Which character does Matthew McConaughey play in Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar?

Matthew McConaughey plays Joseph Cooper in Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar.

Cooper is a former NASA pilot and engineer who lives as a farmer after environmental changes make Earth increasingly difficult to inhabit. He is recruited to lead a mission through a wormhole near Saturn in search of a possible future for humanity.

The emotional center of the film is Cooper’s relationship with his children, especially his daughter Murphy. Because the mission involves extreme time differences, Cooper experiences the passage of time differently from the family members he leaves behind.

The character is sometimes confused with Cooper’s son, Tom, or with Dr. Mann, played by Matt Damon. John Brand, portrayed by Michael Caine, is the NASA scientist who helps organize the mission and is not Cooper’s identity.