER

I love you, Murph. Forever. And I'm coming back.

 _Cooper walks slowly out_. A BOOK DROPS FROM THE SHELF. _Cooper turns to look at it. Then leaves_.

EXT. FARMHOUSE – MOMENTS LATER

| 52
---|---

_Cooper, mechanical, puts his small bag in the truck._

DONALD

How'd it go?

COOPER

Fine. It was fine.

 _Cooper turns to Tom. Hugs him. Tight enough for both kids_.

I love you, Tom.

TOM

Travel safe, Dad.

COOPER

( _indicates farm_ )

Look after our place, you hear?

TOM

Can I use your truck while you're gone?

COOPER

( _smiles_ )

I'll make sure they bring it back for you.

 _Cooper gets in. Starts the engine_.

Mind my kids for me, Donald.

 _Donald nods. Cooper pulls out_.

INT. MURPH'S BEDROOM – CONTINUOUS

| 53
---|---

_Murph jumps off the bed_ , GRABS _the watch,_ RUNS _downstairs_.

INT. PICKUP TRUCK – CONTINUOUS | 54
---|---

_As Cooper drives he lifts the blanket in the wheel-well where Murph hid last time. Nothing. And we hear a_ COUNTDOWN...

VOICE

( _O.S_.)

TEN... NINE...

EXT. FARMHOUSE – CONTINUOUS | 55
---|---

_Murph_ RACES _out of the house, watch in hand_ –

MURPH

Dad?! DAD?!

VOICE

( _V.O_.)

EIGHT... SEVEN...

 _But Cooper is a dust trail far down the road_.

VOICE

( _O.S_.)

SIX... FIVE...

 _Murph_ SOBS _as her grandpa puts his arms around her_...

INT./EXT. PICKUP TRUCK ON DUSTY PLAIN – CONTINUOUS

| 56
---|---

_As Cooper drives away tears roll down his cheeks_

VOICE

( _O.S_.)

FOUR... THREE... TWO... ONE...

INT. LAUNCH FACILITY – DAY

| 57
---|---

VOICE

( _O.S_.)

IGNITION.

FIRE SHOOTS FROM THE BASE OF THE ROCKET... _The rocket_ RISES _slowly from the pad, up into the sky_...

INT. RANGER COCKPIT – CONTINUOUS

| 58
---|---

_Cooper, in his space helmet, lets the_ FORCE _of the rocket vibrate through him_...

VOICE

( _O.S._ )

Stage one... SEPARATION.

 _Cooper starts to see the Earth's curve through the window_...

VOICE

( _O.S_.)

Stage two... SEPARATION.

 _And Cooper shakes loose the bonds of Earth_.

EXT. UPPER ATMOSPHERE – CONTINUOUS

| 59
---|---

_The rocket_ RIPS _upwards into the sky_.

INT. RANGER COCKPIT – CONTINUOUS

| 60
---|---

_Cooper glances around the vibrating, cramped cockpit – Brand, Doyle, Romilly, Tars. Tars spots Cooper's glance –_

TARS

All here, Mr Cooper. Plenty of slaves for my robot colony.

 _Cooper looks at him, confused_.

DOYLE

They gave him a humor setting so he'd fit in with his unit better. He thinks it relaxes us.

COOPER

A massive, sarcastic robot. What a great idea.

TARS

I have a cue light I can turn on when I'm joking, if you like.

COOPER

Probably help.

TARS

You can use it to find your way back to the ship after I blow you out the airlock.

 _Tars looks at Cooper. A beat. An LED turns on. Cooper shakes his head_.

COOPER

What's your humor setting, Tars?

TARS

One hundred percent.

 _Cooper turns to the instruments_ –

COOPER

Take it to seventy-five, please.

EARTH ORBIT – CONTINUOUS

| 61
---|---

_The Rangers streak across the Earth, settle into a low orbit._

INT. RANGER COCKPIT – CONTINUOUS

| 62
---|---

_Quiet. Cooper stares down at the continents sliding by. He looks over at Brand who is doing the same, abstracted._

COOPER

We'll get back.

 _She stares at the land. The oceans._

It's hard. Leaving everything. My kids... your father...

BRAND

We're going to spend a lot of time together...

COOPER

( _nods_ )

We should learn to talk.

BRAND

And when not to. ( _Off look._ ) Just trying to be honest.

COOPER

Maybe you don't need to be _that_ honest. ( _Turns to Tars_.) Tars, what's your honesty parameter?

_Tars_ DISENGAGES _from the floor and_ MOVES _to the rear airlock –_

TARS

Ninety percent.

COOPER

_Ninety?_ What kind of robot are you?

TARS

Absolute honesty isn't always the most diplomatic, or safe form of communication with emotional beings.

 _Cooper turns to Brand. Shrugs._

COOPER

Ninety percent honesty it is, then.

 _Brand looks at Cooper. Can't help smiling._

VOICE

( _over radio_ )

Sixty seconds out...

EXT. EARTH ORBIT – CONTINUOUS

| 63
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_The Rangers approach a_ RING MODULE, _fire retro-thrusters and slide gracefully into the center of the ring – the last piece of a large modular craft: the_ U.S.S. ENDURANCE. _Four_ LANDERS ( _including the Rangers_ ) _are nestled inside the ring module._

INT. RING MODULE, ENDURANCE – MOMENTS LATER

| 64
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_Brand, Doyle and Romilly, following Tars_ , FLOAT _through the cramped cabins, powering up. Tars powers up a second articulated machine_ , CASE.

DOYLE

Cooper, you should have control.

INT. COCKPIT, ENDURANCE (RANGER) – CONTINUOUS

| 65
---|---

_Cooper checks instruments –_

COOPER

Talking fine. Ready to spin?

INT. RING MODULE, ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS

| 66
---|---

_Doyle and Romilly are strapped in – Brand grabs a handhold_ –

INT. COCKPIT, ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS

| 67
---|---

BRAND

( _over radio_ )

All set.

 _Cooper hits a switch_...

EXT. EARTH ORBIT – CONTINUOUS

| 68
---|---

_Thrusters silently fire on the Endurance. It starts_ ROTATING.

INT. RING MODULE, ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS

| 69
---|---

_The crew members settle in as gravity is established. Romilly is clearly struggling to find his sea legs in the rotating ship._

BRAND

You okay there?

ROMILLY

Yup. Just need a little time –

BRAND

There should be Dramamine in the hab pod.

INT. RING MODULE, ENDURANCE – LATER | 70
---|---

_The crew listen to Professor Brand over the video link_ –

PROFESSOR BRAND

( _on screen_ )

I miss you already. Amelia, be safe. Give my regards to Dr Mann.

BRAND

I will, Dad.

PROFESSOR BRAND

( _on screen_ )

Things look good for your trajectory. We're calculating two years to Saturn.

ROMILLY

That's a lot of Dramamine...

 _Cooper thinks about two years. What it means to his kids._

COOPER

( _on screen_ )

Keep an eye on my family, sir. Specially Murph. She's a smart one.

PROFESSOR BRAND

( _on screen_ )

We'll be waiting when you get back...

INT. COCKPIT, ENDURANCE – LATER

| 71
---|---

_Cooper and Doyle flick switches and check instruments_ –

PROFESSOR BRAND

( _V.O_.)

... A little older. A little wiser. But happy to see you...

INT. RING MODULE, ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS

| 72
---|---

_Brand, Romilly, Tars and Case strap in_.

PROFESSOR BRAND

( _V.O_.)

'Do not go gentle into that good night...'

INT. COCKPIT, ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS

| 73
---|---

_Cooper turns to Doyle_. HITS _the thrusters_.

EXT. EARTH ORBIT – CONTINUOUS

| 74
---|---

_Endurance's main engines_ FIRE. _The craft_ PUSHES _out of orbit_ –

PROFESSOR BRAND

( _V.O_.)

'Rage, rage against the dying of the light.' God speed, Endurance.

 _The craft accelerates away from Earth._

INT. RING MODULE, ENDURANCE – DAY | 75
---|---

_The crew sets up their_ CRYO-BEDS. _Cooper looks out at the diminishing Earth floating in the void. Brand joins him._

COOPER

So alone.

BRAND

We've got each other – Dr Mann had it worse.

COOPER

( _points at Earth_ )

I meant _them_. Look at that perfect planet. We're not gonna find another one like her.

BRAND

No. This isn't like looking for a new condo – the human race is going to be _adrift_... desperate for a rock to cling to while they catch their breaths. We have to find that rock. Our three prospects are at the edge of what might sustain human life.

_Brand shows him a blurry image of a dark blue planet_.

Laura Miller's first. She started our biology program.

 _She shows him a red world, just a tiny dot._

And Wolf Edmunds is _here_.

_Cooper hears something in her voice._

COOPER

Who's Edmunds?

BRAND

( _fondly_ )

Wolf's a particle physicist.

COOPER

None of them had family?

BRAND

No attachments. My father insisted. They knew the odds against ever seeing another human being. I'm hoping we surprise at least three of them.

COOPER

Tell me about Dr Mann.

 _Brand replaces the screen image for a grainy, white orb._

BRAND

Remarkable. The best of us. My father's protégé. He inspired eleven people to follow him on the loneliest journey in human history. Scientists, explorers... That's what I love – out there we face great odds. Death. But not evil.

COOPER

Nature can't be evil?

BRAND

Formidable, frightening – not evil. Is a tiger evil because it rips a gazelle to pieces?

COOPER

Just what we bring with us, then.

BRAND

This crew represents the best aspects of humanity.

COOPER

Even me?

 _Brand looks at him. Smiles._

BRAND

Hey, we agreed, ninety percent.

 _Brand moves to her cryo-bed. Cooper looks out at space._

BRAND

Don't stay up too late. We can't spare the resources.

COOPER

Hey, I've been waiting a long time to be up here –

BRAND

You are _literally_ wasting your breath.

_Cooper nods at her. Joins Tars._

COOPER

Show me the trajectory again.

TARS

Eight months to Mars, then counter-orbital slingshot around –

 _Brand's cryo-bed darkens_.

COOPER

( _whisper_ )

Tars? Was Dr Brand –

TARS

Why are you whispering? You can't wake them.

COOPER

Were Dr Brand and Edmunds... close?

TARS

I wouldn't know.

COOPER

Is that ninety percent, or ten percent 'wouldn't know'?

TARS

I also have a discretion setting.

COOPER

So I gather... ( _Rises_.) But not a poker face.

_Tars watches Cooper head for the comm. station. He sits down to record a message. Awkward. Stuck. He dives in_ –

Hey, guys. I'm about settle down for the long nap, so I figured I'd send you an update...

EXT. OUTER SPACE – CONTINUOUS | 76
---|---

_The Endurance slips away from the small blue planet_...

COOPER

( _V.O_.)

The Earth looks amazing from here... you can't see any of the dust –

EXT. CORNFIELDS – DAY | 77
---|---

_A line of dust slides across the shimmering horizon._

COOPER

( _V.O_.)

Hope you guys are doing great. This should get to you okay...

EXT. FRONT PORCH, FARMHOUSE – DAY | 78
---|---

_Donald watches two approaching vehicles kick up dust._

COOPER

( _V.O._ )

Professor Brand said he'd make sure of it. Guess I'll say good night.

 _Donald recognizes Cooper's truck... Murph_ BURSTS _out of the house –_

MURPH

( _quiet_ )

Is it him?

DONALD

I don't think so, Murph.

 _Donald rises to meet the truck. Professor Brand gets out._

PROFESSOR BRAND

You must be Donald. Hello, Murph.

MURPH

Why're you in my dad's truck?

PROFESSOR BRAND

He wanted me to bring it for your brother.

 _Silence. Professor Brand reaches into his briefcase._

He sent you a message –

 _Murph_ TURNS _and goes back into the house. Donald takes a disc from Professor Brand._

DONALD

Pretty upset with him for leaving.

PROFESSOR BRAND

If you record messages, I'll transmit them to Cooper.

 _Donald nods. Professor Brand looks up at the house._

Murph's a bright spark. Maybe I could fan the flame.

DONALD

She's already making fools of her teachers. She should come make a fool out of you.

 _Professor Brand smiles. Donald looks up into the blue._

Where are they?

PROFESSOR BRAND

Heading towards Mars...

EXT. MARS – DAY | 79
---|---

_The Endurance streaks away from Mars_...

PROFESSOR BRAND

( _V.O_.)

Next time we hear from Cooper, they'll be coming up on Saturn.

EXT. SATURN – DAY | 80
---|---

_The Endurance settles into an orbit around the ringed giant._

TOM

( _O.S_.)

But they said I can start advanced agriculture a year early...

INT. COMMUNICATIONS BOOTH, ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS | 81
---|---

_Cooper, blanket around his shoulders, watches a highly compressed video of Tom_ –

TOM

Got to go, Dad. Hope you're safe up there.

 _Tom makes way for Donald:_

DONALD

I'm sorry, Coop, I asked Murph to say hi, but she's stubborn as her old man. I'll try again next time, stay safe.

 _The video cuts out. Cooper gets up, puts a pair of_ EAR BUDS _in his ears and heads into –_

OMITTED | 82
---|---
|
INT. HAB POD, RING MODULE – LATER | 82A

_Cooper enters. Romilly is staring out the window_.

COOPER

You good, Rom?

 _Romilly looks at Cooper._

ROMILLY

It gets to me, Coop. This tin can. Radiation, vacuum outside – everything wants us dead. We're just not supposed to be here.

 _Cooper looks at him, sympathetic._

COOPER

We're explorers, Rom, on the greatest ocean of all.

 _Romilly bangs on the side of the ship._

ROMILLY

Millimeters of aluminium. That's it. And nothing within millions of miles that won't kill us in seconds.

COOPER

A lot of the finest solo yachtsmen couldn't swim. They knew if they went overboard that was it, anyway. This is no different.

 _Romilly considers this. Cooper passes him his ear buds –_

COOPER

Here –

 _And the sounds of a_ THUNDERSTORM _wash over Romilly, sounds that take us to_...

EXT. SPACE – CONTINUOUS | 82B
---|---

_The Endurance is a tiny speck before the ringed gassy giant._

INT. NAVIGATION, RING MODULE, ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS  | 82C
---|---

_Cooper looks over Doyle's shoulder – he's flicking through images of star fields, distorted as if through a fish-eye lens._

COOPER

From the relay probe?

DOYLE

It was in orbit around the wormhole – each time it swung around we got images of the other side of the foreign galaxy.

COOPER

Like swinging a periscope around?

DOYLE

Exactly.

COOPER

So we've got a pretty good idea what we're gonna find on the other side?

DOYLE

Navigationally.

 _Brand approaches._

BRAND

We'll be coming up on the wormhole in less than forty-five. Suit up.

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – LATER | 83
---|---

_Cooper straps in, peering out at the inky blackness past Saturn. Romilly joins him there, excited._

COOPER

( _over radio_ )

Strap in – I'm killing the spin...

EXT. SATURN – CONTINUOUS  | 84
---|---

_As the Endurance streaks past Saturn, it stops rotating, headed for a_ DISTORTED BLUR _of stars._

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS | 85
---|---

ROMILLY

There!

 _He points at the_ SPHERICAL _blur of stars_.

ROMILLY

That's it! That's the wormhole!

COOPER

Say it, don't spray it, Rom.

ROMILLY

Cooper, this is a _portal_ , cutting through spacetime – ( _Points_.) We're seeing into the heart of a galaxy so far away we don't even know where it is in the universe.

_Cooper stares at the wormhole as they approach: a massive spherical lens into another galaxy_.

COOPER

It's a _sphere_.

ROMILLY

Of course it is. You thought it would be just a hole?

COOPER

No... well, in all the illustrations –

 _Romilly grabs a piece of paper, draws two points, far apart –_

ROMILLY

In the illustrations they're trying to show you how it works –

 _He pokes a hole in one point with his pen_...

So they say 'You wanna go from here to there but it's too far? A wormhole bends space like this...'

 _He folds the paper over and jams the pen through the second point, connecting them._

ROMILLY

'So you can take a shortcut across a higher dimension.' But to show that, they've turned three-dimensional space... ( _Gestures around_.) Into two dimensions. ( _Hold up paper._ ) Which turns the wormhole into two dimensions... a circle. ( _Indicates hole in paper_.) But what's a circle in three dimensions?

COOPER

A sphere.

ROMILLY

Exactly. ( _Points out window_.) It's a _spherical hole_...

_Cooper marvels at the concept. And at the looming sphere_...

And who put it here? Who do we thank?

COOPER

I'm not thanking anyone till we get through it in one piece.

OMITTED  | 86
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|
EXT. WORMHOLE – CONTINUOUS | 87

_As the Endurance_ SWINGS _around the wormhole, the view of the foreign galaxy_ SWINGS _in opposition, like an_ ENORMOUS SHAVING MIRROR... _it's extremely disorienting._

_The Endurance fires retro-thrusters to slow, descending towards the wormhole_...

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS  | 88
---|---

_Cooper is at the controls. Doyle is next to him._

COOPER

Any trick to this?

DOYLE

No one knows.

COOPER

( _glances at Doyle_ )

But the others made it, right?

DOYLE

At least some of them.

COOPER

Thanks for the confidence boost.

 _Cooper stares down into the vast lens of the wormhole_.

Everybody ready to say goodbye to our solar system?

ROMILLY

( _over radio_ )

To our galaxy...

 _Cooper pushes the sticks forward, nosing down and letting gravity_ PULL _them towards the center of the wormhole_...

EXT. WORMHOLE – CONTINUOUS | 89
---|---

_The Endurance reaches the surface of the wormhole. As it crosses the threshold it becomes apparent that_ THERE IS NO SURFACE... _the craft simply passes into the space of the distortion, its own warped reflection flickering towards it as if the ship were leaning into a giant shaving mirror_...

INT. COCKPIT – CONTINUOUS | 90
---|---

_Cooper and Doyle stare at the distortion of space ahead_...

INT. RING MODULE, ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS | 91
---|---

_Brand and Romilly look out at reflections bordering the bulk – a space beyond our three dimensions_...

EXT. WORMHOLE – CONTINUOUS | 92
---|---

_The Endurance moves through a_ TUNNEL OF DISTORTED REFLECTIONS, _seeming to gather more and more dizzying speed, but getting no closer to the far mouth, as if on an accelerating treadmill_ –

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS | 93
---|---

_Cooper, awestruck, checks his instruments –_

DOYLE

They won't help you in here. We're cutting through the bulk – space beyond our three dimensions... ( _Checks his equipment_.) All we can do is record and observe.

INT. RING MODULE, ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS | 94
---|---

_Brand_ JUMPS – _a shape in the air in front of her is_ BENDING, _warping to form ripples in spacetime inside the cabin – Romilly_ STARES _at the distortion_ –

ROMILLY

What is that?!

 _Brand watches the distortion move towards her_ –

BRAND

I think – I think it's _them_.

ROMILLY

Distorting spacetime? Don't –!

 _Brand is reaching out towards the warped space – it_ MOVES _towards her_ , DISTORTING _her hand – but Brand is not in pain_...

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS | 95
---|---

_Cooper and Doyle watch the tunnel mouth_ STREAK _towards them, a mass of stars and nebulae_ GROWING...

EXT. FAR SIDE OF THE WORMHOLE – CONTINUOUS | 96
---|---

_The Endurance slides out of the wormhole_.

INT. COCKPIT, LANDER – CONTINUOUS | 97
---|---

_Suddenly, the instruments are chirping_ –

DOYLE

We're... _here_.

_Cooper and Doyle look out at the new galaxy_...

INT. RING MODULE, ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS | 98
---|---

_Brand's hand is back to normal. She stares at her fingers._

ROMILLY

What was that?

 _Brand flexes her fingers, delighted_.

BRAND

The first handshake.

EXT. FAR SIDE OF THE WORMHOLE – CONTINUOUS | 99
---|---

_The cosmos is more_ CROWDED _here_ – STAR _upon_ STAR, NEBULAE...

INT. RING MODULE, ENDURANCE – LATER | 100
---|---

_Doyle calls up data on a workstation –_

DOYLE

The lost communications came through –

BRAND

How?

DOYLE

The relay on this side cached them.

 _Doyle flicks through data_ –

Years of basic data – no real surprises. Miller's site has kept pinging thumbs up, as has Mann... but Edmunds went down, three years ago.

BRAND

Transmitter failure?

DOYLE

Maybe. He was sending the thumbs up right till it went dark.

ROMILLY

Miller still looks good?

 _Doyle nods. Romilly is drawing on a whiteboard_ –

She's coming up fast... with one complication – the planet is much closer to Gargantua than we thought.

COOPER

Gargantua?

DOYLE

A _very_ large black hole. Miller's and Dr Mann's planets orbit it.

BRAND

And Miller's is on the horizon?

ROMILLY

A basketball around the hoop. Landing there takes us dangerously close. A black hole that big has a _huge_ gravitational pull.

_Cooper glances around the concerned faces_ –

COOPER

Look, I can swing around that neutron star to decelerate –

BRAND

It's not that, it's _time_. That gravity will slow our clock compared to Earth's. _Drastically_.

COOPER

How bad?

ROMILLY

Every hour we spend on that planet will be maybe... _seven years_ back on Earth.

COOPER

Jesus –

ROMILLY

That's relativity, folks.

COOPER

We can't drop down there without considering the consequences.

DOYLE

Cooper, we have a mission –

COOPER

That's easy for you to say – you don't have anyone back on Earth waiting for you, do you?

DOYLE

You have no idea what's easy for me.

BRAND

Cooper's right. We have to think of time as a resource, just like oxygen and food. Going down there is going to cost us.

 _Doyle steps up to the screen, points out three planets._

DOYLE

Look, Dr Mann's data is promising, but we won't get there for months. Edmunds is even further. Miller hasn't sent much, but what she _has_ sent is promising – water, organics...

BRAND

You don't find that every day.

DOYLE

No, you do not. So think about the resources it would take to come _back_ here...

_They look at each other, considering. Cooper turns to Romilly_ –

COOPER

How far off the planet do we have to stay to be out of the time shift?

 _Romilly indicates a spot on his white board._

ROMILLY

Just back from the cusp.

COOPER

So we track a wider orbit of Gargantua, parallel with Miller's planet but a little further out... take a Ranger down, grab Miller and her samples, debrief and analyze back here.

BRAND

That'll work.

COOPER

No time for monkey business down there – Tars, you'd better wait up here. Who else?

ROMILLY

If we're talking about a couple _years_ – I'd use that time to work on gravity – observations from the wormhole. That's gold to Professor Brand.

COOPER

Okay. Tars, factor an orbit of Gargantua – minimal thrusting – conserve fuel – but stay in range.

TARS

Don't worry, I wouldn't leave you behind... ( _Swivels around_.) Dr Brand.

_She smiles at him._

EXT. BLACK HOLE, GARGANTUA – DAY | 101
---|---

_A black sphere sucking light from the cosmos, visible by its distorting effect on the light of stars behind it – squeezed into a_ GLOWING, CURVED HORIZON. _The Endurance approaches_.

INT. RANGER COCKPIT – DAY | 102
---|---

_Cooper looks out at Gargantua. Doyle peers over his shoulder_

DOYLE

A literal heart of darkness...

 _Brand points to a small glowing planet nearer the blackness._

BRAND

There's Miller's planet.

 _Cooper turns to Case, the machine riding shotgun._

COOPER

Ready?

CASE

Yup.

COOPER

Don't say much, do you?

CASE

Tars talks plenty for both of us.

 _Cooper chuckles as he throws a final switch_ –

COOPER

Detach –

EXT. ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS | 103
---|---

_The Ranger_ DETACHES _from the ring module, like an X-1 from a B-29_ , FIRES _retro-thrusters to slow and_... DROPS –

EXT. THE BLACK HOLE, GARGANTUA – DAY | 104
---|---

_The Ranger_ SHOOTS _down towards Gargantua_ –

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS | 105
---|---

_Cooper is in awe at their acceleration_ –

COOPER

( _into radio_ )

Romilly, you reading these forces?

INT. RING MODULE, ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS | 106
---|---

_Romilly studies data, marveling._

ROMILLY

Unbelievable. ( _Looks out at Gargantua_.) If we could see the collapsed star inside, the singularity, we'd solve gravity.

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS | 107
---|---

_Cooper looks down at the eerie blackness sliding beneath_ –

COOPER

No way to get anything from it?

ROMILLY

( _over radio_ )

Nothing escapes that horizon. Not even light. The answer's there, just no way to see it.

EXT. GARGANTUA – CONTINUOUS | 108
---|---

_The Ranger looks tiny as it_ STREAKS _over the blackness, high above the_ GLOWING HORIZON. _It is approaching Miller's planet, a gleaming dark-blue world_...

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS | 109
---|---

_Cooper studies his trajectory._

CASE

This is fast for atmospheric entry. Should we use the thrusters to slow?

COOPER

We're gonna use the Ranger's aerodynamics to save the fuel.

CASE

_Air brake?_

COOPER

Wanna get in fast, don't we?

CASE

Brand, Doyle, get ready.

EXT. MILLER'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS | 110
---|---

_The Ranger_ STREAKS _down towards the planet. It starts to encounter the_ STRATOSPHERE –

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS | 111
---|---

_The craft starts to_ HOWL _and_ SHAKE. _Cooper studies the curving horizon, concentrating_ –

CASE

We should ease –

COOPER

Hands where I can see them, Case! Only time I ever went down was a machine easing at the wrong moment –

CASE

A little caution –

COOPER

Can get you killed, same as reckless.

DOYLE

Cooper! Too damn fast!

COOPER

I got this.

 _Cooper squeezes the shaking controls with white knuckles_ –

CASE

Should I disable the feedback?

COOPER

No! No, I need to feel the air...

EXT. STRATOSPHERE, MILLER'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS | 112
---|---

_The Ranger glows_ WHITE HOT, _slicing through_ FLAT CLOUDS –

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS | 113
---|---

_Cooper peers out at the razor-like layers of cloud –_

COOPER

Do we have a fix on the beacon?

CASE

Got it. Can you maneuver?

COOPER

Gotta shave more speed. I'll try and spiral down on it –

 _Doyle looks at Brand, nervous. She takes a breath._

EXT. MILLER'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS | 114
---|---

_The Ranger_ CUTS _through cloud formations_ , BURSTING _out into_ CLEARER AIR, HIGH ABOVE AN ENDLESS OCEAN –

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS | 115
---|---

_The crew peer at_ SPARKLING WATER, _streaking below them_ –

DOYLE

Just water.

BRAND

The stuff of life...

CASE

Twelve hundred meters out.

 _Cooper_ BANKS _sharply, eases down_.

BRAND

It's shallow. Feet deep...

EXT. MILLER'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS | 116
---|---

_The Ranger is low now, kicking up backwash_ –

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS | 117
---|---

CASE

Seven hundred meters...

 _Cooper peers ahead_ –

COOPER

Wait for it...

CASE

Five hundred meters...

 _Cooper_ YANKS _the stick_ –

COOPER

Fire!

EXT. MILLER'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS | 118
---|---

_The Ranger's retro-rockets_ FIRE – _killing the craft's speed just feet from the surface. Water_ SPRAYS UP _as the Ranger_ SLEWS _diagonally, gear is lowered, the Ranger drops, its landing gear holding it just above the shallow water_.

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS | 119
---|---

_Everyone_ BOUNCES _with the impact. Then_ BREATHES.

BRAND

_Very_ graceful.

COOPER

No. But it was very _efficient_. ( _Looks at them_.) What're you waiting for? Go!

_Brand and Doyle hurry out of their harnesses, helmets on. Case moves to the hatch. With a_ CRACK, _the hatch opens and_ LIGHT _and_ SPRAY _whip inside_...

EXT. MILLER'S PLANET – MOMENTS LATER (DAY) | 120
---|---

_Case climbs quickly from the craft, knee deep in the water. Brand and Doyle follow. Case_ TRACKS _the beacon._

CASE

This way, about two hundred meters.

 _Brand and Doyle peer into the distance. Smooth, ankle-deep water to the horizon, where a distant_ MOUNTAIN RANGE LOOMS. _They start splashing towards it in their heavy spacesuits_...

DOYLE

( _panting_ )

The gravity's punishing...

BRAND

Floating through space too long?

CASE

One hundred and thirty percent Earth gravity.

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS | 121
---|---

_Cooper listens to their chatter_ , IMPATIENT.

COOPER

( _under his breath_ )

Come on...

EXT. MILLER'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS  | 122
---|---

_Doyle falls behind. Brand pushes on. Ahead, Case stops_.

CASE

Should be here.

 _Brand joins him, searching the shallows for some sign of Miller's mission. She looks up, confused._

BRAND

If the signal's coming from here –

 _Case_ DROPS _to his knees_ THRASHING _under the water, like a bear fishing. Doyle arrives_ –

DOYLE

What's he doing?

INT. COCKPIT, LANDER – CONTINUOUS | 123
---|---

_Cooper notices something. In the distance. The mountains_ –

EXT. MILLER'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS | 124
---|---

_Case_ WRENCHES _a piece of_ DAMAGED EQUIPMENT _from the sea bed_.

BRAND

Her beacon...

 _Case starts lugging the beacon to the Ranger._

DOYLE

Wreckage. Where's the rest...?

BRAND

Towards the mountains!

 _She starts moving fast towards some_ FLOATING OBJECTS.

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS | 125
---|---

_Cooper is staring out at the horizon –_

COOPER

Those aren't mountains...

EXT. MILLER'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS | 126
---|---

_Brand pauses_ –

COOPER

( _over radio_ )

They're _waves_ –

_Brand looks closer – the 'mountains' are moving, tiny lines of white sea spray are blowing from the tops_...

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS | 127
---|---

_Cooper looks the other direction_... _there is a_ MOUNTAIN WAVE BEARING DOWN ON THE SHIP...

EXT. MILLER'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS | 128
---|---

_Brand is searching the wreckage_ –.

COOPER

( _over radio_ )

Brand, get back here!

BRAND

We need the recorder –

 _Doyle looks from Brand to Case, who is loading the beacon. Beyond him Doyle sees the mountain wave approaching_ –

DOYLE

Case, go get her!

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS | 129
---|---

_Cooper hits the dash, frustrated._

COOPER

Dammit! Brand, get back here!

EXT. MILLER'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS | 130
---|---

_Brand sloshes along, checking_ DEBRIS –

BRAND

We can't leave without her data –

COOPER

( _over radio_ )

_You don't have time!_

_Case is back at Doyle._

DOYLE

Go, go!

 _Case takes off towards Brand, who is trying to lift a piece of equipment from the water. She drops it and moves on_ –

EXT. RANGER – CONTINUOUS | 131
---|---

_Cooper swings open the hatch, stands in the doorway, peering out at the approaching mountain waves – turns back to Brand_ –

COOPER

Get back here! Now!

 _Brand has pulled something heavy from the wreckage – she_ SLIPS, _the wreckage_ PINNING _her down_...

_She looks back at the Ranger – sees the mountain wave_ THOUSANDS OF FEET HIGH ALMOST UPON THEM –

BRAND

Cooper, go! Go! I can't make it!

 _Cooper looks at Case_ RACING _towards her_ –

COOPER

Get up, Brand!

BRAND

GO! GET OUT OF HERE!

 _Case_ THROWS _her onto his back and starts running. Doyle stands, mesmerized by the sheer liquid mountain face_...

COOPER

Doyle! Come on! Case has her!

 _Doyle turns, starts sloshing back, the water_ RUNNING _against his ankles now_... _Two hundred yards behind, Case_ POUNDS _through_ _the shallows, Brand on his back_ –

_Cooper looks up at the_ EVER CLOSER MOUNTAIN WAVE – _jumps inside_.

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS | 132
---|---

_Cooper powers up, as the wall of liquid fills his view._

COOPER

Come on, come on...

 _He sees the water right upon them_ – RUNS _back to the hatch. Doyle is at the foot of the ladder, Case_ RUNNING FAST.

DOYLE

Go!

 _Case_ JUMPS _up the ladder_ , THROWS _Brand inside_ – TURNS _for Doyle. The Ranger_ TILTS, RISES – DOYLE IS RIPPED FROM CASE'S HAND – WATER RAGES ACROSS THE OPEN HATCH –

COOPER

Shut the hatch!

 _Case shuts the hatch. Cooper is throwing switches_ –

COOPER

Power down! Power down! We have to ride it out! ( _To Brand, furious_.) We are not prepared for this!

EXT. MILLER'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS | 133
---|---

_Doyle is_ DRAGGED _under and away. The Ranger is_ SUCKED SIDEWAYS _up the face of the mountain_ –

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS | 134
---|---

_Brand and Cooper are thrown across the cockpit. Case_ GRABS _Brand, pulls her into her seat – Cooper holds on as the craft_ ROLLS _and_ ROLLS –

EXT. MILLER'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS | 135
---|---

_The Ranger reaches the top of the wave, rocks upright_ –

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS | 136
---|---

_Cooper drops into his seat as the water pours off the canopy_ –

EXT. MILLER'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS | 137
---|---

_The Ranger tilts over the backside of the wave_ , SURFING _for a second then_ PITCHING FORWARD – TUMBLING DOWN 8,000 FEET...

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS | 138
---|---

_They hang on for dear life_ , THRASHED MERCILESSLY –

EXT. MILLER'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS | 139
---|---

_The Ranger comes_ AGROUND _as the wave leaves it behind_...

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS | 140
---|---

_The craft comes to rest. Cooper jumps to the controls, powers up the electrics. The engines won't respond_ –

EXT. RANGER – CONTINUOUS | 141
---|---

_The gear_ LIFTS _the Ranger. Water_ FLOODS _out_ –

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS | 142
---|---

_Cooper tries the engines again. Nothing._

CASE

Too waterlogged. Let it drain.

COOPER

( _hits console_ )

GODDAMN!

BRAND

I told you to leave me.

COOPER

And I told you to get your ass back here! Difference is, only one of us was thinking about the mission –

BRAND

Cooper, you were thinking about getting home – I was trying to do the right thing!

COOPER

Tell that to Doyle.

 _Quiet. Cooper looks down at the clock. Bitter_.

How long to drain, Case?

CASE

Forty-five to an hour.

 _Cooper shakes his head. Pulls his helmet off._

COOPER

The stuff of life, huh? What's this gonna cost us, Brand?

BRAND

A lot. Decades.

 _Cooper rubs his face. Mind reeling. Trying to breathe._

COOPER

What happened to Miller?

BRAND

Judging by the wreckage, she was broken up by a wave soon after impact.

COOPER

How could the wreckage still be together after all these years?

BRAND

Because of the time slippage. On this planet's time, she landed here just hours ago. She might've only died minutes ago.

 _Case indicates the beacon_.

CASE

The data Doyle received was just the initial status, echoing endlessly.

 _Cooper takes this in. Breathes hard. Takes off his gloves._

COOPER

We're not prepared for this, Brand. You're a bunch of eggheads without the survival skills of a boy-scout troop.

BRAND

We got this far on our brains – farther than any humans in history –

COOPER

Not far enough. And we're stuck here till there won't be anyone left on Earth to save –

BRAND

I'm counting every second, same as you, Cooper.

 _Cooper takes this in. They're in the same boat._

COOPER

Don't you have some clever way we jump into a black hole and get back the years?

 _She shakes her head, dismissive._

COOPER

Don't just shake your head at me –!

BRAND

Time is relative – it can stretch and squeeze – but it can't run backwards. The only thing that can move across dimensions like time is _gravity_.

COOPER

( _thinks_ )

The _beings_ who led us here... they communicate through gravity...

_Brand nods._

Could they be talking to us from the future?

BRAND

( _considers_ )

Maybe...

COOPER

Well, if _they_ can –

BRAND

Look, Cooper, they're creatures of at least five dimensions – to _them_ time may be just another physical dimension. To _them_ the past might be a canyon they can climb into and the future a mountain they can can climb up... but to _us_ it's not, okay?

_Brand pulls her helmet off. Looks Cooper in the eyes_.

BRAND

I'm sorry, Cooper. I screwed up. But you knew about relativity.

COOPER

My daughter was ten. I couldn't explain Einstein's theories before I left.

BRAND

Could you tell her you were going to save the world?

COOPER

No. I wasn't much of a parent, but I understood the most important thing – let your kids feel _safe_. Which rules out telling a ten-year-old that the world's ending.

CASE

Cooper?

 _Case is pointing out at another_ MOUNTAIN RANGE.

COOPER

How long for the engines?

CASE

A minute or two –

COOPER

We don't have it!

 _The mountain wave is approaching. Cooper tries the engines_ –

EXT. RANGER – CONTINUOUS | 143
---|---

_The rockets_ COUGH _and steam_...

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS | 144
---|---

_Cooper tries the engines again. Close. But no ignition_.

COOPER

Helmets on!

_The wave is upon them_...

COOPER

Blow our cabin oxygen through the main thrusters. We'll spark it –

 _Case hits a button – a_ HISS _and_ SHRIEK _of gas escaping_... _Brand seals her helmet just as the cockpit_ DEPRESSURIZES –

COOPER

Come on, now...

 _Cooper hits the engines – they_ BLAST TO LIFE –

EXT. RANGER – CONTINUOUS | 145
---|---

_A fiery_ BLAST _sends the Ranger clear of the mountain wave._

_Down below, Doyle's body lies in the shallows, about to be swept up into the next rush of water_...

INT. RING MODULE, ENDURANCE – DAY | 146
---|---

_Romilly watches as Cooper and Brand enter the Endurance._

BRAND

Hello, Rom.

ROMILLY

I've waited years.

COOPER

How many years?

ROMILLY

By now... it must be –

TARS

Twenty-three years...

 _Cooper's head lowers._

TARS

... four months, eight days.

 _Cooper turns away._
ROMILLY

Doyle?

 _Brand's eyes flicker down. She shakes her head. She grasps Romilly's hands, looks up into his eyes, vulnerable_ –

BRAND

I thought I was prepared. I knew all the theory. Reality's different.

ROMILLY

And Miller?

BRAND

There's nothing here for us.

 _Brand looks at Romilly's wrinkles. His greying beard._

BRAND

Why didn't you sleep?

ROMILLY

I did a couple of stretches. But I stopped believing you were coming back, and something seems wrong about dreaming your life away. I learned what I could from studying the black hole, but I couldn't send anything to your father. We've been receiving, but nothing gets out.

 _She looks up at Romilly, not wanting to ask_...

BRAND

Is he still alive?

 _Romilly nods. Brand closes her eyes with relief._

ROMILLY

We've got years of messages stored...

 _Brand opens her eyes, looks for Cooper. He is in the comm. booth. He_ SHUTS _the privacy curtain. She looks down._

INT. COMMUNICATIONS BOOTH, ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS | 147
---|---

_Cooper studies the machine like it might bite him._

COOPER

Cooper.

COMPUTER VOICE

Messages span twenty-three years –

COOPER

I know. ( _Whispers_.) Just start at the beginning.

_Cooper leans forward as the screen flickers to life: Tom, still seventeen, turns on the camera._

TOM

Hi, Dad –

 _Cooper pauses it. Prepares himself. Lets it run –_

TOM

I met another girl, Dad. I really think this is the one –

 _Tom holds up a picture of himself and a teenage_ GIRL.

Murph stole Grandpa's car. She crashed it – she's okay, though. Your truck's still running – Grandpa said she should steal that next time. I said if she did it'd be the last thing she did...

 _Cooper leans back_...

INT. COMMUNICATIONS BOOTH, ENDURANCE – DAY

| 148
---|---

_Cooper is holed up, still watching, unshaved. He's been watching for days. On the screen, Tom is in his twenties –_

TOM

I've got a surprise for you, Dad. You're a grandpa...

 _Tom holds up an infant wrapped tight in swaddling._

Congratulations. Meet Jesse.

 _Cooper smiles a tearful smile._

Grandpa said he already earned the 'great' part so we just leave it at that.

 _The screen cuts out. Then comes back on. Tom in his thirties –_

Hi, Dad. I'm sorry it's been awhile. What with Jesse and all...

 _He stops, emotional._

Grandpa died last week. We buried him out in the back forty, next to Mom and Jesse. ( _Looks down._ ) Where we'd have buried you, if you'd ever come back. ( _Looks up._ ) Murph was there for the funeral. I don't see her so much anymore. ( _Sighs_.) You're not listening to this. I know that. All these messages are just out there, drifting in the darkness... I figured as long as they were willing to send them there was some hope, but... ( _Pauses_.) You're gone. You're never coming back. And I've known that for a long time. Lois says – that's my wife, Dad – she says I have to let you go. So I am. ( _Reaches up to turn off camera_.) Wherever you are, I hope you're at peace. Goodbye, Dad.

_The screen goes black. Tears are streaming down Cooper's face. He stares at the black screen, wiping his face. He starts to get up – the screen flickers to life once more –_

_A beautiful_ WOMAN _of about forty has turned on the camera – she looks at us, unsure about this. Makes a start –_

WOMAN

Hello, Dad. You sonofabitch.

 _Cooper peers into the face, recognizing_ –

COOPER

( _whispers_ )

Murph?

WOMAN (MURPH)

I never made one of these when you were still responding cos I was so mad at you for leaving. When you went quiet, it seemed like I should just live with my decision. And I have... ( _Looks around_.) But today's my birthday. And it's a special one because you once told me –

_She stops, unable to speak for a second._

MURPH

You once told me that when you came back we might be the same age... and today I'm the age you were when you left... ( _Starts crying_.) So it'd be a real good time for you to come back.

_Murph reaches up, switches off the camera and we stay with her in_ –

INT. COMMUNICATION ROOM, NASA – DAY

| 149
---|---

_Murph brings her hand down from the camera. Wipes her tears._

PROFESSOR BRAND

( _O.S., softly_ )

I didn't mean to intrude.

 _Murph turns to see Professor Brand, now_ ELDERLY, _in a_ WHEELCHAIR _in the doorway._

PROFESSOR BRAND

I've never seen you in here before.

 _Murph rises_ –

MURPH

I've never _been_ in here before.

_Murph wheels Professor Brand out into the corridor._

INT. CURVING CORRIDOR, NASA – MOMENTS LATER

| 150
---|---

_Murph pushes Professor Brand._

PROFESSOR BRAND

I talk to Amelia all the time. It helps. I'm glad you've started –

MURPH

I haven't. I just had something I wanted to get out.

INT. PROFESSOR BRAND'S OFFICE – MOMENTS LATER | 151
---|---

_Professor Brand wheels behind his desk._

PROFESSOR BRAND

I know they're still out there.

MURPH

I know.

PROFESSOR BRAND

There are so many reasons their communications might not be getting through.

MURPH

( _smiles gently_ )

I know, Professor.

PROFESSOR BRAND

I'm not sure which I'm more afraid of... they never come back, or they come back to find we've failed.

_She watches his introspection. Brings him back with_ –

MURPH

Then let's succeed.

PROFESSOR BRAND

( _gestures at formula_ )

So, back from the fourth iteration, let's run it with a finite set.

 _Murph has picked up a notebook. Pauses._

MURPH

With respect, Professor. We've tried that hundreds of times.

PROFESSOR BRAND

And it only has to work once, Murph.

 _She shrugs. Starts to work._

INT. LAUNCH FACILITY – LATER | 152
---|---

_Murph and Professor Brand sit, eating sandwiches on a walkway._ WORKERS _move about the_ CIRCULAR CHAMBER, _building more_ SIDEWAYS INFRASTRUCTURE. _Professor Brand looks down, proud._

PROFESSOR BRAND

Every rivet they drive in could have been a bullet. We've done well for the world, here. Whether or not we crack the equation before I kick –

MURPH

Don't be morbid, Professor.

PROFESSOR BRAND

I'm not afraid of death, Murph. I'm an old physicist – I'm afraid of _time_.

INT. PROFESSOR BRAND'S OFFICE – MOMENTS LATER

| 153
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_Murph stands before the algebra. She_ REALIZES _something_.

MURPH

Time... you're afraid of time...

CONVINCED, _she_ TURNS –

Professor, the equation...?

_He looks up._

For years we've tried to solve it without changing the underlying assumptions about time –

PROFESSOR BRAND

And?

MURPH

And that means each iteration becomes an attempt to prove its own proof – it's recursive. _Nonsensical_ –

PROFESSOR BRAND

( _sharp_ )

Are you calling my life's work 'nonsense', Murph?

MURPH

No, I'm saying you've been trying to finish it with one arm – no, with _both_ arms tied behind your back...

_Murph focuses on Professor Brand, suddenly_ WARY...

... and I don't understand why.

 _Professor Brand looks down. Starts wheeling his chair._

PROFESSOR BRAND

I'm an old man, Murph. Could we pick this up some other time? I'd like to go talk to my daughter.

 _Murph nods. Looking at the Professor. Confused._

PROFESSOR BRAND

( _V.O._ )

Stepping out into the universe, we must first confront the reality that nothing in our solar system can help us...

INT. COMMUNICATIONS BOOTH, ENDURANCE – NIGHT

| 154
---|---

_Brand watches her father on screen._

PROFESSOR BRAND

( _V.O_.)

... then we must confront the realities of interstellar travel. We must venture far beyond the reach of our own life spans. We must think not as individuals, but as a _species_...

INT. RING MODULE, ENDURANCE – DAY | 155
---|---

_Romilly, Brand, Cooper, Tars and Case sit in discussion._

COOPER

Tars kept the Endurance right where we needed her, but it took _years_ longer than we anticipated...

_Cooper puts both planets on screen – Dr Mann's ice world, and Edmunds' desert planet._

COOPER

We don't have the fuel to visit both prospects. We have to choose.

ROMILLY

How? They're both promising. Edmunds' data was better, but Dr Mann is the one still transmitting.

BRAND

We've got no reason to suppose Edmunds' results would have soured. His world has key elements to sustain human life –

COOPER

As does Dr Mann's.

BRAND

Cooper, this is my field. And I really believe Edmunds' is the better prospect.

COOPER

( _challenging_ )

Why?

BRAND

Gargantua, that's why. ( _Steps to board_.) Look at Miller's world – hydrocarbons, organics, yes. But no life. Sterile. We'll find the same thing on Dr Mann's.

ROMILLY

Because of the black hole?

BRAND

( _nods_ )

Murphy's Law – whatever _can_ happen will happen. Accident is the first building block of evolution – but when you're orbiting a black hole not enough _can_ happen – it sucks in asteroids and comets, random events that would otherwise reach you. We need to go to further afield.

COOPER

You once referred to Dr Mann as the 'best of us'.

BRAND

He's remarkable. We're only here because of him.

COOPER

And he's there on the ground sending an unambiguous message that we should go to that planet.

 _Brand is silent. Romilly looks from Brand to Cooper._

ROMILLY

Should we vote?

COOPER

If we're going to vote, there's something you need to know. Brand?

 _She says nothing._

He has a right to know.

BRAND

That has nothing to do with it.

ROMILLY

What does?

COOPER

She's in love with Wolf Edmunds.

ROMILLY

( _to Brand_ )

Is that true?

BRAND

Yes. And that makes me want to follow my heart. But maybe we've spent too long trying to figure all this with theory –

COOPER

You're a _scientist_ , Brand –

BRAND

I am. So listen to me when I tell you that love isn't something we invented – it's observable, powerful. Why shouldn't it mean something?

COOPER

It means social utility – child rearing, social bonding –

BRAND

We love people who've died... where's the social utility in that? Maybe it means _more_ – something we can't understand, yet. Maybe it's some evidence, some artifact of higher dimensions that we can't consciously perceive. I'm drawn across the universe to someone I haven't seen for a decade, who I know is probably dead. Love is the one thing we're capable of perceiving that transcends dimensions of time and space. Maybe we should trust that, even if we can't yet understand it.

_Brand looks at Romilly, who can't meet her eye._

BRAND

Cooper, yes – the tiniest possibility of seeing Wolf again excites me. But that doesn't mean I'm wrong.

 _Cooper thinks back to his conversation with Donald._

COOPER

Honestly, Amelia... it might.

 _Romilly looks at Brand. It's clear she's lost._

COOPER

Tars, set the course for Dr Mann.

 _Brand is starting to tear up. She turns away._

EXT. OUTER SPACE – MOMENTS LATER

| 156
---|---

_The thrusters_ FIRE, _pushing the Endurance out of its orbit of Gargantua._

INT. RING MODULE, ENDURANCE – LATER

| 157
---|---

_Brand is checking her_ POPULATION BOMB. _Cooper enters._

COOPER

Brand, I'm sorry.

BRAND

Why? You're just being objective. ( _Beat_.) Unless you're punishing me for screwing up on Miller's planet.

COOPER

This wasn't a personal decision for me.

 _Brand turns from her equipment. Looks him in the eye._

BRAND

Well, if you're wrong, you'll have a very personal decision to make. ( _Off look_.) Your fuel calculations are based on a return journey. Strike out on Dr Mann's planet, and we'll have to decide whether to return home, or push on to Edmunds' planet with Plan B. Starting a colony could save us from extinction.

_She closes the population bomb._

You might have to decide between seeing your children again... and the future of the human race. ( _Smiles bitterly_.) I trust you'll be as objective, then.

EXT. OUTER SPACE – CONTINUOUS

| 158
---|---

_The Endurance sinks past a_ GLORIOUS NEBULA _whose_ GOLDEN MISTS DISSOLVE TO ROILING BLACK CLOUDS _and we are_ –

EXT. FARMHOUSE – DAY | 159
---|---

_Murph stands with Tom, now late forties. Watching a field_ BURN.

TOM

We'll lose about a third this season. But _next year_... I'm gonna start working Nelson's fields. Should make it up.

MURPH

What happened to Nelson?

 _Tom glances at her. Don't ask. Heads for the house._

INT./EXT. FARMHOUSE – DUSK | 160
---|---

_Murph at family dinner with Tom_ , LOIS, _and their six-year-old son_ COOP.

LOIS

Will you stay the night? We left your room like it was...

 _Murph looks down, awkward_...

MURPH

No, I need to...

 _Murph looks upstairs. At Lois._

Too many memories, Lois.

 _She nods. Coop helps Tom clear. As Coop takes Murph's plate he starts_ COUGHING. _Looks up at her, sees her concern_ , GRINS.

COOP

The dust.

 _He and Tom head into the kitchen._

MURPH

I have a friend who should look at his lungs, Lois.

 _She nods, is about to speak. Tom sits back down._

_Pull back to reveal the glowing windows against the darkening plain, dust clouds rolling across the horizon_...

INT. CORRIDOR, NASA – NIGHT | 161
---|---

_Murph hurries down a corridor with a doctor_ , GETTY.

GETTY

He started asking for you after he came to, but we couldn't raise you –

INT. HOSPITAL ROOM, NASA – MOMENTS LATER | 162
---|---

_Murph is at Professor Brand's bedside. He is hooked up to machines. Barely breathing._

PROFESSOR BRAND

Murph... Murph...

_Murph takes his hand with gentle concern._

MURPH

I'm here, Professor.

PROFESSOR BRAND

I don't have much life... ( _Breathes_.) I have to tell you...

MURPH

Try to take it easy.

PROFESSOR BRAND

All these... years. All these people... counted on me...

MURPH

It's okay, Professor.

PROFESSOR BRAND

I let you... all you... down.

MURPH

No. I'll finish what you started.

 _Professor Brand looks up into Murph's eyes, tears welling._

PROFESSOR BRAND

Murph. Good, good Murph. Such faith... all these years, I told you to have faith... to _believe_...

MURPH

I do believe –

PROFESSOR BRAND

I needed you to believe your father was coming back...

MURPH

I do, Professor –

PROFESSOR BRAND

Forgive me, Murph...

MURPH

There's nothing to forgive.

PROFESSOR BRAND

I _lied_ , Murph. I lied to you...

_Murph looks at Professor Brand, confused._

PROFESSOR BRAND

There's no reason to come back... no way to help us...

MURPH

But Plan A – all this – all these people... the _equation_!

_But Professor Brand slowly shakes his head, tears rolling down. As Murph tries to comprehend, he settles,_ DRIFTING.

MURPH

( _whispers_ )

Did he know?

 _Nothing_.

Did my dad know?!

 _Nothing_.

Did he _abandon_ me?!

PROFESSOR BRAND

Do... not... go...

 _She leans in to hear._

PROFESSOR BRAND

Gentle... into... into...

MURPH

NO! NO! Professor, stay! You can't! You can't leave...

 _Getty is at her shoulder._

MURPH

You can't, you can't, you...

 _Getty puts his hand on her shoulder. She sits there. Stuck. As Professor Brand goes still_...

MURPH

( _V.O_.)

Dr Brand, I'm sorry to tell you that your father died today...

INT. COMMUNICATION ROOM, NASA – DAY | 163
---|---

_Murph, controlled anger, sits in front of the camera._

MURPH

He had no pain and was... at peace. I'm sorry for your loss.

 _She reaches to switch off the camera_. STOPS. _Acid_.

Did you know, Brand? Did he tell you...?

INT. RING MODULE, ENDURANCE – DAY | 164
---|---

_Murph's voice rings through the empty ship. Only Case there to register it._

MURPH

( _V.O._ )

Did you know that Plan A was a sham...?! You left us here. To die. Never coming back...

 _Through the window we see the Ranger moving away, towards –_

EXT. DR MANN'S PLANET – DAY | 165
---|---

_The Endurance orbits the silvery white globe as the Ranger heads towards the planet._

EXT. STRATOSPHERE – MOMENTS LATER | 166
---|---

_The Ranger drops through layers of large_ , MOUNTAINOUS CLOUD.

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS

| 167
---|---

_Cooper and Tars, Brand and Romilly. Cooper peers out, concerned, studying a heads-up display of_ CLOUD DENSITY...

EXT. DR MANN'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS | 168
---|---

_The Ranger cuts through one cloud, banks left and_ SCRAPES AGAINST THE NEXT 'CLOUD', PANELS TEARING FROM THE WING – THE CLOUDS ARE ACTUALLY SOLID ICE FORMATIONS...

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS

| 169
---|---

_Cooper banks away from the_ ICE _, glancing out at the damage –_

EXT. DR MANN'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS | 170
---|---

_The Ranger moves cautiously through the 'cloudscape' like a ship through an ice field_...

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS | 171
---|---

_Romilly and Brand put their helmets on. Tars indicates the beacon's position. Cooper looks_ , BANKS _the Ranger._

EXT. DR MANN'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS | 172
---|---

_The Ranger's gear lowers as it comes to rest, tentatively, at the base of what looks like a large_ CUMULUS CLOUD.

EXT. DR MANN'S PLANET – LATER | 173
---|---

_Cooper leads them up the_ ICE CLOUD _. From a distance, they are walking on a cloud. Tars brings up the rear._

_Cooper crests a ridge_. SPOTS _something. He starts down towards a dirty orange dot in the cloudscape._

EXT. DR MANN'S POD – MOMENTS LATER | 174
---|---

_Cooper is there. The others arrive at the large metal pod_ – WEATHERED _and_ DAMAGED _over the years, half buried in ice. Nearby, various_ WIRE MARKERS _stick out of the ice. Tars starts digging out the hatch._

INT. DR MANN'S POD – LATER | 175
---|---

_A_ CRACK _of_ COLD LIGHT, _as the outer hatch is wrenched open. Cooper steps through the airlock, into a_ CRYPT-LIKE SPACE –

_Cooper's hand sweeps ice from the nameplate of a cryo-chamber_ , 'DR MANN'.

_Tars fires up the cryo-chamber. The ice starts to melt._

_Cooper, helmet off,_ CRACKS _the lid, pushes it back, revealing a figure in a plastic shroud. Cooper rips the seal_...

_Dr Mann's eyes flicker open. He watches Cooper, breathing, focusing – reaches up with_ TREMBLING _hands –_ GRABS _Cooper –_ PULLS _himself up,_ CHEEK AGAINST CHEEK – SOBBING _– hands desperately_ CARESSING _Cooper's face. Cooper holds him tight._

COOPER

( _whispering_ )

It's okay. It's okay.

INT. SAME – LATER | 176
---|---

_Dr Mann sits, blanket over his shoulders, sipping from a steaming cup. He looks at their faces, marveling._

DR MANN

( _cracked, parched_ )

Pray you never learn just how good it can be to see another face. ( _Shaky sip_.) I hadn't much hope to begin with. After so much time, I had none. My supplies were exhausted. The last time I went to sleep, I set no waking date. ( _Looks at them all._ ) You have literally raised me from the dead.

COOPER

( _smiles_ )

Lazarus.

DR MANN

( _nods_ )

And the others?

ROMILLY

I'm afraid you're it, sir.

DR MANN

So far, surely?

COOPER

With our situation, there's not much hope of any other rescue.

 _This hits Dr Mann hard. He looks down at his tea._

BRAND

Dr Mann, tell us about your world.

DR MANN

( _smiles gently_ )

My world. Yes. _Our_ world, we hope. Our world is cold, stark...

EXT. DR MANN'S PLANET – DAY | 177
---|---

_Dr Mann leads the others up to the summit of a cloud._

DR MANN

( _V.O._ )

But undeniably beautiful...

 _From the top, they watch the planet's pale sun setting._

DR MANN

The days are sixty-seven cold hours, the nights are sixty-seven far colder hours...

 _They make their way back into the shelter._

DR MANN

( _V.O_.)

The gravity is a very pleasant 80 percent of Earth's. Up here, where I landed, the 'water' is alkali and the 'air' has too much ammonia in it to breathe for more than a few minutes...

 _Brand checks readings on Dr Mann's instruments._

INT. DR MANN'S POD – NIGHT | 178
---|---

_The crew are captivated by Dr Mann_...

DR MANN

But down at the surface, and there _is_ a surface... the chlorine dissipates and the ammonia gives way to crystalline hydrocarbons and breathable air. To organics. Possibly even to _life_. ( _Off looks_.) Yes. We may be sharing this world.

BRAND

( _giddy_ )

These readings are from the surface?

 _Brand is reviewing Dr Mann's piles of data._

DR MANN

Over the years I've dropped various probes.

COOPER

How far have you explored?

DR MANN

I've mounted several major expeditions, but with oxygen in limited supply, Kipp there had to do most of the legwork.

 _Dr Mann indicates a_ DEFUNCT ARTICULATED MACHINE.

TARS

What's wrong with him?

DR MANN

Degeneration. He misidentified the first organics we found as ammonia crystals. We struggled on for a time, but ultimately, I decommissioned him and used his power source to keep the mission going. ( _Remembers, sadly_.) I thought I was alone _before_ I shut him down.

TARS

Would you like me to look at him?

DR MANN

No, I think he needs a _human_ touch.

_Tars turns to Brand._

TARS

Dr Brand, Case is relaying a message for you from the comm. station.

 _She nods._

MURPH

( _V.O_.)

... He had no pain and was... at peace.

INT. DR MANN'S POD – LATER | 179
---|---

_Brand watches Murph's message on Tars' data screen._

MURPH

I'm sorry for your loss.

 _Brand_ STARES. _Cooper is there. Murph reaches up –_

BRAND

( _abstract_ )

Is that Murph?

_Cooper nods._

She's become a –

MURPH

( _acid_ )

Did you know, Brand? Did he tell you? That Plan A was a sham...?!

 _Cooper looks at Brand, who is shocked._

You left us here to set up your colony. Never coming back...

 _Murph does not want to ask, tears are running down her cheeks –_

( _Small_.) Did my father know? Dad...?

_Cooper stares. Murph's eyes bore into his_...

Did you leave me here to die?

 _The screen goes dark. Cooper stands there_ , SHOCKED.

BRAND

Cooper, my father devoted his whole life to Plan A – I have no idea what she means –

DR MANN

( _O.S_.)

I do.

 _They turn. Dr Mann looks at them with gentle calm._

COOPER

He never even hoped to get people off the Earth.

DR MANN

No.

BRAND

But he's been trying to solve the gravity equation for forty years!

 _Dr Mann comes over, looks into Brand's eyes._

DR MANN

Amelia, your father solved his equation before I even left.

BRAND

Then why wouldn't he use it?!

DR MANN

The equation couldn't reconcile relativity with quantum mechanics. You need more –

COOPER

More _what_?!

DR MANN

More data. You need to see inside a black hole. And the laws of nature prohibit a naked singularity.

COOPER

( _to Romilly_ )

Is that true?

ROMILLY

If a black hole is an oyster, the singularity is the pearl inside. Its gravity is so strong, it's always hidden in darkness, behind the horizon. That's why we call it a black hole.

COOPER

If we could look _beyond_ the horizon –

DR MANN

Some things aren't meant to be known. ( _To Brand._ ) Your father had to find another way to save the human race from extinction. Plan B. A colony.

BRAND

Why not tell people? Why keep building that damn station?

DR MANN

He knew how much harder it would be for people to come together and save the _species_ , instead of themselves... ( _To Cooper, sympathetic_.) Or their children.

COOPER

Bullshit.

DR MANN

Would you have left if you hadn't believed you were trying to save _them_? Evolution has yet to transcend that simple barrier – we can care deeply, selflessly for people we know, but our empathy rarely extends beyond our line of sight.

BRAND

But the _lie._ A _monstrous_ lie...

DR MANN

Unforgivable. And he knew it. Your father was prepared to destroy his own humanity to save our species. He made the ultimate sacrifice.

COOPER

No. That's being made by the people of Earth who'll die because, in his arrogance, he declared their case hopeless.

DR MANN

I'm sorry, Cooper. Their case is hopeless. _We_ are the future.

_Cooper_ REELS. _Brand puts her hand on his shoulder –_

BRAND

Cooper, what can I do?

 _He turns to her. Looks her in the eyes._

COOPER

Let me go home.

 _And the sound of_ WIND _in_ DRY CORNSTALKS _takes us_ –

INT./EXT. PICKUP TRUCK ON DUSTY PLAIN – DAWN | 180
---|---

_Murph drives. Getty next to her. In the distance, several fields_ BURN.

GETTY

Are you sure?

MURPH

His solution was correct. He'd had it for years.

GETTY

It's worthless?

MURPH

It's half the answer.

GETTY

How do you find the other half?

 _Murph points at the sky._

MURPH

Out there? A black hole. Stuck here on Earth? I'm not sure you can.

 _They pass vehicles_ PILED HIGH _with belongings and people._

GETTY

They just pack up and leave. What are they hoping to find?

MURPH

Survival. ( _Looks ahead_.) Dammit!

A DUST STORM SWAMPS _the truck, killing visibility. Murph pulls over. Kills the engine. The wind rocks the car._

GETTY

Don't people have a right to know?

MURPH

Panic won't help. We have to keep working, same as ever.

GETTY

Isn't that just what Professor Brand...?

MURPH

( _sharp_ )

Brand gave up on us – I'm still trying to solve this.

GETTY

So you have an idea?

MURPH

No. I have a... _feeling_.

_Getty looks at her as she_ STARES _out at the dust._

INSERT CUT: MURPH (TEN), _wet hair, towel around neck, turns and_ STARES _at a book on the floor –_

MURPH

( _V.O_.)

I told you about my ghost...

 _She stoops to pick up the toy next to it – a broken_ LUNAR LANDER.

MURPH (FORTY) _puts her hands on the glass, watching the sand scrape the car's window_...

MURPH

My dad thought I called it a ghost because I was scared of it...

INSERT CUT: MURPH (TEN) _counts the books and gaps_. MARVELING.

MURPH

( _V.O_.)

But I was never scared of it...

MURPH (TEN) _takes out her notebook and starts drawing lines to represent the books._

MURPH

( _V.O._ )

I called it a ghost because it felt like...

MURPH (FORTY) _turns to Getty._

MURPH

Like a person. Trying to tell me something...

 _The storm is clearing. Murph starts the engine._

If there's an answer here on Earth, it's back there, somehow. No one's coming to save us. ( _Pulls out_.) I have to find it...

_Murph pulls past a pickup piled with worldly goods and people. She makes eye contact with two filthy kids in the back_...

And we're running out of time.

EXT. RANGER, DR MANN'S PLANET – DAWN | 181
---|---

_Tars is up on the wing of the Ranger. Case pilots the_ LANDER _in to land near the Ranger._

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS | 182
---|---

_Cooper is sitting with his feet on the console._

CASE

( _over radio_ )

What about auxiliary oxygen scrubbers?

COOPER

They can stay. I'll sleep most of the journey. ( _Wry_.) I saw it all on the way out here.

_Romilly comes through the airlock. Removes his helmet._

ROMILLY

I have a suggestion for your return journey.

COOPER

What?

ROMILLY

Have one last crack at the black hole...

 _Tars enters._

ROMILLY

Gargantua's an older, spinning black hole – what we call a _gentle_ singularity.

COOPER

Gentle?

ROMILLY

They're hardly gentle, but their tidal gravity is quick enough that something crossing the horizon fast might survive... a probe, say.

COOPER

What happens to it after it crosses?

ROMILLY

Beyond the horizon is a complete mystery – who's to say there isn't some way the probe can glimpse the singularity and relay the quantum data? If he's equipped to transmit every form of energy that can pulse – X-ray, visible light, radio –

TARS

Just when did this probe become a 'he'?

 _Romilly looks from Tars to Cooper, sheepish._

ROMILLY

Tars is the obvious candidate. I've already told him what to look for.

TARS

I'd need to take the old optical transmitter from Kipp.

COOPER

( _to Tars_ )

You'd do this for us?

TARS

Before you get teary, try to remember that as a robot I have to do anything you say, anyway.

COOPER

Your cue light's broken.

TARS

I'm not joking.

 _Bing. The light flashes on._

EXT. RANGER, DR MANN'S PLANET – DAY | 183
---|---

_Brand and Dr Mann approach Cooper and Romilly at the foot of the ladder. Cooper addresses Brand –_

COOPER

Ranger's almost ready. Case is on his way back down with another load.

BRAND

I'll start a final inventory.

ROMILLY

Dr Mann, I need Tars to remove and adapt some components from Kipp.

 _Dr Mann considers this. Looks at Tars. At Romilly._

DR MANN

He musn't disturb Kipp's archival functions.

ROMILLY

I'll supervise.

 _Dr Mann considers this. Nods._

COOPER

We need to pick out a site. You don't wanna move the module once we land it.

DR MANN

I'll show you the probe sites.

 _Cooper glances around at the winds picking up –_

COOPER

Will conditions hold?

DR MANN

These squalls usually blow over. You've got a long-range transmitter?

 _Cooper reaches up to check a box plugged in at his neck._

COOPER

Good to go.

 _Dr Mann points at a nozzle on his elbow –_

DR MANN

Charged?

 _Cooper checks, thumbs up. Dr Mann sets off, Cooper follows._

EXT. DR MANN'S PLANET – LATER | 184
---|---

_As Cooper follows Dr Mann down a ridge, they see the lander fly over. Cooper waves, reaches up to his long-range transmitter_ –

COOPER

A little caution, Case?

CASE

( _over radio_ )

Safety first, Cooper.

 _Cooper follows Dr Mann down to the edge of the ice. They peer down a fifty-foot drop._

DR MANN

Just take it gently –

 _He steps off_ , DROPPING – _his_ ELBOW JETS FIRE, s _lowing his descent in time for him to land with a_ THUD. _Cooper follows._

_They set out through a massive_ CANYON _of ice_...

DR MANN

Brand told me why you feel you have to go back –

 _Cooper_ STOPS _._

COOPER

If this excursion is about trying to change my mind, let's turn around right now.

DR MANN

No. I understand your position.

 _He turns and starts walking. Cooper follows._

DR MANN

You have attachments. I'm not supposed to, but even without family, I can promise you that the yearning to be with other people is massively powerful. Our instincts, our emotions, are at the foundations of what makes us human. They're not to be taken lightly.

 _The wind_ WHIPS _ice crystals between them_...

INT. KITCHEN, FARMHOUSE – DAY

| 185
---|---

_Murph introduces Getty to Lois and Coop. Getty pulls out a_ STETHOSCOPE _and starts examining Coop, Murph slips upstairs..._

INT. MURPH'S BEDROOM – DAY | 186
---|---

_Murph opens the door. Stands in her old bedroom. Feeling..._

COOP

( _O.S_.)

Mama lets me play in here...

 _Murph turns to see Coop. He points at a box on the shelf_ –

I don't touch your stuff.

EXT. LANDER – CONTINUOUS

| 187
---|---

_Brand turns away as the lander touches down in a spray of ice._

INT. DR MANN'S POD – CONTINUOUS

| 188
---|---

_Romilly watches Tars crouch down beside Kipp and connect Kipp to his own power. Kipp shows signs of life_...

EXT. ICE CANYON, DR MANN'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS

| 189
---|---

_Dr Mann waits for Cooper catch up. The_ WIND _is picking up_ –

DR MANN

You know why we couldn't just send machines on these missions, Cooper?

COOPER

( _breathless_ )

Frankly, no.

DR MANN

( _pressing on_ )

A trip into the unknown requires improvisation. Machines can't improvise well because you can't program a fear of death. The survival instinct is our single greatest source of inspiration.

 _Dr Mann pauses to take a breath. Turns to Cooper._

Take you – a father. With a survival instinct that extends to your kids...

COOPER

That's why I'm going home, hopeless or not.

DR MANN

And what does research tell us is the last thing you'll see before you die? ( _Off look_.) Your _children_. At the very moment of death, your mind pushes you a little harder to survive. For them.

_Dr Mann turns and starts walking out onto a massive ice field._

INT. KITCHEN, FARMHOUSE – DAY | 190
---|---

_Murph brings Coop downstairs. Getty is listening to Lois' back. He looks up at Murph._ GRAVE _. Shakes his head_...

GETTY

They can't stay here.

TOM

( _O.S_.)

Murph?

 _Murph turns to see Tom in the doorway._

What is this...?

EXT. LANDER, DR MANN'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS | 191
---|---

_Brand is counting flight cases when a_ WIND _whips ice at her_...

INT. DR MANN'S POD – CONTINUOUS

| 192
---|---

_Romilly takes his helmet off,_ PEERING _over Tars' shoulder at Kipp's data screen. Confused._

ROMILLY

I don't understand.

EXT. ICE FIELD, DR MANN'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS

| 193
---|---

_Cooper and Dr Mann are like two ants on a sheet._

DR MANN

The first window's up ahead –

 _Cooper peers ahead to an_ OPENING _in the ice. Dr Mann stops at the edge. Looks around the wind-blasted ice plane._

When I left Earth I felt fully prepared to die. But I just never faced the possibility that _my_ planet wouldn't be the one. None of this turned out the way it was supposed to.

COOPER

Professor Brand would disagree.

 _Cooper peers over the edge at an enormous_ CREVASSE...

_Dr Mann_ RIPS COOPER'S LONG-RANGE TRANSMITTER FROM HIS NECK –

_Cooper_ TURNS _to Dr Mann – who_ BLASTS _him with his_ ELBOW JET. _He_ SLIPS _backwards, but avoids going over the edge –_

COOPER

What are you doing?!

_Until Dr Mann_ KICKS _him. Cooper hits his jets, pushing himself onto a lower ledge of ice –_

INT. KITCHEN, FARMHOUSE – DAY | 194
---|---

_Tom confronts Murph while Getty looks on –_

MURPH

They can't stay here, Tom!

GETTY

Not one more day –

 _Tom_ TURNS, PUNCHES _Getty – who collapses._

LOIS

Tom?!

TOM

Coop, get your aunt's things – she's done here.

MURPH

Tom, Dad didn't raise you this dumb –

TOM

Dad didn't raise us, Grandpa did, and he's buried outside with Mom in our ground. I'm not leaving them –

MURPH

You have to, Tom –

TOM

I'm a _farmer_ , Murph! You don't give up on the Earth.

MURPH

No! But she gave up on you! And she's poisoning your family.

EXT. DR MANN'S PLANET – DAY | 195
---|---

_Cooper_ SCRAMBLES _to his knees. Dr Mann approaches_ –

DR MANN

I'm sorry – I can't let you leave.

COOPER

Why?!

DR MANN

We're going to need your ship to continue the mission... once the others realize what this place _isn't._

_Cooper's mind races. He looks around._

COOPER

You faked all the data?

DR MANN

I had a lot of time.

COOPER

Is there even a surface?

DR MANN

I'm afraid _not_ –

_Dr Mann_ KICKS _Cooper over the edge, Cooper_ CLINGS _on –_

DR MANN

I tried to do my duty, Cooper, but the day I arrived I could see this place had _nothing_. I resisted the temptation for years... but I knew there was a way to get rescued.

COOPER

You fucking coward.

 _Cooper_ BLASTS _Dr Mann off his feet with his jet –_ SCRAMBLES _up onto the ice. Dr Mann_ TACKLES _him, they go down,_ WRESTLING. WIDER _shows us two_ TINY FIGURES _in a_ VAST LANDSCAPE _, deciding the future of humanity with a_ BRAWL _..._

INT. KITCHEN, FARMHOUSE – DAY | 196
---|---

_Murph begs Tom –_

MURPH

Please, come with us.

TOM

To live underground, praying Dad comes back to save us all?

MURPH

He's not coming back. He was never coming back. It's up to us. To me.

TOM

_You're_ gonna save the human race, Murph? Really? How? Our dad couldn't –

MURPH

HE DIDN'T EVEN TRY! ( _Off look._ ) He just abandoned us, Tom.

_Murph looks around, frustrated. Coop hands Murph the box._

MURPH

Tom, if you won't come, let _them_ –

TOM

Murph. ( _Points at box_.) Take your stuff, and go.

_Murph hands the box back to Coop._

MURPH

Keep it.

 _She leaves. Getty follows._

EXT. ICE FIELD, DR MANN'S PLANET – DAY | 197
---|---

_Dr Mann_ LUNGES _at Cooper, who_ SIDESTEPS _him and_ PINS _him_...

COOPER

Stop this!

 _Dr Mann_ HEADBUTTS COOPER, FACEPLATE IMPACTS FACEPLATE.

COOPER

Mann! Don't – you'll kill us both –

CRACK. _Dr Mann_ SMASHES _his helmet into Cooper's_ AGAIN AND AGAIN _as he –_

DR MANN

SOMEONE'S – GLASS – WILL – GIVE – WAY – FIRST –!

COOPER

FIFTY-FIFTY YOU KILL _YOUR SELF_! STOP!

_Dr Mann_ STOPS _. Looks up at Cooper,_ BREATHING _. Both faceplates have_ TINY FRACTURES...

DR MANN

Best odds I've had in years –

WHACK –  _He_ BUTTS  _Cooper's faceplate, which_ CRACKS SICKENINGLY. AMMONIA HISSES INSIDE – COOPER ROLLS OFF, HANDS UP, DESPERATELY TRYING TO PLUG THE LARGE CRACK –

_Dr Mann_ RISES _. Checks the fractures in his own helmet. Bends down to look at Cooper_ , STRUGGLING, CHOKING –

DR MANN

Please don't judge me, Cooper – you were never tested like I was. Few men have been...

INT./EXT. PICKUP TRUCK ON DUSTY PLAIN – DAY

| 198
---|---

_Murph drives. Getty looks over, sympathetic._

GETTY

You did your best, Murph.

 _She just stares ahead at the road..._

EXT. ICE FIELD, DR MANN'S PLANET – DAY | 199
---|---

_With curiosity and_ FEAR, _Dr Mann watches Cooper_ CRAWL...

DR MANN

You're feeling it, aren't you? That survival instinct – that's what drove me. It's always driven the human race, and it's going to save it now. I'm going to save it. For all mankind. For you, Cooper.

 _Unable to watch any more, he_ RISES _, walking away, continuing to talk to Cooper via the radio..._

DR MANN

I'm sorry, I can't watch you go through this – I thought I could. But I'm still here. I'm here for you...

 _Dr Mann, hurrying away, listens to Cooper_ RASPING –

DR MANN

Cooper. When you left, did Professor Brand read you that poem? How does it end...?

_Dr Mann hauls himself up a ledge. The wind_ WHIPS _up ice._

DR MANN

( _over radio_ )

'Do not go gentle...'

 _Cooper_ FREEZES. REMEMBERS. TRANSMITTER...

DR MANN

( _over radio_ )

'... into that good night...'

 _Cooper_ LOOKS _around – on the ice ten feet away – the_ TRANSMITTER –

INT./EXT. PICKUP TRUCK ON DUSTY PLAIN – DAY

| 200
---|---

_Murph and Getty drive past a long line of_ DESPERATE REFUGEES – _glimpsing_ FACES _hardened against insurmountable odds_...

DR MANN

( _over radio_ )

'... Rage, rage against the dying of the light.'

EXT. DR MANN'S PLANET – DAY

| 201
---|---

_Cooper_ CRAWLS – CRAWLS – CHOKING – CRAWLING...

_Dr Mann leap/jets up onto the higher ice – glances back at the floundering figure on the ice with pity and awe._

DR MANN

( _whispers_ )

Cooper...? Do you see your children, yet?

 _Dr Mann hears only_ CHOKING, GASPING, HACKING. _He kills his radio. Scared. Watches Cooper's silent thrashing._ TURNS.

_Cooper_ GRABS _the transmitter – tries to calm his_ FRANTIC HANDS _– can't reconnect it with clumsy gloves – pulls glove off –_ FREEZING – BITING – WAKING _– he gets the connector_ IN –

COOPER

BRAND! BRAND!

EXT. LANDER – CONTINUOUS

| 202
---|---

_Brand is_ STARTLED _by Cooper's_ RASPING _over her radio –_

COOPER

( _over radio_ )

HELP... ME... HELP...

INT. /EXT. PICKUP TRUCK ON DUSTY PLAIN – CONTINUOUS

| 203
---|---

_Murph_ DECIDES _– she_ SPINS _the truck around – floors it back in the direction they came..._

INT. COCKPIT, LANDER – CONTINUOUS | 204
---|---

_Brand_ JUMPS _into the lander_ –

BRAND

Case?!

 _Case is already_ FIRING _engines_ –

CASE

I have a fix.

BRAND

Cooper?! Cooper, we're coming!

EXT. ICE PLAIN, DR MANN'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS

| 205
---|---

_Cooper_ GASPS –

COOPER

NO AIR – AMMONIA.

BRAND

( _over radio_ )

Don't talk – breathe as little as possible. We're coming –!

EXT. CORNFIELDS – DAY

| 206
---|---

_Murph_ PULLS _off the road,_ CUTTING _through the corn –_

EXT. DR MANN'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS

| 207
---|---

_The lander_ HURTLES _through the cloudscape_ , RECKLESSLY, DANGEROUSLY FAST, PUNCHING _through some clouds,_ DODGING _others_ –.

INT. COCKPIT, LANDER – CONTINUOUS

| 208
---|---

_Brand watches Case fly, praying he's not just guessing_ –

INT. DR MANN'S POD – CONTINUOUS

| 209
---|---

_Romilly is crouched next to Tars, perturbed._

ROMILLY

This data makes no sense. Access the archive –

EXT. CORNFIELDS – DAY

| 210
---|---

_Murph_ PULLS UP _in a_ SCREECH _of dust – jumps out –_ GRABS _her spare gas can,_ THROWING FUEL _over the nearby stalks_...

EXT. ICE PLAIN, DR MANN'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS

| 211
---|---

_Cooper_ FLOPS _back onto the ice,_ STARING SKYWARD...

INSERT CUT: MURPH (TEN) _examines the_ WATCH _Cooper has given her... She_ THROWS _it – turns her tear-stained face to Cooper – Cooper's eyes water, from poison or memory –_

EXT. CORNFIELDS – DAY | 212
---|---

_Murph_ SETS FIRE _to the corn..._ JUMPS _in the truck –_

EXT. DR MANN'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS | 213
---|---

_The lander_ SWEEPS _around a towering cumulus,_ SPIRALING _in on the_ ICE PLAIN –

INT. COCKPIT, LANDER – CONTINUOUS | 214
---|---

_Brand_ POINTS –

BRAND

I see him –

EXT. FARMHOUSE – DAY

| 215
---|---

_Tom_ RACES _out of the house,_ JUMPS _in Cooper's old truck, heading out to the fire... calling on the radio_ –

EXT. ICE PLAIN, DR MANN'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS

| 216
---|---

_Through_ WATERING EYES _and_ WIND-WHIPPED ICE _, Cooper glimpses Brand_ LEAPING _from the lander, elbow jets firing. Brand_ RIPS _Cooper's helmet off –_ THRUSTS _an_ OXYGEN MASK _over his nose and mouth. Cooper_ GASPS, SUCKING AIR HARD –

COOPER

MANN – WAS – MANN –

BRAND

Dr Mann did this?!

 _Cooper nods. Brand takes this in_ – REALIZES –

Romilly!

 _She keys her long-range transmitter –_

Romilly?! Romilly?!

INT. DR MANN'S POD – CONTINUOUS

| 217
---|---

_Tars turns back from Kipp._

TARS

It needs a person to unlock its archival function.

 _Tars makes way for Romilly, who leans in to the screen. He glances at his helmet – the radio is_ SQUAWKING _. As he reaches for his helmet, he places his hand on the screen – Kipp_ FLICKERS TO LIFE _... Romilly lifts his helmet –_

ROMILLY

Brand –?

 _Kipp_ LOOKS UP –

KIPP

Please, don't make –

 _And_ EXPLODES –

EXT. DR MANN'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS

| 218
---|---

_Dr Mann hears the explosion – sees a_ BLACK CLOUD _rising from up the hill_. PANIC-STRICKEN –

DR MANN

Dammit, Romilly...

 _He switches his radio back on_ –

BRAND

( _over radio_ )

Come on, Cooper! Couple more steps –

 _Dr Mann_ THINKS _– makes for the Ranger._

INT. COCKPIT, LANDER – CONTINUOUS | 219
---|---

_Brand pulls the mask off Cooper, who looks at Case_ –

COOPER

What happened to caution?

CASE

Safety first.

COOPER

Brand, I'm sorry. We should've followed your instincts. Mann lied about this place –

BRAND

( _scared_ )

Oh, no –

EXT. FARMHOUSE – DAY

| 220
---|---

_Murph_ SCREECHES _up – turns to Getty –_

MURPH

Keep watch –

_She runs towards the farmhouse._

Lois!

INT. COCKPIT, LANDER – DAY

| 221
---|---

_Case spots something on the console._

CASE

There's been an explosion –

BRAND

Where?

CASE

Dr Mann's compound.

 _Case puts the lander into the air._

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS | 222
---|---

_Dr Mann straps in. Powers up._

EXT. DR MANN'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS | 223
---|---

_The Ranger_ RISES –

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS

| 224
---|---

_Dr Mann pushes the craft into the air_ –

EXT. DR MANN'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS

| 225
---|---

_The lander comes through the black smoke from Dr Mann's pod._

_Below – a figure_ BURSTS _out of the smoke: Tars, blackened, burned, but_ RUNNING _... towards the lander –_

INT. COCKPIT, LANDER – CONTINUOUS | 226
---|---

_Case_ SWINGS _the lander around and_ HITS _the airlock open_ –

EXT. DR MANN'S POD – CONTINUOUS

| 227
---|---

_Tars_ LEAPS UP _into the airlock – the lander_ THRUSTS _away –_

INT. COCKPIT, THE LANDER – CONTINUOUS

| 228
---|---

_Cooper looks over at Case –_

COOPER

Do you have a fix on the Ranger?

CASE

He's pushing into orbit –

COOPER

If he takes control of the ship we're dead –

BRAND

He'd maroon us?

COOPER

He _is_ marooning us –

INT. KITCHEN, FARMHOUSE – DAY

| 229
---|---

_Lois and Coop head outside with a few essentials. Murph heads upstairs_...

EXT. FARMHOUSE – CONTINUOUS

| 230
---|---

_Getty helps them into the truck, glances nervously at the distant fire_ –

GETTY

Come on, Murph!

EXT. STRATOSPHERE, DR MANN'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS

| 231
---|---

_The Ranger_ ROCKETS _upwards_...

INT. COCKPIT, LANDER – CONTINUOUS

| 232
---|---

_Cooper moves up next to Case. Hits the transmitter_ –

COOPER

Dr Mann? Dr Mann, please respond –

CASE

He doesn't know the Endurance docking procedure.

COOPER

The autopilot does.

CASE

Not since Tars disabled it.

 _Cooper looks into the airlock –_

COOPER

Nice. What's your trust setting?

TARS

Lower than yours, apparently.

 _Cooper hits the transmitter –_

COOPER

Dr Mann?

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS

| 233
---|---

_Dr Mann hears Cooper. Ignores him – looking instead at the navigation computer._

COOPER

( _over radio_ )

Dr Mann, if you attempt docking –

 _Dr Mann switches off the transmitter –_

INT. MURPH'S BEDROOM – DAY | 234
---|---

_Murph looks at the bookshelves. Spots the box. Moves over to it and_ LOOKS INSIDE...

EXT. FARMHOUSE – CONTINUOUS

| 235
---|---

_Outside, Getty paces, Lois and Coop sit tight_...

EXT. ORBIT, DR MANN'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS

| 236
---|---

_The Ranger approaches the Endurance_...

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS

| 237
---|---

_Dr Mann pilots the lander alongside the ship. Hits the autopilot –_

COMPUTER VOICE

Auto-docking sequence withheld.

 _Dr Mann looks at the screen, surprised._

DR MANN

Override.

COMPUTER VOICE

Unauthorized.

 _Dr Mann thinks. Looks over at the_ MANUAL DOCKING CONTROLS...

INT. COCKPIT, LANDER – CONTINUOUS

| 238
---|---

_Cooper peers ahead as they_ SHOOT _up into orbit. Brand looks – the Ranger is in close to the Endurance_ –

COOPER

Dr Mann, do not attempt docking. Dr Mann?

 _Static_.

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS

| 239
---|---

_Dr Mann_ SCRAMBLES _from the controls to the airlock_ , FOCUSED...

EXT. ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS

| 240
---|---

_The Ranger inches closer to an_ OUTER HATCH _of Endurance –_ A ROW OF MECHANICAL GRAPPLES _tries to connect with Endurance_ –

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS

| 241
---|---

_Dr Mann works the docking system, concentrating –_

EXT. ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS | 242
---|---

_The grapples_ PULL _the Ranger into the Endurance hatch._

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS | 243
---|---

_A_ CLANG _as the ships come together –_

COMPUTER VOICE

Imperfect contact – hatch lockout.

DR MANN

Override.

COMPUTER VOICE

Hatch lockout disengaged.

 _Dr Mann moves to the airlock control..._

INT. COCKPIT, LANDER – CONTINUOUS | 244
---|---

_Cooper stares out at the Ranger –_

COOPER

Is he locked on?

CASE

Imperfectly.

 _Cooper grabs the transmitter –_

COOPER

Dr Mann! Dr Mann! Do not, repeat do not attempt to open the hatch! If you –

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS

| 245
---|---

_In_ SILENCE _Dr Mann looks through the hatch window. Hits the button opening the outer door –_

EXT. ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS | 246
---|---

_The outer door of the Ranger_ SLIDES OPEN. _Several grapples are_ OPENING AND CLOSING BLINDLY, _trying to seal the join –_

INT. COCKPIT, LANDER – CONTINUOUS | 247
---|---

_Cooper looks at Case_ –

COOPER

What happens if he blows the hatch?

CASE

Nothing good.

COOPER

Pull us back!

 _Case hits the retro-thrusters._

BRAND

Case, relay my transmission to his onboard computer, and have it rebroadcast as emergency p.a. –

BRAND

( _hits transmitter_ )

DR MANN, DO NOT OPEN THE IN—

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS

| 248
---|---

_Silence. Dr Mann takes a breath, reaches for the inner lever_ –

BRAND

( _over radio_ )

— _PEAT – DO NOT OPEN INNER HATCH!_

_Dr Mann is_ STARTLED _by the voice. He hits the transmitter –_

DR MANN

Brand, I don't know what Cooper's told you, but I'm taking control of the Endurance, then we'll talk about continuing the mission. This is not _my_ survival, or Cooper's – this is _mankind's_ –

_Turns back to the lever_... PULLS IT –

A DEVASTATING RUSH OF AIR YANKS HIM INTO THE AIRLOCK –

EXT. ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS

| 249
---|---

_The_ ESCAPING AIR AND DEBRIS _push Endurance into a slow_ SPIN...

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER – CONTINUOUS

| 250
---|---

_Dr Mann is_ HAMMERED _by debris as the airlock starts to_ RIP APART –

EXT. ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS

| 251
---|---

_The ship_ SPINS FASTER AND FASTER – _the Ranger is_ RIPPED AWAY, FRAGMENTING, SHREDDING THE CLOSEST MODULE OF THE RING.

INT. COCKPIT, LANDER – CONTINUOUS

| 252
---|---

_They_ STARE _in_ HORROR _as their ship is sent_ SPINNING OFF ITS ORBIT TOWARDS THE PLANET –

BRAND

Oh, my God.

 _Cooper_ GRABS _the sticks –_ HITS _the thrusters –_

EXT. ORBIT, DR MANN'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS | 253
---|---

_The_ CRIPPLED _Endurance is in a_ FAST FLAT SPIN, _heading down towards the stratosphere –_

_The lander_ FLIES _after it_ , DODGING _the Ranger debris –_

INT. COCKPIT, LANDER – CONTINUOUS | 254
---|---

_Cooper's eyes are glued to the Endurance as he flies –_

CASE

Cooper, there's no point using our fuel to –

COOPER

Just analyze the Endurance's spin –

BRAND

What're you doing?!

COOPER

Docking.

EXT. ORBIT, DR MANN'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS

| 255
---|---

_The_ DIZZYING SPIN _of the Endurance as it_ PLUMMETS _towards the_ ATMOSPHERE –

_The lander_ ROCKETS _after it_ , CLOSING SLOWLY –

INT. COCKPIT, LANDER – CONTINUOUS

| 256
---|---

_Cooper pours on the power –_

CASE

Endurance rotation is 67, 68 RPM –

COOPER

Get ready to match it on the retro-thrusters –

CASE

It's not possible –

COOPER

No. It's _necessary_.

EXT. ORBIT, DR MANN'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS

| 257
---|---

_The_ SPINNING ENDURANCE _starts to encounter the_ STRATOSPHERE – _heating up –_

INT. COCKPIT, LANDER – CONTINUOUS | 258
---|---

_Brand looks ahead at the spinning ship –_

CASE

Endurance is hitting stratosphere –

BRAND

She's got no heat shield –!

 _Cooper checks the lander's speed against Endurance – pulls back on thrust as they come in below it –_

EXT. STRATOSPHERE, DR MANN'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS | 259
---|---

_The lander is_ PERILOUSLY CLOSE _to the_ RED HOT UNDERSIDE _of the_ SPINNING ENDURANCE. _The lander_ BANKS _sideways, bringing its airlock within_ FEET _of the spinning Endurance_ –

INT. COCKPIT, LANDER – CONTINUOUS

| 260
---|---

_Cooper looks sideways at the spinning hull –_

COOPER

Case, you ready?

CASE

Ready.

 _Cooper watches the spinning hull, suddenly_ UNCERTAIN –

CASE

Cooper? ( _Off look_.) This is no time for caution.

COOPER

( _grins_ )

If I black out, take the stick – Tars, get ready to engage the docking mechanism – Brand, hold tight –

CASE

Endurance is starting to heat –

COOPER

HIT IT!

 _Case hits the_ RETRO-THRUSTERS _. The view_ SPINS –

EXT. STRATOSPHERE, DR MANN'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS

| 261
---|---

_The lander goes into a_ FASTER AND FASTER SPIN _as it, with Endurance,_ PLUMMETS _towards the planet –_

INT. COCKPIT, LANDER – CONTINUOUS | 262
---|---

LIGHT FLASHES _across their faces as the G-force of the spin_ PULLS THEM AGAINST THEIR RESTRAINTS. _Cooper_ STRUGGLES _to stay conscious – they_ BUFFET AGAINST THE ATMOSPHERE –

_Tars opens the airlock – the Endurance hatch above him is now_ SLOWLY ROTATING _relative to him..._

EXT. STRATOSPHERE, DR MANN'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS | 263
---|---

_The_ GLOWING HOT _Endurance and the lander_ PLUMMET, SPINNING _towards the ice planet, whose curvature is_ FAST DISAPPEARING –

INT. AIRLOCK, LANDER – CONTINUOUS

| 264
---|---

_Tars peers up as_ THE SPIN SPEEDS MATCH. _He waits as the_ BUFFETING _moves the hatches_... THEY LINE UP – _he_ FIRES _the_ GRAPPLES – _they don't connect – the hatches moved –_

INT. COCKPIT, LANDER – CONTINUOUS | 265
---|---

_Brand loses consciousness – Cooper watches the instruments, not the dizzying view, on the point of_ RED OUT –

COOPER

Come on, Tars... come on...

INT. AIRLOCK, LANDER – CONTINUOUS

| 266
---|---

_Tars sees the hatches roll back into_ ALIGNMENT. _He_ FIRES AGAIN – _this time_ THE GRAPPLES HOLD –

TARS

GOT IT!

INT. COCKPIT, LANDER – CONTINUOUS | 267
---|---

_Cooper registers this. Case fires the retro-rockets to slow the spin._

COOPER

Gen— gentle, Case...

EXT. STRATOSPHERE, DR MANN'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS

| 268
---|---

_The two craft_ , NOW JOINED, _start to spin more_ SLOWLY...

INT. COCKPIT, LANDER – CONTINUOUS

| 269
---|---

_Cooper eases back into his seat as the G-force lessens –_

COOPER

Get ready to pull us up –

 _The spin is slowing to almost nothing –_

EXT. STRATOSPHERE, DR MANN'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS | 270
---|---

_Parts are_ RIPPING _off the Endurance in the_ HEAT –

INT. COCKPIT, LANDER – CONTINUOUS

| 271
---|---

_Cooper_ EASES _into_ POWER _on the main thrusters –_

COOPER

Come on. You can do it...

EXT. STRATOSPHERE, DR MANN'S PLANET – CONTINUOUS

| 272
---|---

_The_ THRUSTERS _on the lander start to_ DRAG _both ships back up away from the planet, the heat_ DIMINISHING –

INT. COCKPIT, LANDER – CONTINUOUS | 273
---|---

_Cooper pulls back on the sticks,_ RELIEF _washing over him. Brand comes to... Cooper turns to Case, grinning –_

COOPER

Right? And for our next trick...

CASE

It'll have to be good. We're heading into Gargantua's pull –

 _Cooper's smile fades. He_ UNBUCKLES –

COOPER

Take her –

INT. RING MODULE, ENDURANCE – MOMENTS LATER

| 274
---|---

HISSING STEAM – RUSHING AIR – WHIRLING DEBRIS _as Tars and Cooper (in suit and helmet) lock down different_ BULKHEADS –

_Brand (in suit and helmet)_ FLOATS _alongside the_ POPULATION BOMB, _checking the equipment –_

CASE

( _over radio_ )

Cooper, we're slipping towards Gargantua – shall I use main engines?

COOPER

No! Let her slide as long as we can –

 _Cooper_ FLIES _over to Tars, who is welding a bulkhead –_

COOPER

Give it to me.

TARS

There's good news and bad news –

COOPER

I've heard that one, Tars – just give it to me straight.

INT. SAME – MOMENTS LATER

| 275
---|---

_Cooper_ SCRAMBLES _to where Brand is checking her equipment._

COOPER

The navigation mainframe's destroyed and we don't have enough life support to make it back to Earth. But we might scrape to Edmunds' planet.

BRAND

What about fuel?

COOPER

Not enough. But I've got a plan – let Gargantua suck us right to her horizon – then a powered slingshot around to launch us at Edmunds.

BRAND

Manually?

COOPER

That's what I'm here for. I'll take us just inside the critical orbit.

BRAND

And the time slippage?

COOPER

Neither of us can afford to worry about relativity right now.

BRAND

I'm sorry, Cooper.

 _They embrace, delicately touching faceplate to faceplate._

EXT. ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS | 276
---|---

_The_ CRIPPLED _Endurance_ FALLS _towards the_ HEART OF DARKNESS _among the stars..._

INT. COCKPIT, LANDER – DAY | 277
---|---

_Cooper looks ahead at Gargantua. Preparing for battle._

EXT. ENDURANCE – MOMENTS LATER | 278
---|---

_The lander_ DETACHES, _shifting its orientation_...

COOPER

( _over radio_ )

Once we've gathered enough speed around Gargantua – we use the lander 1 Ranger 2 as rocket-boosters to push us out of the black hole's gravity...

 _The lander_ REATTACHES _to the rear of the ring module._

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER 2 – CONTINUOUS | 279
---|---

_Cooper slides into Ranger 2 – checking the systems._

COOPER

The linkages between landers are destroyed...

INT. COCKPIT, LANDER – CONTINUOUS

| 280
---|---

_Tars sits at the controls, running similar checks..._

COOPER

( _over radio_ )

So we'll control manually. When Lander 1's spent, Tars will detach...

TARS

And get sucked into that black hole.

INT. RING MODULE, ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS

| 281
---|---

_Brand and Case listen to Cooper and Tars over the radio._

BRAND

Why does he have to detach?

COOPER

( _over radio_ )

We have to shed mass if we're gonna escape that gravity.

TARS

( _over radio_ )

_Newton's third law – the only way humans have ever figured out of getting somewhere is to leave something behind._

BRAND

Cooper, you can't ask Tars to do this for us –

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER 2 – CONTINUOUS

| 282
---|---

_Cooper puts his hands on the controls –_

COOPER

He's a robot, Amelia – I don't have to _ask_ him to do anything.

INT. RING MODULE, ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS

| 283
---|---

_Brand is furious –_

BRAND

Cooper, you _asshole_ –

COOPER

( _over radio_ )

Sorry, you broke up a little there.

TARS

( _over radio_ )

It's what we intended, Dr Brand...

INT. COCKPIT, LANDER – CONTINUOUS

| 284
---|---

_Tars sits at the controls, ready._

TARS

It's our last chance to save people on Earth – if I can find some way to transmit the quantum data I'll find in there, they might still make it.

INT. RING MODULE, ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS

| 285
---|---

_Brand considers this._

BRAND

If there's someone still there to receive it...

EXT. ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS

| 286
---|---

_The Endurance_ ACCELERATES _towards the darkness..._

INT. RING MODULE, ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS | 287
---|---

_The black hole's gravity makes the ship_ SHUDDER _... Brand, helmet on, tightens her harness..._

EXT. ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS

| 288
---|---

_The Endurance_ STREAKS _above the glowing horizon_ , SKIRTING _the_ BLACKNESS _beneath_...

INT. COCKPIT, LANDER – CONTINUOUS

| 289
---|---

_Tars looks out at the_ DARK OCEAN...

EXT. ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS

| 290
---|---

_The ship orbits the black hole with_ BLINDING ACCELERATION –

INT. RING MODULE, ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS

| 291
---|---

_The ship is_ SHAKING _with_ GRAVITATIONAL ENERGY...

CASE

MAXIMUM VELOCITY ACHIEVED... PREPARE TO FIRE ESCAPE THRUSTERS –

INT. COCKPIT, LANDER – CONTINUOUS

| 292
---|---

_Tars checks his instruments –_

TARS

Ready.

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER 2 – CONTINUOUS

| 293
---|---

_Cooper checks his instruments –_

COOPER

Ready.

INT. RING MODULE, ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS

| 294
---|---

_Brand looks out at the glowing horizon. Glances fearfully at the darkness below... Case puts his hand on the button –_

CASE

Main engine ignition in three, two, one, mark –

 _Case hits the button –_

EXT. ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS

| 295
---|---

_The_ MAIN ENGINES FIRE – STRAINING AGAINST GARGANTUA...

INT. RING MODULE, ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS

| 296
---|---

_Brand feels the thrusters_ STRAIN _to lift the craft –_

CASE

Lander 1 engines, on my mark, three, two, one, mark –

INT. COCKPIT, LANDER – CONTINUOUS

| 297
---|---

_Tars hits the button –_

TARS

Fire.

EXT. ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS

| 298
---|---

_Lander 1's engines_ FIRE _, adding to the thrust. The Endurance starts_ RISING _away from the darkness..._

CASE

( _over radio_ )

Ranger 2's engines, on my mark – three, two, one, mark –

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER 2 – CONTINUOUS

| 299
---|---

_Cooper hits the button –_

COOPER

Fire.

EXT. ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS

| 300
---|---

_Ranger 2's engines add a fresh_ BLAST _of fire, pushing the Endurance higher and higher... back into the starlight..._

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER 2 – CONTINUOUS | 301
---|---

_Cooper, shaking with the thrust, looks at his instruments –_

COOPER

That little maneuver cost us fifty-one years...!

INT. RING MODULE, ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS

| 302
---|---

_Brand holds on tight –_

BRAND

You don't sound so bad for a hundred and twenty!

EXT. ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS

| 303
---|---

_Lander 1's engines_ DIE OUT...

CASE

( _over radio_ )

Lander 1, prepare to detach, on my mark... three...

INT. RING MODULE, ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS

| 304
---|---

_Brand looks over at the lander –_

CASE

Two...

INT. COCKPIT, LANDER 1 – CONTINUOUS

| 305
---|---

CASE

( _over radio_ )

One... mark –

 _Tars hits a switch –_

TARS

Detach.

INT. RING MODULE, ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS

| 306
---|---

_Brand sees Lander 1_ DROP, _revealing Cooper in Ranger 2..._

BRAND

Goodbye, Tars...

TARS

( _over radio_ )

_See you on the other side, Coop..._

_Something in this makes Brand frown,_ PUZZLED...

EXT. ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS

| 307
---|---

_Lander 1_ FALLS _behind as the Endurance continues to_ RISE...

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER 2 – CONTINUOUS

| 308
---|---

_Cooper checks his dwindling fuel supply..._

COOPER

Hey, Case? Nice reckless flying.

CASE

( _over radio_ )

Learned from the master.

EXT. ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS

| 309
---|---

_As Lander 1_ FALLS _back towards Gargantua, Ranger 2's engines_ DIE OUT...

INT. RING MODULE, ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS

| 310
---|---

_Case registers the burnout._

CASE

Ranger 2, prepare to detach –

 _Brand looks up_ , SHOCKED –

BRAND

NO!

 _She_ UNBUCKLES –

CASE

On my mark –

FLIES _to the window looking onto Cooper –_

BRAND

What are you doing!

CASE

Three...

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER 2 – CONTINUOUS

| 311
---|---

_Cooper looks across at Brand._

COOPER

Newton's third law – you have to leave something behind.

CASE

( _over radio_ )

Two...

INT. RING MODULE, ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS

| 312
---|---

_Brand pushes her helmet up against the window,_

BRAND

You _told me_ we had enough power –

CASE

One...

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER 2 – CONTINUOUS

| 313
---|---

_Cooper looks at her, fondly –_

COOPER

Hey, we agreed – ninety percent.

CASE

( _over radio_ )

Mark...

 _Cooper reaches for the button. Takes one last look at Brand – inside her helmet, Brand is crying, zero-G tears catching in her eyelashes like melted snowflakes._

_Cooper hits the button. But the word catches in his throat –._

COOPER

Detach –

EXT. ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS

| 314
---|---

_Ranger 2_ DROPS AWAY _from the Endurance..._

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER 2 – CONTINUOUS | 315
---|---

_Cooper sees the Endurance_ ACCELERATE AWAY _to a bright point as he_ FALLS AND FALLS... _Cooper starts to breathe_ FASTER –

EXT. GARGANTUA – CONTINUOUS

| 316
---|---

_Ranger 2_ PLUMMETS _towards blackness as the horizon_ GLOWS BRIGHTER _and_ BRIGHTER – _distorted starlight, plasma jets..._

INT. COCKPIT, RANGER 2 – CONTINUOUS | 317
---|---

_Cooper, trying to control his breathing, uses retro-rockets to_ TURN _the lander down. He_ GASPS _at the_ FLAMING HORIZON –

COOPER

( _over radio_ )

Tars? Are you there?

STATIC – _Ranger 2_ TILTS _down_ – INKY BLACKNESS _ahead_ –

INT. ENDURANCE – CONTINUOUS

| 318
---|---

_Brand, crying, monitors Cooper's lonely transmissions..._

EXT. GARGANTUA – CONTINUOUS | 319
---|---

_Ranger 2_ PLUNGES _towards the black hole. We hear Cooper's panic breathing get_ LOUDER _and_ LOUDER _until_ –

_Ranger 2_ SHUDDERS _with_ EXPONENTIALLY RISING GRAVITATIONAL ENERGY _as it_ CROSSES THE HORIZON – PLUNGING TOWARDS THE SINGULARITY – ALL WAVELENGTHS OF LIGHT CASCADING WITH HIM –

AS WE –

PLUNGE INTO ABSOLUTE...

WHITE –

_Not a whiteout – a_ SHIMMERING CAVALCADE OF ALL WAVELENGTHS: LIGHT, SOUND, EVERYTHING... _the_ SPHERICAL INSIDE OF THE BLACK HOLE, _like a_ STAR _turned_ INSIDE OUT. COOPER IS SCREAMING _and we_ CUT _to –_

BURNING CORN – _men fighting a fire, Tom leading,_ GESTURING –

INT. MURPH'S BEDROOM – TWILIGHT

| 320
---|---

_Murph (forty) sits on the bed, looking into the_ BOX _. She pulls out the_ LUNAR LANDER MODEL, _looks up at the books_...

GETTY

( _O.S._ )

Come on, Murph! We don't have much time!

EXT. GARGANTUA – DAY

| 321
---|---

A BLACK DOT _appears_ , RUSHING TOWARDS US _to become_ – A DARK SPHERE – _we_ PLUNGE _through it into_ SILENT DARKNESS – _a_ WHITE SPHERE _races towards us –_

_Just as the wormhole was a spherical hole_ , THESE SPHERES ARE HOLES WITHIN HOLES... _we are dropping through_ A FOUR-DIMENSIONAL RABBIT HOLE – LIGHT/DARK/LIGHT/DARK/LIGHT/DARK _with_ BLINDING RAPIDITY – _the frequency almost_ SPEAKING. _Cooper_ _hangs on for dear life_ –

COMPUTER VOICE

( _O.S._ )

FUEL CELL OVERLOAD. DESTRUCTION IMMINENT. INITIATE EJECTION.

 _Cooper is_ LAUNCHED _out of Ranger 2, which_ EXPLODES, _and_ , PULLED _to one side_ , MISSES A WHITE HOLE – PLUNGING INSTEAD TOWARDS A SMALLER GLASS-LIKE SPHERE –

_Cooper slows as he falls towards this sphere, reminiscent of the wormhole, but the light within is not stars but an infinity of_ WORLD LINES – ( _paths of objects through spacetime_ ) –

_Cooper_ PLUNGES INTO THE WORLD SPHERE...

_As he falls his_ SINGLE WORLD LINE _stretches behind him – the_ INFINITE FUTURES OF HIS WORLD LINE _splitting ahead to all the different possibilities in spacetime –_

_Cooper himself is now like a ring being pulled down a cone of fabric. He_ STARES _at the_ ORDERED CHAOS _of world lines_...

_As he_ SLOWS _his past and future world lines_ BREAK UP _so they become like_ INFINITE REFLECTIONS IN PARALLEL MIRRORS...

_Cooper's world line_ DROPS _into a_ SMALL, SQUARE TUNNEL –

INT. THE TESSERACT – CONTINUOUS

| 322
---|---

_Tight enough to feel_ BLINDINGLY FAST _at first, but Cooper (and his_ INFINITE OTHERS) _is actually_ SLOWING... _Cooper_ DESPERATELY _reaches out_ , KNOCKING _the sides of the tunnel_ , TRYING _to slow himself_ – GRAPPLING – KICKING 'BRICKS' _out of the 'walls'. He finally_ STOPS _. Looks around in the_ SUDDEN CALM, FLOATING, _catching his breath. He reaches out to the tunnel wall –_ CONFUSED –

_Each 'brick' is_ TIGHTLY PACKED PAPER... PAGES... BOOKS – AS SEEN FROM BEHIND A SHELF...

_Cooper_ PUSHES _against a book – it_ MOVES SLIGHTLY. _Cooper_ PUSHES, HARDER AND HARDER AND HARDER –

_The book drops out of sight, revealing –_

_Murph, aged ten, wet hair, towel around her neck,_ TURNS, STARTLED _by_ THE BOOK FALLING FROM HER SHELF.

COOPER

Murph? Murph?

 _She can't hear him..._

INT. MURPH'S BEDROOM – MORNING | 323
---|---

_Murph (ten) stands there, startled,_ STARING _at the bookshelves. At the book on the floor, a broken toy beside it..._

INT. MURPH'S BEDROOM – TWILIGHT | 324
---|---

_Murph (forty) looks at the bookshelves_ , REMEMBERING...

INT. THE TESSERACT – CONTINUOUS

| 325
---|---

_Cooper watches Murph (ten) cautiously approach – she_ CROUCHES. _Picks something up –_

INT. MURPH'S BEDROOM – TWILIGHT

| 326
---|---

_Murph (forty) turns the lunar lander in her hands. Thinking._

INT. MURPH'S BEDROOM – DAY | 327
---|---

_Murph (ten) stands up holding the broken_ LUNAR LANDER...

INT. THE TESSERACT – CONTINUOUS

| 328
---|---

_Cooper watches Murph (ten) examine the two pieces of the_ LUNAR LANDER MODEL –

COOPER

MURPH! MURPH!

 _She turns... leaves the room... Cooper floats there, staring. He_ LOOKS _around – each 'wall' of the tesseract is a different view of Murph's bedroom, so that by rotating he can effectively orbit her room..._

_He claws his way down to the next book wall._ PUNCHES _out two books –_

_Murph's bedroom, empty. The door opens, Cooper's_ EARLIER SELF _is standing there, staring at the room, perturbed. Murph (ten) joins Cooper, staring at the empty room..._

_Cooper_ LASHES _out at the books – kicks a book out_ – SPOTS –

_Murph (ten) closes her door, crying, sliding the desk in front –_

INT. MURPH'S BEDROOM – TWILIGHT | 329
---|---

_Murph (forty) feels the desk. She puts her hand on the back of the chair, tilts it slightly, remembering –_

INT. THE TESSERACT – CONTINUOUS | 330
---|---

_Cooper watches Murph (ten) put_ A CHAIR ON TOP OF THE DESK. _The earlier Cooper nudges the door open –_

INT. MURPH'S BEDROOM – EVENING | 331
---|---

_Murph (ten) sees the door_ NUDGING _against the desk and chair –_

MURPH

Just go. If you're leaving – just leave now.

INT. THE TESSERACT – CONTINUOUS

| 332
---|---

_Cooper, the frustrated observer, spins around to see his_ EARLIER SELF  _nudging the door –_

COOPER

( _to his earlier self_ )

Don't go, you idiot!

 _His Earlier Self shuts the door_...

COOPER

Don't leave your kids. You goddamn fool.

 _Cooper_ PUNCHES OUT _books with all his strength_ –

COOPER

S... T...

 _Murph (ten) is watching, no longer scared, fascinated –_

COOPER

A... Y...

 _Cooper_ STOPS _. Catches his breath. Waits..._

_Earlier Cooper lifts the chair off the table to enter._

_Cooper watches his earlier self,_ FRUSTRATED _–_

COOPER

Stay, you idiot! Tell him, Murph! Stay...

 _As before, Cooper gives Murph the_ WATCH _... Murph_ THROWS THE WATCH _and_ TURNS AWAY _..._

COOPER

Murph, tell him again! Don't let him leave...!

INT. MURPH'S BEDROOM – TWILIGHT

| 333
---|---

_Murph (forty) picks up the notebook. Opens it. Finds the word '_ STAY _'... looks up at the books,_ REALIZING...

INT. THE TESSERACT – DAY

| 334
---|---

_Cooper is crying with frustration_...

COOPER

Murph, don't let me leave...

 _Cooper watches as his earlier self heads to the door_ –

COOPER

STAY!!

 _Cooper_ SMASHES _a book from the shelf with all his might –_

_His earlier self turns back. Looks at the book. Then leaves._

_Cooper rests his head against the books,_ SOBBING _._

INT. MURPH'S BEDROOM – TWILIGHT | 335
---|---

_Murph (forty) lowers her notebook, moves to the bookshelves_ , IN AWE...

MURPH

Dad... it was you. You were my ghost...

 _She is crying. Joyful._

INT. THE TESSERACT – DAY | 336
---|---

_Cooper sobs at the back of the books. Lost_...

TARS

( _over radio_ )

_Cooper_?

_Cooper,_ STARTLED _, turns. Tars is not there._

COOPER

You survived.

TARS

( _over radio_ )

_Somewhere. In their fifth dimension. They saved us_...

COOPER

( _frustrated_ )

Who's 'They'? And why would they help us?

TARS

( _over radio_ )

_I don't know, but they constructed this three-dimensional space inside their five-dimensional reality to allow you to understand it..._

COOPER

It isn't working –!

TARS

( _over radio_ )

_Yes, it is. You've seen that time is represented here as a physical dimension – you even worked out that you can exert a force across spacetime –_

COOPER

( _realizing_ )

Gravity. To send a message...

 _Cooper looks around the infinite tunnel, infinite Coopers._

COOPER

Gravity crosses the dimensions – including time –

 _Cooper_ THINKS _... He pulls himself up to a different wall, starts counting books_...

And you have the quantum data, now –

TARS

( _over radio_ )

_I'm transmitting it on all wavelengths – but nothing's getting out_...

COOPER

I can do it –

 _Cooper_ HITS _a book's world line, sending a_ WAVE...

TARS

( _over radio_ )

_Such complicated data... to a child_...

COOPER

Not just any child.

INT. MURPH'S BEDROOM – TWILIGHT

| 337
---|---

_Murph (forty) stands there, looking at her old notebook – the page that says_ 'STAY'...

GETTY

( _O.S_.)

MURPH?! COME ON!

 _She looks around the room,_ SEARCHING _for an answer_...

EXT. THE TESSERACT – DAY

| 338
---|---

_Cooper watches Murph (ten) looking out the window_...

TARS

( _over radio_ )

_Even if you communicate it here, she wouldn't understand its significance for years_...

_Cooper is seized by a sudden anger_ –

COOPER

Then figure something out! Everybody on Earth is going to die!

TARS

_Cooper, they didn't bring us here to change the past._

_Cooper hears something in this –_

COOPER

We brought ourselves here...

 _Cooper_ PUSHES _off, looking through the gaps in the books. Murph's bedroom, full of_ DUST _in the_ DUST STORM –

COOPER

Tars, feed me the coordinates of NASA in binary...

 _Cooper is in the room now, drawing a pattern in the dust..._

_Cooper watches Murph (ten) burst into the room. Murph stops and stares at the dust as Cooper's Earlier Self comes in past her,_ SLAMS _the window shut – sees the_ PATTERN _of dust..._

INT. MURPH'S BEDROOM – TWILIGHT | 339
---|---

_Murph (forty) runs her finger along the_ DUST _of the windowsill... She turns to look around the room. Frustrated._

MURPH

Come on, Dad. Is there something else here...?

INT. TESSERACT – CONTINUOUS

| 340
---|---

_Cooper looks up from the floor –_

COOPER

Don't you see, Tars? I brought myself here. We're here to communicate with the three-dimensional world. We're the bridge...

 _Cooper moves to another iteration of Murph's room. Murph (ten)_ JUMPS _up_ – GRABS _the_ WATCH, RUNS _out the door_...

INT. MURPH'S BEDROOM – TWILIGHT

| 341
---|---

_Murph (forty) looks at the watch, remembering. The second hand_ TWITCHES _. She drops the watch back into the box..._

INT. TESSERACT – CONTINUOUS | 342
---|---

_Cooper pushes himself along the world line of the books_...

COOPER

I thought they chose me – they never chose me – they chose Murph.

TARS

( _over radio_ )

_For what?_

COOPER

To save the world!

 _Murph (ten) comes back into her bedroom,_ SOBBING _. She is holding the watch. She puts it on the shelf._

INT. MURPH'S BEDROOM – TWILIGHT | 343
---|---

_Murph (forty) puts the box back on the shelf_. SIGHS...

INT. TESSERACT – CONTINUOUS

| 344
---|---

_Cooper races_ FASTER _and_ FASTER _down the world lines._

COOPER

'They' have access to infinite time, infinite space...

 _Cooper gestures at the_ INFINITIES _in all directions_...

COOPER

But no way to find what they need – but I can find Murph and find a way to tell her – like I found this moment –

TARS

( _over radio_ )

_How?_

COOPER

Love, Tars. Love – just like Brand said – that's how we find things here.

TARS

( _over radio_ )

_So what are we here to do?_

_Cooper looks around the tesseract. The watch sits there on the shelf for as long as he can see_...

COOPER

The watch. That's it. She'll come back for it –

TARS

_How do you know?_

COOPER

Because I gave it to her. We use the second hand. Translate the data into Morse and feed it to me –

 _Tars starts to transmit. Cooper_ GRABS _the second-hand world line – starts to_ MANIPULATE _it, sending waves down the world line..._

TARS

What if she never came back for it?

COOPER

She will. She will... I _feel it_...

_The second hand is_ FLICKING _back and forth_...

INT. MURPH'S BEDROOM – TWILIGHT

| 345
---|---

_Murph (forty) turns to leave_...

GETTY

( _O.S_.)

MURPH, HE'S COMING!

 _She pauses. Goes back to the box – reaches in._ PULLS OUT THE WATCH... _staring at it... wondering_...

GETTY

( _O.S_.)

MURPH?! MURPH...?!

EXT. FARMHOUSE – TWILIGHT

| 346
---|---

_Getty is holding a tire iron, watching_ TOM'S TRUCK APPROACH. _Lois and Coop_ STARE, FEARFUL, _from the truck_...

_Tom_ APPROACHES, BLACK _from soot_...

_Murph_ BURSTS _out of the house... right up to Tom_...

MURPH

Tom, he came back... he came back...

TOM

Who?

 _She holds up the watch_...

MURPH

Dad. It was him. All this time... it was him. He's going to save us...

CLOSE ON _the second hand of the watch,_ FLICKING _back and forth –_

INT. PROFESSOR BRAND'S OFFICE – DAY | 347
---|---

_Murph furiously_ TRANSCRIBES _the movements of the second hand_ –

INT. CORRIDOR, NASA – LATER

| 348
---|---

_Murph, papers in hand,_ RUNS _down the corridor,_ BUMPS _into Getty – doesn't stop..._

INT. LAUNCH FACILITY – CONTINUOUS | 349
---|---

_Murph runs to the railing of the catwalk above the enormous construction, looks down at the thousands of workers below. Getty comes out after her, curious. She looks at him, then_ SHOUTS OUT _to the enormous space_...

MURPH

EU–RE–KA!

 _She turns to Getty_ – GRINNING.

Well, it's traditional.

 _She_ THROWS _her paper out over the railing –_

EUREKA!!

 _Workers look up to see her papers flitting down_...

EXT. THE TESSERACT – DAY

| 350
---|---

_Cooper looks out at the world line of the watch, of Murph, as it leads out into infinite complexity_...

COOPER

Did it work?

TARS

( _over radio_ )

_I think it might have._

COOPER

( _hopeful_ )

Why?

TARS

( _over radio_ )

_Because the bulk beings are closing the tesseract_...

_Cooper looks out to the distance – it is_ RAPIDLY APPROACHING, WORLD LINES BECOMING WORLD SHEETS, BECOMING BULKS...

COOPER

Don't you get it, yet, Tars? 'They' aren't ' _beings_ '... they're _us_... trying to help... just like I tried to help Murph...

TARS

( _over radio_ )

_People didn't build this tesseract_ –

COOPER

Not yet... but one day. Not you and me but _people_ , people who've evolved beyond the four dimensions we know...

_The tesseract_ EXPANSION BACK INTO FIVE DIMENSIONS IS ALMOST UPON THEM – _Cooper_ BRACES HIMSELF –

COOPER

What happens now –?

BAM – _he is swept up in the expansion like a tiny leaf on a_ CHURNING WAVE –

_Cooper_ FLIES _through the_ EXPANDING COSMOS, _past_ PLANETS ORBITING STARS, WHICH BECOME ATOMIC PARTICLES, WHICH BECOME MATTER, BECOMING STARS...

_Cooper_ APPROACHES A GLASSY TUBE. _Inside is the_ OLD, UNDAMAGED ENDURANCE. _As Cooper looks in from the bulk he sees: Brand, strapped in, Doyle opposite, traversing the wormhole for the first time_...

_Cooper_ REACHES _for Brand... She sees something, reaches up – their hands would touch if they weren't in different dimensions, her fingers distorting the space of his fingers_ –

WHAM! _She, and the Endurance, are_ SWEPT PAST – _Cooper is_ SMASHED _into the spacetime of the wormhole – he_ SCREAMS AND WE –

INT. OUTER SPACE – LATER

| 351
---|---

_Cooper_ FLOATS _, dead or unconscious, near Saturn. In the distance we see two Rangers approaching..._

INT. HOSPITAL ROOM – DAY

| 352
---|---

_Cooper's eyes flicker open. A bright room with an open window, net curtains obscuring the view. We hear the_ CRACK _of a baseball off a bat. Children_ LAUGHING.

VOICE

( _O.S_.)

Mr Cooper? Mr Cooper?

_Cooper looks over to see a Nurse and a Doctor watching him. He tries to sit up._

DOCTOR

Take it slow, sir. Remember you're no spring chicken any more. ( _Amused_.) I gather you're one hundred and twenty-four years old. ( _Checks Cooper's chart._ ) You were extremely lucky. The Rangers found you with only minutes left in your oxygen supply –

COOPER

Where am I?

 _The Doctor, almost surprised,_ TURNS _, moves to the window, opens the curtains. Where Cooper should see sky, he sees a_ CURVING UPSIDE-DOWN TOWN...

DOCTOR

Cooper Station. Currently orbiting Saturn.

 _The Nurse helps Cooper to the window. He looks out at the_ VAST CYLINDRICAL STATION – _cornfields and buildings. Outside his window, kids are playing baseball. The batter hits a_ POP FLY _... the kids watch it up and up, until it carries on, falling up towards the buildings above. The kids_ SHOUT _a warning – the ball smashes a skylight. Cooper watches the kids laugh._

COOPER

Nice of you to name the place after me.

 _The Nurse giggles. The Doctor shoots her a look_ –

What?

DOCTOR

The station wasn't named after you, sir... It was named after your daughter.

 _Cooper smiles at this_...

DOCTOR

Although, she's always maintained just how important you were –

COOPER

Is she... ( _Braces_.) still alive?

DOCTOR

She'll be here in a couple weeks. She's really far too old for a transfer from another station, but when she heard you'd been found... well, this _is_ Murphy Cooper we're talking about.

COOPER

( _marveling_ )

Yes, it is...

 _The Doctor is wrapping up_ –

DOCTOR

We'll have you checked out in a couple days.

 _Cooper turns back to the window, thinking_...

ADMINISTRATOR

( _V.O_.)

I'm sure you'll be excited to see what's in store...

INT. HANGAR, COOPER STATION – DAY

| 353
---|---

_The_ ADMINISTRATOR, _thirties, leads Cooper along a walkway_ –

ADMINISTRATOR

We've got a nice situation for you...

 _Cooper looks down at a line of_ SLEEK NEXT-GENERATION RANGERS. _Sees a_ PILOT _climb into one. Mechanics work another_...

ADMINISTRATOR

I actually did a paper on you in high school, sir. I know all about your life on Earth...

EXT. TOWN SQUARE, COOPER STATION – CONTINUOUS

| 354
---|---

_Cooper looks at the strangely ordinary town the Administrator is walking him through_...

ADMINISTRATOR

So when I made my suggestion to Ms Cooper, I was delighted to hear that she thought it was perfect...

EXT. FARMHOUSE – CONTINUOUS

| 355
---|---

_The Adminstrator leads Cooper through a cornfield... The old farmhouse is there, preserved. As Cooper approaches, a small monitor starts playing the footage of_ OLD-TIMERS _from the start of the movie._

ADMINISTRATOR

Of course, I didn't speak to her personally...

 _As Cooper passes the monitor it changes to a_ FAMILIAR OLD LADY, _but Cooper misses it_...

INT. KITCHEN, FARMHOUSE – CONTINUOUS

| 356
---|---

OLD-TIMERS _play on video screens: a museum exhibit. The Administrator holds the door open for Cooper._

ADMINISTRATOR

But she confirmed just how much you loved farming.

COOPER

She did, huh?

 _Cooper looks over the kitchen. Cooper sees a familiar-looking articulated machine –_

COOPER

Is that...?

ADMINISTRATOR

The machine we found out near Saturn when we found you, yes. Its power source was shot, but we could get you another if you want to try and get it up and running again.

 _Cooper turns to the Administrator._

COOPER

Please.

INT. HANGAR, COOPER STATION – EVENING

| 357
---|---

_Cooper, from the catwalk, watches the last of the Rangers come back from patrol. The_ PILOT _jumps down as the ground crew wheels it into its place in the line of sleek ships._

INT. KITCHEN, FARMHOUSE – NIGHT

| 358
---|---

_Cooper has Tars' head laid out on the kitchen table._

TARS

_Settings: general settings, security setting_ –

COOPER

Honesty. New level setting. Ninety-five percent.

TARS

_Confirmed. Additional customization?_

COOPER

Yes. Humor, seventy-five percent. Wait. ( _Thinks_.) Sixty percent.

INT. HOSPITAL WAITING ROOM – DAY

| 359
---|---

_Cooper enters, nervous. A nurse is there._

COOPER

Is she –?

NURSE

The family's all in there.

COOPER

The family?

NURSE

They all came along to see her – she's been in cryo-sleep for almost two years.

INT. HOSPITAL ROOM – CONTINUOUS

| 360
---|---

_Cooper cautiously pushes open the door. The bed is surrounded by people, grown-up children, grandchildren, babies... They turn to look at him: some_ SMILES _, some_ CURIOUS _looks, a small child_ HIDES _behind a parent's leg..._

_Cooper approaches, and the family parts to let him see an_ ELDERLY WOMAN _, lying in the bed,_ FRAIL _._

_She looks up at Cooper. Delighted. Tears of joy. She reaches up to him... he takes her hands._

COOPER

Murph.

MURPH

Dad. ( _To the others_.) Please.

_Her voice is a frail whisper. With authority. The family shuffles out. Cooper watches them go, turns back to Murph._

COOPER

You told them I like _farming_.

_Murph smiles, still mischievous. Cooper marvels at her._

COOPER

Murph, it was me. _I_ was your ghost.

MURPH

I know...

 _She lifts her wrist – the_ WATCH _is there_...

MURPH

People didn't believe me, they thought I'd done it all myself... ( _Taps watch._ ) But I knew who it was...

COOPER

A father looks in his child's eyes and thinks – maybe it's them – maybe my child will save the world.

MURPH

And everyone, once a child, wants to looks into their own dad's eyes and know he saw. But, usually, by then, the father is gone. Nobody believed me, but I knew you'd come back.

COOPER

How?

MURPH

Because my dad promised me.

 _Cooper is crying now._

COOPER

I'm here now. I'm here for you, Murph.

 _Murph is shaking her head._

MURPH

No parent should have to watch their child die. My kids are here for me now. Go.

COOPER

Where?

MURPH

( _it's so obvious_ )

Brand.

 _And the family comes back in as Cooper releases Murph's hand, stepping back to let Murph's kids and grandkids swarm over her... He watches them, their love, as if from another dimension. A man out of time. A ghost._

MURPH

( _V.O_.)

She's out there...

EXT. EDMUNDS' DESERT PLANET – DAY

| 361
---|---

_Brand, in suit and helmet, stands watching Case excavate a pod, buried under a massive rock fall. She is crying._

MURPH

( _V.O_.)

Setting up camp...

EXT. HANGAR, COOPER STATION – NIGHT

| 362
---|---

MECHANIC _finishes looking over one of the sleek new Rangers. He packs his tools and heads out._

_A figure unfolds itself in the shadows – Tars. He picks his way through the shadows, unlocks the door. Cooper_ DARTS _in_...

EXT. EDMUNDS' DESERT PLANET – DAY

| 363
---|---

_Brand kneels in front of a small_ CROSS _. Edmunds' nameplate hangs from it._

MURPH

... Alone in a strange galaxy...

 _She unseals her helmet_ – PULLS IT OFF...

INT. HANGAR, COOPER STATION – NIGHT

| 364
---|---

_Cooper and Tars scurry down the line of sleek ships. Cooper points – Tars starts working the hatch mechanism, while Cooper_ KEEPS WATCH...

EXT. EDMUNDS' DESERT PLANET – DAY

| 365
---|---

_Brand, helmet off,_ BREATHES _. And breathes again._

MURPH

( _V.O._ )

Maybe, right now, she's settling in for the long nap...

INT. RANGER IN HANGAR, COOPER STATION – NIGHT

| 366
---|---

_Cooper_ STRAPS _into the pilot's chair, Tars beside him. The outer doors slide open. They look out at the inky blackness of space_...

EXT. EDMUNDS' DESERT PLANET – DUSK

| 367
---|---

_Brand looks at the setting sun_...

MURPH

( _V.O._ )

By the light of our new sun...

INT. HANGAR, COOPER STATION – MORNING

| 368
---|---

_The Mechanic opening up, walks along the row of ships until_ –

_One is_ MISSING.

EXT. EDMUNDS' DESERT PLANET – DUSK

| 369
---|---

_Brand turns from the dwindling light_...

MURPH

( _V.O_.)

In our new home.

 _She heads down through the twilight towards camp. And we –_

_Fade out._

_Credits._

_End._

#  THE STORYBOARDS

_drawn by Gabriel Hardman_

## DR MANN VS COOPER

## DR MANN FAILS TO DOCK

## BLACK HOLE

# Credits

A WARNER BROS. PICTURES
and
PARAMOUNT PICTURES
Presentation
In Association with LEGENDARY PICTURES
A SYNCOPY/LYNDA OBST PRODUCTIONS Production

_A Film by_
CHRISTOPHER NOLAN

INTERSTELLAR

_Directed by_
CHRISTOPHER NOLAN
_Written by_
JONATHAN NOLAN _and_ CHRISTOPHER NOLAN
_Produced by_
EMMA THOMAS, p.g.a.
CHRISTOPHER NOLAN, p.g.a.
LYNDA OBST, p.g.a.
_Executive Producers_
JORDAN GOLDBERG, JAKE MYERS
KIP THORNE, THOMAS TULL
_Director of Photography_
HOYTE VAN HOYTEMA, F.S.F, N.S.C.
_Production Designer_
NATHAN CROWLEY
_Edited by_
LEE SMITH, A.C.E.
_Music by_
HANS ZIMMER
_Visual Effects Supervisor_
PAUL FRANKLIN
_Costumes Designed by_
MARY ZOPHRES
_Casting by_
JOHN PAPSIDERA, CSA

MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY
ANNE HATHAWAY
JESSICA CHASTAIN
ELLEN BURSTYN
JOHN LITHGOW
and MICHAEL CAINE

CASEY AFFLECK • WES BENTLEY • BILL IRWIN
MACKENZIE FOY • TOPHER GRACE • DAVID GYASI

_Unit Production Manager_ DANIEL M. STILLMAN
_First Assistant Director_ NILO OTERO
_Second Assistant Director_ BRANDON W. LAMBDIN

CAST
(in order of appearance)
---
|  |  |
| Murph (older) |  | ELLEN BURSTYN
| Cooper |  | MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY
| Murph (10 Yrs.) |  | MACKENZIE FOY
| Donald |  | JOHN LITHGOW
| Tom (15 Yrs.) |  | TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET
| School Principal |  | DAVID OYELOWO
| Ms. Hanley |  | COLLETTE WOLFE
| Boots |  | FRANCIS XAVIER McCARTHY
| TARS |  | BILL IRWIN
| Brand |  | ANNE HATHAWAY
| Smith |  | ANDREW BORBA
| Doyle |  | WES BENTLEY
| Williams |  | WILLIAM DEVANE
| Professor Brand |  | MICHAEL CAINE
| Romilly |  | DAVID GYASI
| CASE |  | JOSH STEWART
| Tom |  | CASEY AFFLECK
| Lois |  | LEAH CAIRNS
| Murph |  | JESSICA CHASTAIN
| Coop |  | LIAM DICKINSON
| Getty |  | TOPHER GRACE
| Mann |  | MATT DAMON
| Girl on Truck |  | FLORA NOLAN
| Boy on Truck |  | GRIFFEN FRASER
| Doctor |  | JEFF HEPHNER
| Nurse Practitioner |  | LENA GEORGAS
| Administrator |  | ELYES GABEL
| Nurse |  | BROOKE SMITH
| Crew Chief |  | RUSS FEGA
|  |  |
| Stunt Coordinator |  | GEORGE COTTLE
|  |  |
Stunts
DIZ SHARPE • MARK FICHERA • MICHAEL P. LI • KEVIN ABERCROMBIE
MARIE FINK • SEAN MORRISSEY • DAN BROWN • GREG HARRIS
MARK NORBY • STEVE DE CASTRO • TERRY JACKSON • AARON TONEY
EDWARD A. DURAN • JESS KING • FRANK TORRES • WADE EASTWOOD • ALICIA VELA-BAILEY
|  |  |
| Special Effects Supervisor |  | SCOTT FISHER
|  |  |
| Associate Editor |  | JOHN LEE
| Post Production Supervisor |  | DAVID E. HALL
| Visual Effects Producer |  | KEVIN ELAM
| Sound Designer/Supervising Sound Editor |  | RICHARD KING
| Re-Recording Mixers |  | GARY A. RIZZO
|  |  | GREGG LANDAKER
| Production Controller |  | HELEN MEDRANO
| Production Supervisor |  | MICHELLE BRATTSON MAJORS
| Supervising Art Director |  | DEAN WOLCOTT
| Script Supervisor |  | STEVEN R. GEHRKE
| Chief Lighting Technician |  | HAROLD J. SKINNER
| Key Grip |  | HERB AULT
| IMAX Consultant |  | DAVID KEIGHLEY
| Art Directors |  | JOSHUA LUSBY • ERIC DAVID SUNDAHL
| Assistant Art Directors |  | JENNE LEE • TRAVIS WITKOWSKI
|  |  |
Set Designers
NOELLE KING • SALLY THORNTON • ANDREW BIRDZELL • MARK HITCHLER
MARTHA JOHNSTON • PAUL SONSKI • ROBERT WOODRUFF
|  |  |
| Graphic Designer |  | PHILLIS LEHMER
| Illustrator |  | GABRIEL HARDMAN
| Concept Artists |  | STEVE BURG • ROMEK DELIMATA
NATHANIEL WEST
| Lead Model Makers |  | GREGORY JEIN • ADAM MULL
| Clearance Coordinator |  | KRYSTAL MacKNIGHT
| Set Decorator |  | GARY FETTIS
| Leadman |  | MARK WEISSENFLUH
| Buyer |  | HELEN KOZORA-TELL
| On Set Dresser |  | TOM CALLINICOS
| Property Master |  | RITCHIE KREMER
| Assistant Property Master |  | CURTIS CORBITT
| Camera Operator |  | SCOTT SAKAMOTO
| First Assistant "A" Camera |  | GREGORY IRWIN
| Second Assistant "A" Camera |  | TULIO DUENAS
| First Assistant "B" Camera |  | PHILIP SHANAHAN
| Second Assistant "B" Camera |  | DAN SCHROER
| Loader |  | JONATHAN CLARK
| IMAX Camera Technician |  | SCOTT C. SMITH
| Aerial Director of Photography |  | HANS BJERNO
| Pilots |  | CRAIG HOSKING • DAVID PARIS
| Still Photographer |  | MELINDA SUE GORDON
| Production Sound Mixer |  | MARK WEINGARTEN
| Boom Operator |  | MIKE PRIMMER
| Sound Utility |  | DAVID FISKE RAYMOND
| Key Video Assist/Computer Video Supervisor |  | RICK WHITFIELD
| Computer Engineer |  | VINCE PARKER
| 24 Frame Playback |  | CHRIS HILL
| Graphics Supervisor |  | CHRIS KIEFFER
| Graphics |  | COPLIN LeBLEU
| Production Accountants |  | NOLAN MEDRANO • ANTHEA STRANGIS
|  |  |
Assistant Accountants
PAM DES VIGNE • EDWARD PANNOZZO • JILL HAHN • HELLEN MARIN
LINDA GRIFFIS • RICHARD S. WILSON • LISA M. KISNER
|  |  |
| Production Coordinator |  | KARLA TORRES
| Assistant Production Coordinator |  | MARJORIE RUDICK
| Production Secretary |  | LANCE MALBON
| Travel Coordinator |  | KAREN RAMIREZ
| Second Second Assistant Director |  | GREGORY PAWLIK
| Additional Second Assistant Directors |  | JASON KEMP • DILLON NEAMAN
|  |  |
Set Production Assistants
OLIVIA McCALLUM • SPENCER TAYLOR • LINDSEY FREDIEU
GEORGE WILLIAMS, III • KATE HENNESSY • KELLY MITCHELL
|  |  |
Production Assistants
CHRIS RABY • BRANDON STEWART • FRANK REINA • EMILY HOANG
|
| Assistants to Mr. Nolan & Ms. Thomas |  | ANDY THOMPSON • HILLARY CUNIN
| Make-up Department Head |  | LUISA ABEL
| Key Make-up Artist |  | JAY WEJEBE
| Make-up Artist/Prosthetics |  | KENTARO YANO
| Hair Department Head |  | PATRICIA DEHANEY
| Key Hair Stylist |  | JOSE L. ZAMORA
| Costume Supervisor |  | LYNDA FOOTE
| Key Costumers |  | LEIGH BELL • ROBIN BORMAN-WIZAN
STACIA LANG • LINDA BENAVENTE-NOTARO
| Key Set Costumers |  | TOM CUMMINS • KELLY PORTER
| Set Costumer |  | MARK AVERY
|  |  |
Costumers
LAUREN PRATTO • MAUREEN O'HERON • LAURA WONG
MARIA SUNDEEN • SOPHIA CORONADO • LETICIA SANDOVAL
|  |  |
| Ager/Dyer |  | ROB PHILLIPS
| Suit Technicians |  | JAMES SCHEXNAYDRE • GREG FINNIN DOMINICK DeRASMO
| Location Manager |  | MANDI DILLIN
|  |  |
Assistant Location Managers
MICHAEL GLASER • KEOMANEE VILAYTHONG • JUSTIN HARROLD
JORGE LUIS ALVAREZ • MANNY PADILLA • LORI RUSSELL
|  |  |
| Assistant Chief Lighting Technician |  | CLIVE RICHARDS
| Rigging Gaffer |  | JOHN MANOCCHIA
| Rigging Best Boy |  | ANTHONY OFRIA
| Best Boy Grip |  | SHANNON DEATS
| Dolly Grips |  | RYAN MONRO • PETER CLEMENCE
| Rigging Key Grip |  | OSCAR GOMEZ
| Rigging Best Boy |  | DUSTIN AULT
| Special Effects Technical Consultant |  | TOM FISHER
|  |  |
Special Effects Foremen
MARIO VANILLO • RONALD GOLDSTEIN • CLARK TEMPLEMAN • MATTHEW DOWNEY
ROLAND LOEW • KIRK BARTON • JAMES ROLLINS • JOHN DOWNEY • JOSEPH E. JUDD
|  |  |
Special Effects Technicians
TERRY HAMBLETON • ROBIN REILLY • RYAN ARNDT • MICHAEL RIFKIN
ARTHUR CLEVER • FRANCIS J. AYRE, JR. • RONALD EPSTEIN • SCOTT ROARK
DARREN McCORMICK • NEAL GARLAND • MARK STANTON • ROBERT SLATER
|  |  |
| First Assistant Editors |  | ERIC A. LEWY • LAURA RINDNER
| Assistant Editors |  | DONALD LIKOVICH • WILLIAM FLETCHER
PAULA SUHY • JACKSON YU
| Post Production Coordinator |  | ADAM COLE
| Post Production Assistants |  | BOBBIE SHAY • GABRIEL DIAZ • JEREMY NAIL
| First Assistant Sound Editors |  | ANDREW BOCK • LINDA YEANEY
| Dialogue Editor |  | HUGO WENG
| ADR/Dialogue Editor |  | R. J. KIZER
| Sound Effects Editors |  | MICHAEL W. MITCHELL • JEFF SAWYER
| Additional Sound Design |  | KEN J. JOHNSON • AARON GLASCOCK
| Sound Effects Recording Mixers |  | JOHN FASAL • ERIC POTTER
| Additional Re-Recording |  | Mixer MICHAEL BABCOCK
| Foley Supervisor |  | CHRISTOPHER FLICK
| Foley Editors |  | MICHAEL DRESSEL • SCOTT CURTIS
| Foley Artists |  | JOHN ROESCH • ALYSON DEE MOORE
| Foley Mixers |  | MARYJO LANG • KYLE ROCHIN
| ADR Mixer |  | THOMAS J. O'CONNELL
| Mix Technician |  | RYAN MURPHY
| Mix Stage Engineer |  | TONY PILKINGTON
| Supervising Music Editor |  | ALEX GIBSON
| Music Editor |  | RYAN RUBIN
| Music Production Services |  | STEVEN KOFSKY
| Sequencer Programming |  | ANDREW KAWCZYNSKI • STEVE MAZZARO
| Technical Score Engineer |  | CHUCK CHOI
| Digital Instrument Design |  | MARK WHERRY
| Supervising Orchestrators |  | BRUCE FOWLER • WALT FOWLER
| Orchestra Conducted by |  | GAVIN GREENAWAY • RICHARD HARVEY
| Organ Soloist |  | ROGER SAYER
| Steel Guitar Soloist |  | CHAS SMITH
| Violin Soloist |  | ANN MARIE SIMPSON
| Tuned Percussion Soloist |  | FRANK RICOTTI
| Orchestra Leader |  | THOMAS BOWES
| Score Recorded at |  | LYNDHURST HALL, AIR STUDIOS TEMPLE CHURCH
| Score Recorded and Mixed by |  | ALAN MEYERSON
| Score Recorded by |  | GEOFF FOSTER
| Assistant Engineer |  | JOHN WITT CHAPMAN
| Supervising Score Coordinator |  | SHALINI SINGH
| Score Coordinators |  | CYNTHIA PARK • CZARINA RUSSELL
| Visual Effects Editors |  | STEVE MILLER • TOM BARRETT
| Visual Effects Assistant Editors |  | SCOTT WESLEY ROSS • CHRISTY RICHMOND
| Visual Effects Production Supervisors |  | CATHERINE LIU • ELAINE ESSEX THOMPSON
| Visual Effects Coordinators |  | TYLER OTT • KATIE STETSON
| Visual Effects Data Wrangler |  | JOE WEHMEYER
| Visual Effects Production Assistant |  | TIEN NGUYEN
| Construction Coordinator |  | BRIAN WALKER
| Construction Foremen |  | WILLIAM DALY, III • DARREL D. BRICKER
| Head Sculptor |  | GENE COOPER
| Paint Supervisor |  | LARRY CLARK
| Transportation Coordinator |  | DENNY CAIRA
| Transportation Captain |  | ROB MORTON
| Set Medic |  | KEVIN CANAMAR
| Technical Consultant |  | MARSHA IVINS
| Head Greensman |  | STEVE HANKS
| Head Plasterer |  | JEFF HOUSE
| Welding Foreman |  | STEVE SALAZAR
| Casting Associate |  | DEANNA BRIGIDI-STEWART
| Casting Assistant |  | SOPHIE RAGIR
| Catering |  | CHEF ROBERT CATER
| Craft Service |  | LAURA BAGANO
|  |  |
ALBERTA UNIT
|  |  |
| Unit Production Manager |  | CASEY GRANT
| Art Directors |  | KENDELLE ELLIOTT • GARY KOSKO
| Art Department Coordinator |  | JOEL TOBMAN
| Art Department Trainee |  | CRAIG STEPHENS
| Property Master |  | KEN WILLS
| Assistant Property Master |  | KELLY WILLS
| First Assistant "B" Camera |  | DOUG LAVENDER
| Second Assistant "B" Camera |  | JEFF SAYLE
| Loader |  | ADRIENNE WYSE
| Post Production Assistant |  | KATRINA CARRASCO
| Set Decorator |  | PAUL HEALY
| On Set Dresser |  | STEVEN KAJORINNE
| Set Dressers |  | DREW BAKGAARD
JACK CROWELLS
| Still Photographer |  | MICHELLE FAYE
| Video Technician |  | JOHN SANDERSON
| Production Sound Mixer |  | DREW KUNIN
| Boom Operator |  | MURRAY FORWARD
| Production Accountant |  | CHRISTIAN FELDHAUS
|  |  |
Assistant Accountants
JENNIFER OMOTH • STEFANI ROCKWELL • BRENDA McCLELLAN • VICKI PLATERO
|  |  |
| Production Coordinators |  | JILL CHRISTENSEN • KIM GODDARD-RAINS
| Assistant Production Coordinators |  | KAARI M. AUTRY • STACEY DOUGLAS
| Second Assistant Director |  | GARY HAWES
| Third Assistant Director |  | MEGAN SHANK
| Set Production Assistants |  | GIANNA ISABELLA • SCOTT SIKMA
Production Assistants
EVAN GODFREY • SARAH JANE TROHIMCHUK • MARK LAWS • STEPHEN KIEVIT • ASHLEY MacMILLIAN
|  |  |
| Costume Supervisor |  | HEATHER MOORE
| Set Costumers |  | MARY HYDE-KERR • SHARON TEMPLEMAN
| Key Hair |  | JOHN ISAACS
| Hair Stylist |  | DEBORAH KLIEWER
| Make-up Artist |  | PEARL LOUIE
| Location Manager |  | BRUCE BROWNSTEIN
| Chief Lighting Technician |  | MARTIN KEOUGH
| Rigging Gaffer |  | SEAN OXENBURY
| Key Grip |  | JOHN KUCHERA
| Best Boy Grip |  | KENT OGILVIE
| Assistant Location Manager |  | MATT PALMER
| Assistant Chief Lighting Technician |  | COLIN ALLEN
| Rigging Best Boy |  | KURT ZELMER
| Dolly Grip "B" Cam |  | TIMOTHY MILLIGAN
| Key Rigging Grip |  | ROSS LONG
| Best Boy Rigging Grip |  | IVAN HAWKES
| Special Effects Coordinator |  | JAMES PARADIS
|  |  |
Special Effects
TODD BILAWCHUK • JEFF BUTTERWORTH • STEW DePASS • DON DOLAN • RODNEY DOLAN
KURT JACKSON • AMANDA PALLER • GARY PALLER • DOM SMART
|  |  |
| Construction Coordinator |  | CRAIG HENDERSON
| Construction Foremen |  | JIMMY BRUDER • CHARLIE CAMPBELL
GARY PATT
| Lead Carpenters |  | PIERRE BARTLETTE • BARRY CAMERON
| Lead Painter |  | RALPH SARABIA
| Paint Foremen |  | JOSE OLIVA • AARON McCULLOUGH
| On Set Painter |  | DAVID CLARK
| Greens Supervisor |  | DAN ONDREJKO
| Transportation Coordinator |  | GRANT McPHEE
| Transportation Captain |  | TYLER MILLER CONNERY
| Medic |  | AVALINE ADSHEAD
| Plaster Foreman |  | JAMES DENTON
| Lead Greens |  | CORAL TILBURY-DAMBRA
| On Set Greens |  | CHERYL ALLSEN
| Stunt Coordinator |  | LAURA LEE
| Catering |  | KEITH CHURCH
|  |  |
ICELAND UNIT
| Production Services |  | SAGAFILM PRODUCTIONS
| Line Producer |  | ARNI BJORN HELGASON
| Unit Production Manager |  | BIRNA PAULINA EINARSDOTTIR
| Art Director |  | EDDI KETILSSON
| Assistant Prop Master |  | OLAFUR JONASSON
| Production Accountant |  | GENE STRANGE
| Assistant Production Accountant |  | LENA SCHMIGALLA
| Production Supervisor |  | DEB SCHWAB
| Production Coordinator |  | INGA BJORK SOLNES
| Assistant Production Coordinators |  | MO STEMEN • GUDLAUG O. THORISDOTTIR
|  |  |
Production Assistants
FINNUR THOR KARLSSON • HEIDRUN T. HARALDSDOTTIR • SIGRIDUR SIGGA MARROW
|  |  |
| Second Second Assistant Director |  | VALGEIR GUNNLAUGSSON
|  |  |
Set Production Assistants
JANA MARIA GUDMUNDSDOTTIR • THORUNN GUDLAUGSDOTTIR • HREFNA HAGALIN
|  |  |
| Gaffer |  | NILS WALLIN
| Key Grip |  | ATLI THOR THORGEIRSSON
| Special Effects Foremen |  | GUNNAR KVARAN • R.J. HOHMAN
| Special Effects Technicians |  | JON ANDRI GUDMUNDSSON • DAVID GEIR JONSS
| Location Manager |  | FRIDRIK ASMUNDSSON
| Transportation Coordinator |  | STEINARR LOGI NESHEIM
| Assistant Location Manager |  | SILJA HAUKSDOTTIR
| Transportation Captain |  | EINAR G. EINARSSON
| Catering |  | GUDMUNDUR KOKKUR • ERLINGUR ORN KARLSS
| Medic |  | JOHANNES ANDRI KJARTANSSON
|  |  |
Visual Effects by DOUBLE NEGATIVE LTD.
|  |  |
| Visual Effects Supervisor |  | ANDREW LOCKLEY
| CG Supervisors |  | EUGÉNIE VON TUNZELMANN • DAN NEAL
| Compositing Supervisor |  | JULIA REINHARD NENDICK
| Previsualization Supervisor |  | FARAZ HAMEED
| Animation Supervisor |  | DAVID LOWRY
| CG Effects Supervisor |  | NICHOLAS NEW
| Matchmove Supervisors |  | CHRIS COOPER • SIMON PYNN
| CG Lighting Supervisor |  | LAURENT HAMERY
| Software Development Supervisor |  | OLIVER JAMES
| Visual Effects Editors |  | CRYSTAL HADCROFT • SIMON J WILLIAMS
| Visual Effects Digital Color Timers |  | GARRY MADDISON • SCOTT ANDERSON
| Production Supervisor |  | ALLISON GARDNER

Line Producers
---
GRAEME PUTTOCK |  | HARRISON GOLDSTEIN |  | JENNY BASEN
Visual Effects Coordinators
ENG SZE JIA |  | GRETEL NG |  | KIRSTY DAVIES-BHAKAR
LINDA BARSOTTI |  | MARILUZ NOTO |  | MAXIMILIAN McNAIR MacEWAN
MONICA ØSTBØ ØSTGÅRD |  | MONIFA ANDREW |  | TIMOTHY TRIMMINGS
Compositing Sequence Supervisors
GRAHAM PAGE |  | ISAAC LAYISH |  | RAPHAEL HAMM
SEBASTIAN VON OVERHEIDT |  |  |  | TRISTAN MYLES
CG Sequence Supervisors
BRUNO BARON |  | CHANTELLE WILLIAMS |  | FABIO ZANGLA
SETH DUBIENIEC |  |  |  | TOM BRACHT
Lead Digital Artists
ALAN STUCCHI |  | ELHAM BINSENIN |  | NATHAN GARDNER
|  | OLIVER ATHERTON |  |
ADAM GAILEY |  | ADRIEN FLANQUART |  | ANDREW SCRASE
ANDY GUEST |  | BLAKE WINDER |  | BRUNO EBÉ
CRAIG TONKS |  | DAVID FERNANDEZ |  | GAVINTHOMAS
GRAHAM HUDSON |  | IACOPO DI LUIGI |  | JOHN SERU
LEANDRO PEDRONI |  | LUCY SALTER |  | MARTIN CUTBILL
MASSIMO PASQUETTI |  | PETE HOWLETT |  | PETER FARKAS
ANDREW McEVOY |  | ANGELO STANCO |  | ANTON NAZARETH
ANTON SMIT |  | ANTONIO MEAZZINI |  | AVINASH BHANDARY
BEN HICKS |  | BENJAMIN KHAN |  | BENOIT TERMINET SCHUPPON
BUN YUE CHOY |  | BYUNG GUN JUNG |  | CALEB CHOO
CAROLINE CHAI |  | CAROLINE JOURNO |  | CEDRIC LING
CEDRIC MENARD |  | CHETAN GAUR |  | CHEWTENG LIM
CHRISTIAN WAITE |  | CHRISTINA BRUCE |  | CHRISTOPHER COUPE
CHRISTOS PARLIAROS |  | CLAUDIA LECHEN |  | COJOCARU NICOLAE-GHEORGHE
DANIEL BALDWIN |  | DANIEL DUWE |  | DANIEL NICHOLSON
DAVID KIRCHNER |  | DIONE QUEK |  | DIRK BECKER
DORIAN KNAPP |  | ED PULIS |  | EUNICE ONG
EVA MATTHES |  | EWOUD HEIDANUS |  | FAVIAN EE
FELIX TAN |  | FINELLA FAN |  | FINLAY SUTTON
FIRDAUS AB LATIF |  | FRANCESCA DARE |  | GABRIEL TAN
GENGTONG NEO |  | GEORGE PLAKIDES |  | GERALD BLAISE
GIACOMO MATTEUCCI |  | GIANPIETRO FABRE |  | GONZALO SANCHEZ
HAYLEY BRAZELTON |  | HELEN JOHNSON |  | HENRY HIAH
HUW WHIDDON |  | IGNACIO CAICOYA |  | IGOR GONZALEZ VELAR
JACKY TOH |  | JAMIE HAYDOCK |  | JAMIE WONG
JEAN-FRANCOIS LEROUX |  | JEAN-NICOLAS COSTA |  | JENNI EYNON
JIM STEEL |  | JOAN NG |  | JOANNE TAI
JOE ENGELKE |  | JOHN GRESKO |  | JOHN O'LONE
JOHN PECK |  | JOHNNY LEE |  | JON HUDSON
JONATHAN PEREZ |  | JULES LISTER |  | KAMELIA CHABANE
KAMILLA BAK |  | KANIKA ANDREW |  | KARL RAPLEY
KEANAN SEAN CANTRELL |  | KEVIN SAN |  | KIRSTY CLARK
KOSTAS PANAGIOTOPOULOS |  | KRIS ANDERSON |  | KRISTOFER WHITFORD
LAILOK CHAU |  | LEONGKIT WONG |  | LOUISE FONTILLAS
LUIS PEREIRA |  | LUKE BUTLER |  | LUKE RAWCLIFFE
LYNN TAN |  | MARCO ENGELMANN SANTOS |  | MARCUS OLOFSSON
MARIJN EKEN |  | MARK YOUNG |  | MARKO RADINKOVIC
MARY STROUMPOULI |  | MATT SADLER |  | MATTHEW JACQUES
MELVIN HONG |  | MICHAEL BRAZELTON |  | MICHAEL CASHMORE
MICHAEL HOLM NIELSEN |  | MICHAEL WILBOURN |  | MICHELE BENIGNA
MICK HARPER |  | NAFISAH MOHAMED |  | NAVEEN SHUKLA
NEIL WEST |  | NGOC HENG |  | NIC HODGKINSON
NICK VAN |  | DIEM NIKI TURPIN |  | NITHIN BABU
OSCAR TORNINCASA |  | PABLO GIMENEZ |  | PATRICK MICHAEL BURKE
PATSY YUEN |  | PEIZHI HUANG |  | PETTER STEEN
PIERSON LIPPARD |  | RACHEL GREGSON |  | RAHUL VENUGOPAL
RAPHAËL GADOT |  | RASHABH BUTANI |  | RAYMOND TAN
RICKY CHEUNG |  | ROBERT SEATON |  | RODRIGO DORSCH
RYAN SEYMOUR |  | RYAN WOODWARD |  | SAM DAWES
SEBASTIAN BECKER |  | SHAILENDRA PANDEY |  | SHERMAINE TOH
SHRADDHA UPPU |  | SHRAMANA HALDAR |  | SIMON-PIERRE PUECH
STANISLAV KOLEV |  | STEPHEN PAINTER |  | SULLIVAN RICHARD
SUSANNE BECKER |  | TANIA RICHARD |  | THERESE JOHANSSON
THOMAS SALAMA |  | TIMOTHY RUSSELL |  | TITO FERNANDEZ
TOM COLLIER |  | TRYSTAN JAMES |  | UPASANA SHANKER
VAIBHAV A MARATHE |  | WAYNE LIM |  | WILLIAM FOULSER
WILLIAM VAN DAO |  | YAK HONG YUNG |  | YASUNOBU ARAHORI
YUKO KIMOTO |  | ZELJKO BARCAN |  | ZOHAIB AHSAN
Research & Development
SYLVAN DIECKMANN |  | PAUL-GEORGE H. ROBERTS |  | ROBERT JOHN DAVIES
OLIVER HARDING |  | GEORGE ZARGIANNAKIS |  | SIMON PABST
Technical Support
MILES DRAKE |  | LAURIE PELLARD |  | KAT TYSOE
PHILLIPS PENDLEBURY |  | LISA WOOD |  | CARLOS PEREZ-LOPEZ
ADAM BARNETT |  | DANNY LING |  | CHRIS EBORN
Technical Support
MILES DRAKE |  | LAURIE PELLARD |  | KAT TYSOE
PHILLIPS PENDLEBURY |  | LISA WOOD |  | CARLOS PEREZ-LOPEZ
ADAM BARNETT |  | DANNY LING |  | CHRIS EBORN

Visual Effects by NEW DEAL STUDIOS, INC.
---
Visual Effects Supervisor |  | IAN HUNTER
Visual Effects Producer |  | DAVID SANGER
Senior Modelers |  | BRANDEN W. SEIFERT • CHRIS HAWTHORNE
Senior Workshop Technicians |  | JONATHAN FABER • BEN RECORD
Senior SFX Technicians |  | SCOTT BEVERLY • RICHARD O. HELMER
Visual Effects Director of Photography |  | TIMOTHY E. ANGULO
Motion Control Operator |  | JOSHUA CUSHNER
Visual Effects Camera |  | JAMES THIBO • CRAIG SHUMARD
Model Unit Gaffer/Key Grip |  | TIM McARDLE • OTTO BETANCOURT
Visual Effects Coordinators |  | KATIE GARCIA • LEAH SARGENT
|  |
Opticals by |  | CUSTOM FILM EFFECTS
MOTION PICTURE IMAGING
Titles by |  | SCARLET LETTERS
Color Timer |  | MATO DER AVANESSIAN
Negative Cutters |  | MO HENRY • ANDREA FICELE
JIM HALL • CHRISTIE MEYER

'Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night' by DYLAN THOMAS

Filmed on location in Los Angeles, U.S.A., Alberta, Canada, and Iceland

The Producers would like to thank:

Ken Burns, Dayton Duncan, Florentine Films, PBS, and those interviewed for The Dust Bowl who participated in the making of this film:
Sam Arguello, Minnie Louise Forester Briggs, Floyd Coen, Melbourne Headrick, Pauline Heimann Robertson, Charles Shaw, Don Wells, Lorene Del White, Dorothy Christenson Williamson

Sears Family

County of Lethbridge

U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Barstow Field Office and Inland Empire Film Commission

Filmed partly on location in Alberta, Canada, with the assistance of the Government of Alberta, Alberta Media Fund

With Support from Atvinnuvega- og Nýsköpunarráðuneytið – Ministry of Industries and Innovation

Soundtrack Album on

Camera and Lenses by PANAVISION® and IMAX®

Color and Prints by FOTOKEM

THIS MOTION PICTURE WAS SHOT AND FINISHED ON FILM

No person or entity associated with this film received payment or anything of value, or entered into any agreement, in connection with the depiction of tobacco products.

# Copyright

First published in 2014
by Faber and Faber Limited
Bloomsbury House
74–77 Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3DA
This ebook edition first published in 2014

Copyright © 2014 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
INTERSTELLAR and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. WB shield: ™ and © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

(s14)

Cover image: © as above

Storyboards drawn by Gabriel Hardman

Lines from 'Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night' by Dylan Thomas from _The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas: The Centenary Edition_ , published by Orion, are reproduced with permission

The rights of Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author's and publisher's rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly

ISBN 978–0571–31440–9

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaBook