A leaked email came to my attention recently, showing an intriguing connection between two of Christopher Nolan’s films, Interstellar (2014) and Oppenheimer (2023).

When films are done right, an extraordinary amount of attention paid to the smallest details. In one scene, J. Robert Oppenheimer is seen walking with a group of students. One of those students is Joseph W. Kennedy.

Kennedy, along with Glenn Seaborg, Edwin McMillan, and Arthur Wahl, would become known for discovering the radioactive element plutonium. This is where the writer of the email, who was involved in the casting of Oppenheimer, felt that a connection was established between Oppenheimer and Interstellar.

The parallels between Kennedy’s work on Plutonium and Interstellar’s themes of time and space are truly astounding. Plutonium—the very element Kennedy was instrumental in researching and transporting—not only fueled the atomic age but also powers the Voyager spacecraft. And here’s the remarkable connection: Voyager is the first man-made object to cross into interstellar space, powered by plutonium. This means Kennedy’s work directly enabled humanity’s journey into the stars, mirroring the explorations in Interstellar.

The email then goes on to explain that the casting of Troy Bronson as Joseph W. Kennedy was something of which the writer was very proud.

Now, I do need to clarify one detail. The plutonium that powers NASA’s spacecraft is plutonium-238, but the plutonium used for nuclear weapons is plutonium-239. Kennedy, Seaborg, McMillan, and Wahl discovered both variations.

That said, the email raises an interesting question: How far can plutonium-238 take us into deep space? Is the space travel shown in Interstellar really possible—assuming we can find a giant wormhole to take mankind to another galaxy? With the success of the Voyager 1 and 2 probes, the Cassini spacecraft, which orbited Saturn, as well as the Curiosity rover, which landed on Mars in 2012, it seems that we have a possible stable power supply. But the issue is plutonium-238’s limited availability. Restarting its production would be pricey. The cost would range between $50 million and $70 million over a span of five years. Thankfully, there seems to be an alternative to plutonium-238, Americium-241, which is going to be used by another Mars rover called Rosalind Franklin. European Space Agency hopes to launch this rover as early as 2028.

The UK’s National Nuclear Laboratory realized that Americium-241 could be used for atomic batteries instead of plutonium-238 back in 2009. That is good news because this element is plentiful; it’s a product of legacy waste created by nuclear reactors. So, if this new power supply proves successful, ships like the Endurance seen in Interstellar are theoretically possible.

To be honest, I wasn’t the biggest fan of Oppenheimer, and I’ve made my opinions about Interstellar known in reviews. But no one can deny these films’ quality when it comes to cinematography, music scores, and Nolan’s unique style of storytelling—linear plots are for chumps. I think one of the reasons for Nolan’s ability to consistently create such successful films is the attention to detail that this email demonstrates. If he continues to hire people who appreciate such details, I believe he will continue to succeed far into the future.