Arrival ending changed because of Christopher Nolan film Interstellar

'We focused more on the power of language'

Arrival contained one of the more beautifully executed final acts of 2016 and, in a roundabout way, Interstellar director Christopher Nolan is to thank for that.

Screenwriter Eric Heisserer told Collider how Nolan's 2014 film altered the way events in Denis Villeneuve's sci-fi drama were tied together.

"I would say the only real significant change is the gift that the heptapods leave us with," he revealed. "In earlier versions, they were leaving sort of the blueprints to an interstellar ship, like an ark of sorts.

"And then Chris Nolan’s Interstellar came out and all of us got together and said, ‘Well this doesn’t quite work now.' So we focused more on what we had there in front of us, which was the power of their language."

Based on a 1998 short story by Ted Chiang, Arrival stars Amy Adams as an expert linguist who's drafted by the government to investigate the global appearance of mysterious spacecraft.

The film, which also stars Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker, has been nominated for eight Oscars, including the categories Best Picture and Best Director for Villeneuve who is overseeing the long-awaited sequel Blade Runner 2049. He was recently announced as the filmmaker tasked with tackling another version of Dune.

Arrival is available to own on DVD and Blu-ray from 20 March.