How Interstellar Created the Most Realistic Black Hole in Film
By Ina Kim
While special effects could only visualize the impossible, fantastical scenes to life, Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar” offers a scientifically accurate black hole ever seen on the big screen.
The sci-fi film “Interstellar” has been praised for its accuracy in scientific elements throughout the film, due to its collaboration with renowned physicist Kip Thorne. These stunning visuals played on the big screen weren’t just to get viewers drawn in, but also to realize that these mass-produced planets are currently located in our galaxy right now.
So what makes the black hole in “Interstellar” so special? The black hole, Gargantua, took more than 100 hours to render because of the light-bending calculations based on Kip Thorne’s equations. Producing the black hole meant figuring out how light bends around a black hole using real physics, not only visual effects. Thorne’s new equations, which were made just for Garangtua, successfully showed how a real black hole would look.
Black holes are essentially invisible because their gravitational pull is so strong that no light can escape from them. However, the gravitational pull can actually bend light and space around the black hole. In “Interstellar”, we can see Gargantua spinning incredibly fast, pulling matter into a glowing disk around it. Simply put, the gravity caused the light to bend over and under Gargantua, creating a bright halo instead of a flat ring.
In reality, the 2019 Event Horizon Telescope image is one of the closest versions of Gargantua. Both the 2019 image and Gargantua have a glowing disk. However, Gargantua “ultimately showed a more artistic—bright and more symmetric—rendering of the black hole,” said Sara Issaoun, a member of the Event Horizon Telescope organization.
Although Gargantua is one of the most realistic black holes ever shown on screen, there were some intentional mistakes to create a more visually stunning black hole. The accretion disk around the black hole should appear brighter and bluer, while the other side should look dimmer and redder due to Doppler and gravitational effects. In “Interstellar”, these effects were toned down so the black hole wouldn’t be confusing to the audience. The accretion disk would also emit deadly X-rays and gamma rays, but in the film, these rays were shown as visible light so the astronauts could survive.
“Interstellar” has portrayed Gargantua in a balance between scientific accuracy and cinematic storytelling through real physics formulas by Kip Thorne. Because of his equations, “Interstellar” has offered audiences one of the most realistic visualizations of a black hole ever shown in cinema. While certain elements, such as differences in coloring, radiation, and symmetry, were intentionally adjusted for the aesthetics, the elements still show how beautifully made Gargantua is. “Interstellar” has proved itself time and time again to deliver a compelling and fantastic film experience. From emotional storylines to memorable film scores, it's almost like we are actually traveling in a spaceship near Gargantua.
