Christopher Nolan, the director who made Batman soar to arty heights and turned Leonardo DiCaprio into a top-spinning dream thief, is launching a cinematic space odyssey. As with every Nolan production, Interstellar is shrouded in secrecy that is either alluring or irritating, depending on your perspective. The story is set in a near future when Earth can no longer produce enough food to support the population. Matthew McConaughey is Cooper, a widower and engineer who leaves his two young kids to join a group of spacefaring scientists (including Anne Hathaway) to travel to planets beyond the solar system in search of solutions, if not a new home for humankind. ''It's a thrilling interaction between grand spectacle and intimate, intense relationships,'' says John Lithgow, who plays Cooper's father-in-law. (The star-studded cast also includes Jessica Chastain, Wes Bentley, Casey Affleck, Michael Caine, Ellen Burstyn, and possibly even Matt Damon in a cameo.) ''More so than many films of this genre, Chris found a way to make fantastic drama out of cosmic ideas and current human anxieties.''