2014
Christopher Nolan shot Interstellar (2014) in Iceland in 2013, filming on the Svínafellsjökull glacier in Vatnajökull National Park and elsewhere in South Iceland.
The two locations stand in for two of the planets visited in the film. Svínafellsjökull became the frozen world of Dr Mann (Matt Damon), and an expanse of shallow water elsewhere in South Iceland became Miller's planet, where the crew lands in water that stretches to the horizon. Nolan shot both planet surfaces on location rather than building them digitally, with the ice planet captured on IMAX cameras on the glacier.
Interstellar was Nolan's second production in Iceland. He had filmed scenes for Batman Begins on the same glacier nearly a decade earlier.
The Iceland shoot lasted roughly ten days. A crew of up to 350 worked on the glacier scenes, bringing a large model of the film's spacecraft onto the ice. For Miller's planet, the script called for a vast expanse of water less than 30 centimetres deep, and a site in South Iceland met that requirement.
“We went to Iceland because, having shot sections for Batman Begins there, we knew the terrain very well. It's one of the few places in the world where you can get two or three very different, extreme looks, within the space of a couple of miles.” (Christopher Nolan)
For specific enquiries, contact the Iceland Film Commission.
