Filmmaker Steven Spielberg has revealed that he was once attached to direct Interstellar before stepping away from the project, which was later helmed by Christopher Nolan.

Speaking to Empire magazine Disclosure Day press tour, Spielberg said he spent about a year developing the film after being brought on by producer Lynda Obst and astrophysicist Kip Thorne, who served as a scientific consultant.

“I was involved with Interstellar for a year… and I became fascinated with it,” Spielberg said. “I spent a lot of time at the [Jet Propulsion Laboratory] in Pasadena, California, talking to the scientists there and the aerospace engineers”.

Spielberg added that he had enlisted Jonathan Nolan to write early drafts of the script.

“I actually hired Chris Nolan’s brother [Jonathan] to write the first and second draft for me, but it didn’t stick,” he said. “Jonah actually said, ‘If there comes a point where you decide not to make this movie, I can tell you who’s gonna grab it. He’s already bugging me about it. And that’s my brother Chris.’ He was absolutely right. The second I decided not to make it, Chris jumped on board, probably the next day”.

“Interstellar was a much better movie in Chris Nolan’s hands than it would have been in mine,” he added.

Released in November 2014, Interstellar went on to gross USD 681 million worldwide and earned five Academy Award nominations, winning for best visual effects.

The film starred Matthew McConaughey as a NASA pilot leading a mission to save humanity, alongside Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Michael Caine and Timothee Chalamet.