The 'Interstellar' Cast on Keeping It All a Secret – And Who They Did Tell About It

For the past two years, since it was announced in early 2013 — and even dating back to its origins as a Steven Spielberg concept initially set up in 2006 — Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar has been one of Hollywood’s most secretive projects. In the age of constant speculation, rumors, gossip, and leaks in the blogosphere and in social media, keeping any movie this size shrouded in secrecy qualifies as a coup.

"It’s very important to try to preserve the experience for the audience," says Nolan (The Dark Knight trilogy, Inception). “I think Interstellar, more than any other film I’ve made, really benefits from people not knowing too much about the story.” (Which is why we will not provide you any plot details in this post.)

Star Matthew McConaughey — we’ll tell you this, he does go to space — had a very succinct synopsis to offer people when asked (begged?) for to hear what it was about: “I’d say, ‘It’s fifth-dimensional, man.’… And I’d just leave it at that. ‘That’s all you’re getting.’”

They had to have some kind of support system to spill to, right? Anne Hathaway says she would tell her husband Adam Schulman about it, and McConaughey his wife, Camila Alves. Meanwhile, Jessica Chastain didn’t even have the chance to try to tell one family member: “My brother would never want to be in the room if it was I was discussing it,” she says.

Interstellar is now in theaters.