Director Yu Irie and designer Tairiku Okamoto talk about the movie “Interstellar” and the "crazy" Hamilton watch.

Cove: To be honest, the story of using analog technology without using CG is not a good promotion for the film. Not many people would come to a movie theater just to see an analog shot of a second hand. However, I have been thinking about this all day, and to use a word that sounds a little blue, I think people believe in miracles. When the second hand is moved by CG, the movement is programmed to be predictable. But if you shoot with an analog device, the hand of the person who made it will definitely be mixed in with his or her own peculiarities and individuality. For example, an explosion, the peculiarities of the person who set the gunpowder, the wind of the day, and the subtle reactions of the actors who were exposed to the blast. With CG, the image is 100% of what is in your brain, and I don't think Nolan himself would be very happy with that. I think he chooses analog as a way to create something beyond his imagination. I think Nolan's constant efforts to persuade producers to use analog, which is more expensive and time-consuming, is truly insane, and as a competitor, I bow down to him (laughs).

Continent: In my field of expertise, all clothes are actually sewn by hand. Surprisingly, many people seem to think that clothes are made automatically by robots, but someone sews every piece of clothing with a sewing machine. There is a craftsman in Okayama who has been sewing denim for me for a long time, and there are lines that only he can produce. He sews freehand, with free stitching, and it has a texture that can never be achieved with a machine. So I understand why Nolan insists on analog.

Cove: Nolan's science fiction films are actually very compatible with animation. Both "Inception" and "Interstellar" are easily animated. So if we let go of our commitment to analog, we would quickly be replaced by animation and image-generating AI. Ten years from now, there may be teenagers who can create that world view by themselves using AI. I think Nolan sees value in such things as working with Hamilton to develop a watch or finding costumes that match each character.

Continent: Even in the world of clothing, there are techniques that will be lost if they are not used continuously. There is a knitting factory in Wakayama that still operates on 100-year-old knitting machines, but they are very slow, of course. But there is a texture that can only be produced there. The reality is that things that can no longer be sewn because of the loss of sewing machines and processes that can no longer be made because of the loss of craftspeople are disappearing rapidly. There are certainly things that can only be preserved by continuing to make them.

Cove: Listening to you today, I really felt that those with rich stories will remain. In an age when AI is making it possible to create more and more images as data, I think we will see a polarization between those that have a back story and those that do not. I think there will be a polarization between those that have such a backstory and those that do not.

Continent: That's why I like Nolan's movies so much, I was reminded of that after talking to him today. It's like another story is fleshed out from the story of the film, and Nolan's films have so many different angles to it.

Cove: The fact that someone else intervenes makes the work look completely different. I think Nolan is probably the director who knows this better than anyone else.