It is known that one can extract Craig interpolants from so-called localproofs. An interpolant extracted from such a proof is a booleancombination of formulas occurring in the proof. However, standard completeproof systems, such as superposition, for theories having the interpolationproperty are not necessarily complete for local proofs: there are formulashaving non-local proofs but no local proof.In this paper we investigate interpolant extraction from non-local refutations(proofs of contradiction) in the superposition calculus and prove a numberof general results about interpolant extraction and complexity of extractedinterpolants. In particular, we prove that the number of quantifier alternationsin first-order interpolants of formulas without quantifier alternations isunbounded. This result has far-reaching consequences for using local proofsas a foundation for interpolating proof systems: any such proof system shoulddeal with formulas of arbitrary quantifier complexity.To search for alternatives for interpolating proof systems, we consider severalvariations on interpolation and local proofs. Namely, we give an algorithm forbuilding interpolants from resolution refutations in logic without equality anddiscuss additional constraints when this approach can be also used for logicwith equality. We finally propose a new direction related to interpolation vialocal proofs in first-order theories.