Christopher Nolan’s films have earned millions of dollars for movie theaters, so it was no surprise that he was honored at a special luncheon at this year’s CinemaCon in Las Vegas, where theater owners gather to preview the studios’ slates for the coming year.

Speaking at the event, the Hollywood director was reluctant to share much information about his latest epic Interstellar, which he co-wrote with his brother and habitual collaborator Jonathan, other than offering a most cursory plot-summary: “Using interstellar travel to go to other places you couldn’t reach beyond normal space travel.”

For the moment that will have to suffice, but we’ll admit that with Nolan pictures, patience is often rewarded. Interstellar starring Matthew McConaughey and Sir Michael Caine, is in the early stages of editing and will be released in the U.S. November 17th. Nolan is somewhat of a holdout in Hollywood’s digital age, having shot all his films including Interstellar on celluloid. At CinemaCon he reiterated his loyalty to the old format and his disenchantment with digital filming, which he insists still lags behind in terms of resolution and contrast latitude. He also rejected the 3D format, suggesting that it’s not fit for an immersive cinematic experience, though he did praise Baz Luhrman’s work in last year’s
The Great Gatsby.

Known for his non-linear narrative structures, the 43-year-old director said that linear story telling was imposed on film in order to fit it for TV viewing. “Novels and plays were told nonlinearly since the days of the Greeks, so why not film?” he wondered. Before TV, he said, filmmakers made films to be seen in cinemas only, which enabled them to tell stories in non-linear format, as Orson Welles did in Citizen Kane. Although he appreciates the evolution of TV series, the small screen format is not something he wants to pursue.

The director of the Dark Knight Trilogy also promised new technologies that would enhance cinema-goers’ experience beyond what they achieve in watching TV at home. But he wouldn’t elaborate further other than that Interstellar will have a unique approach to sound mixing.

Sam Asi