When Matthew McConaughey was considering taking the role of a father and former astronaut in the science fiction movie "Interstellar," he says he thought of his son Levi.

"He was into space and I would explain things in the solar system and how we got on the moon and all these things, and [he'd have] these young, wondrous eyes trying to, you know, work this out in his head," McConaughey said. "That was the main gut reason why I had to do this film."

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The Oscar winner appears alongside fellow Academy Award winner Anne Hathaway and Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain in the Christopher Nolan film. They all sat down for an interview recently with ABC News' David Muir.

The film centers on a team of explorers that travels to another galaxy in search of another planet for humans to live on because Earth is in trouble over climate change.

The movie is due out Nov. 5 in select theaters and in wide release Nov. 7.

David Muir interviews the cast of "Interstellar." ABC News photo.

Nolan said that he was drawn to the emotion of the script, which was originally written by his brother Jonathan Nolan.

"My brother's original script has this amazing set of characters at the heart of it. This family who's sort of tested in this extraordinary way," he said. "And that's the thing that I most related to in the film."

Hathaway revealed that a particular scene during which her character cried had her hugging her castmates even more than usual.

"I immediately wanted to go out and find a comedy to act in," she said with a laugh.

Nolan and his crew turned to Kip Thorne, a renowned US theoretical physicist who has long studied the far reaches of the universe, for help on creating the black hole the astronauts travel through. Nolan said parts of a spaceship were also built and used on the set, rather than a green screen or special effects.

"If you look at this film and you look at where we are right now in the world - and the climate changes that's happening … You have to push forward and evoke some kind of positive change in your life, in the world," Chastain said. "It's an incredible, thrilling movie."

She said she also hoped the movie would inspire younger generations.

"The idea that there could be a 7-year-old kid and it inspires her or him to want to go into space and explore space, I think that's incredible," Chastain said.

ABC News' Christine Romo contributed to this story.