Much of Interstellar is based on the work of Kip Thorne, a renowned physicist and one of the world’s leading experts on the astrophysical implications of Einstein’s general theory of relativity. He and film producer Lynda Obst came up with the idea of a film about “the most exotic events in the universe suddenly becoming accessible to humans.” Thorne co-wrote a treatment that Steven Spielberg was to direct for Paramount Pictures.

Eventually Christopher Nolan and his brother Jonathan scooped up the project. Thorne served as a consultant on the film. He tried to bring a measure of accuracy to what’s otherwise a fiction film that draws heavily on scientific theory.

For example, Thorne said he worked extensively on the film’s depiction of wormholes and the black hole. “[Nolan and I would discuss] how to go about it, and then I worked out the equations that would enable tracing of light rays as they traveled through a wormhole or around a black hole—so what you see is based on Einstein’s general relativity equations.”