Scientists as Hollywood Heroes

Interstellar’s protagonists spend a significant portion of the movie’s 169-minute running time giving mini-lectures – sometimes with props and a little whiteboard – on theoretical physics.

Matthew McConaughey embodies the heroic scientist in Interstellar. ©2014 Paramount Pictures

Mad scientists are so familiar they can be played for laughs, as by Gene Wilder in Young Frankenstein. CC BY-SA