The Brief

This week on FilmWeek, writer/director Christopher Nolan, whose credits include "Interstellar," "Inception," "Memento" and many others, joined Larry Mantle to discuss his new historical drama, "Oppenheimer".

"Oppenheimer" stars an impressive cast of familiar faces — Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, among many others. While the film only shot for 57 days, the end product is a 3-hour Imax thriller that thrusts audiences into the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist who spearheaded the development of the atomic bomb.

The following is Larry Mantle's FilmWeek interview with Christopher Nolan. It has been edited for brevity.

Larry Mantle: Christopher Nolan, it's great to have you with us today on FilmWeek. Share with us your attraction to the book and adapting the complex life of Oppenheimer to film. What sold you on making this movie?

OPPENHEIMER, written and directed by Christopher Nolan

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Chris Nolan: I've been interested in Oppenheimer for a lot of years. He's a figure from my childhood. I think of Sting's song, Russians, that came out in the 1980s when I was a teenager, where he referred to Oppenheimer's deadly toy, meaning the atomic bomb. Then over the years, I'd learned various things about him, one in particular that I included in dialogue in my previous film, Tenet, which was this fact that Oppenheimer and his fellow lead scientists on the Manhattan Project, in the build-up to Trinity, realized they could not completely eliminate the possibility of a chain reaction from the test they were about to conduct that would set fire to the atmosphere and destroy the entire world.

And yet they went ahead and pushed that button. And that to me was literally the most dramatic situation I've ever heard of. So I fell into interested over the years. And then when I came to the book, "American Prometheus" by Kai Bird and Martin Schoen, it offered everything. It won the Pulitzer Prize. It's an incredibly well-written, authoritative account of Oppenheimer's life. So it gave me the confidence to work from that book, gave me the confidence to take on this very dramatic and incredibly complicated story.

Your film is going to rise and fall on the ability of that actor and what led you to Cillian Murphy, someone with whom you'd worked in a number of films, but what led you to believe he had the ability to portray this person, who was charismatic brilliant, had a theatrical side, a very tough character to play?

A very tough character to play, and I wanted him to play it in such a way that he would take the audience into the viewpoint of Oppenheimer. I actually wrote the script in the first person. So instead of stage directions. [He] didn't read Oppenheimer, he came in, he sat down at his desk, they read, I came in, I sat down at the desk.

That's the script that I handed Cillian. I've known him for 20 years. As soon as I started working with him on Batman Begins, it was clear to me that he's one of the great actors of his or any generation. And I don't think of actors while I'm writing the script. I try to not write to things that actors have already done.

I try to be pure to the process of creating new characters. Or in the case of Oppenheimer, I'm writing historical fact, I'm writing people who actually lived. So I can have them in my mind as I'm writing as that creative journey takes place. And then when I'm finished, I'm looking at the book, American Prometheus, with this photograph of Oppenheimer with his intense blue-eyed stare, and I think I know who can do that and Killian has that tremendous ability, that empathetic ability to open up The thoughts of a character and the emotions of a character to the audience so that they can come with us on that journey.

Did you know from looking at the first footage that you shot that you had it right, that he was the right person?

I think I knew that we'd be okay. But it wasn't until I got in the edit suite that I saw that he had truly created a genuinely remarkable performance, the type of performance that does not come along every film by any means. And every time I see the film, I see different nuances that he's bringing to it, different layers.

Chris, talk about Robert Downey Jr., with such an important role here as a foil to Oppenheimer and your decision of casting him in this role. What went into that?

LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 13: (L-R) Rami Malek, Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Cillian Murphy and Christopher Nolan attend the "Oppenheimer" UK Premiere at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square on July 13, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

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What went into that was always having been an admirer of Robert Downey Jr's. I've watched with admiration over the last few years as his charisma as a movie star has spoken to the whole world. And it'd been a long time since we'd seen him lose himself in a character. And Louis Strauss is a very important figure in Oppenheimer's life. And the relationship between them has these incredible sort of twists and turns.

It's got this really multilayered set of contradictions in the way they relate to each other and where that leads. And it becomes so important for the fate of the entire planet. That's a tall order. So for me to be able to convince Downey to come and just lose himself in a character that he really connected with, saw his point of view entirely and portrays the truth of that. It was a really fun thing to be a part of. It was fun to work with him and it was amazing to just watch him create.

A great cast all around: Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett. I wanted to ask you about the locations for the film, because New Mexico, Los Alamos, of course, where the Manhattan Project was based. What, if any, significant challenges did you face in going to the actual locations and doing this?

I think there were a lot of different challenges depending on which areas you're talking about. We weren't necessarily going to shoot in the real Los Alamos at all. I had been there with one of my sons the summer before when I was researching the project and realized it's a very modern town.

As you say, it has a laboratory, a very modern facility now, and there's a Starbucks there and all that stuff. So I had written it off. But my designer, Ruth De Jong went to the real Los Alamos and realized that there are so many great interiors there. So yes, we couldn't do our exteriors there, but Oppenheimer's house, the house that Kitty and Robert lived in for those three years, was there and available and untouched really from the 1940s. So Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt, they got to tread the floorboards that the Oppenheimer's treaded on.

L to R: Emily Blunt is Kitty Oppenheimer and Cillian Murphy is J. Robert Oppenheimer in OPPENHEIMER, written, produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan.

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The nuclear explosion of the Trinity test is such an incredible sequence in the film. Share with us how long it took to put that all together. I can't imagine the complexity of shooting that.

We knew that the Trinity test had to be a showstopper. It's the hinge point of the film. It's the moment the world changed forever and will never change back.

We put a lot of attention in right from the beginning. Very early on, I showed the script to my visual effects supervisor, Andrew Jackson, and I said to him, let's try and do this with no computer graphics. Let's take that off the table and let's look for analog methods that would have a bit more bite to the imagery.

We knew that this had to be absolutely beautiful and terrifying in equal measure. And so we looked for real world solutions with a lot of different mixtures, whether it's magnesium flares, petrol explosions with black powder, things like that. All of these different techniques coming to produce this complicated montage of how to get across the beauty and terror of what these scientists were experiencing.

But having real gigantic explosive events meant we were out in the desert with the cast in bunkers, the way the scientists on the Manhattan project would have been. And obviously what we were doing had to be done very carefully and safely. So there's a tension around that.

A photograph on display at The Bradbury Science Museum shows the first atomic bomb test On July 16, 1945, at 5:29:45am, at Trinity Site in New Mexico, U.S.A. The museum is Los Alamos National Laboratory's window to the public. The Museum displays the Laboratory's current research and presents the history of the Laboratory's role in the Manhattan Project during World War II. (photograph on display in the Bradbury Science museum, photo copied by Joe Raedle)

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Can you share how many times you actually detonated to get the look of what you want?

Quite a few. There's a fair amount of explosives used because, of course, as you know from having seen the film, the event has to be seen from a lot of different points of view.

So there were scientists in the control bunker to trigger the actual test. They were the closest. And then there's base camp, which was another five miles away from that bunker. And then there's a position on the hilltop where a lot of the other scientists were watching from much further away.

One of the things we tried to do in the film was to get across the magnitude of the event, to try and see it from these different perspectives. And so it involved a lot of different coverage, a lot of detail work, as well as the large explosions from very different points of view.

And with the large format you shoot on, it is so immersive for a viewer sitting there, as though you're there in the bunker and the concussive sound and the light flash, all of that is extraordinary. And I just thought, how different would this film be if you shot this to stream as opposed to large format on a big screen theatrical experience? It would not be the same film.

Cillian Murphy is J. Robert Oppenheimer in OPPENHEIMER, written, produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan.

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No, it wouldn't. It's made for the big screen. We've tried to have an epic telling of the biggest story I know of. That's what the big screen can do. And for me, there's been too much of a tendency of late to try and divide movies into different categories that we decide 'Oh, that requires the big screen, that's for the small screen' or whatever. I think really, movies can be anything. They could take you anywhere. They could put you in any time or place and make you feel something and I think for me, there was no question that this story should play out on the biggest screen possible.

Chris, just in closing, I wanted to ask about your wife, Emma Thomas. She's a big part of your team. She has worked with you on all of your films. As a collaborator on these projects, how does that change your work?

It's tough for me to answer how it changes my work because we've always worked together. Emma's been producing my films since we were students together in college. I've been fortunate to have a partner working with me, with an absolute focus on getting the best possible telling of any particular story. She's simply the best producer there is.

It makes my job much easier as a director and it allows me to focus on the things that matter.

Chris, thank you so much for joining us on FilmWeek and talking about Oppenheimer. It's an extraordinary achievement and we appreciate you joining us to discuss it today. Thank you.

You can listen to the entire episode of FilmWeek anywhere you get your podcasts or on LAist.com.

It’s that time of year when black bears are beefing up, often on trash, in Southern California’s foothill communities.

From fall to early winter, bears quadruple their food intake in preparation for the cooler months — bears here don’t really hibernate given our mild weather and plethora of resources, but they do slow down during the winter (as we all should). And right now, mother bears are looking to find a safe place to den and have their cubs.

Bears aren’t just roaming the roads of mountain towns either. They’re in suburban neighborhood streets along the 210 Freeway corridor — including Altadena, Sierra Madre and Monrovia — and even in Encino and Tarzana.

A black bear walks along an Arcadia street earlier this month.

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This time of year is when humans and bears might come into conflict more frequently, says a former biologist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“You're going to see those bears just eating ravenously, foraging all day for food, and then also they're going to start looking for these potential denning sites under our crawl spaces, unfortunately,” said Jessica West, a human-wildlife conflict specialist who over the last five years worked for the state on bear coexistence efforts from Santa Barbara to San Diego.

Nearly 60,000 black bears are estimated to live in California. Here in Southern California, the estimate is around 2,000, according to the latest count by the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife.

State resources to help communities coexist with bears have been cut. That includes West, who was the sole wildlife conflict biologist serving Southern California counties. Gov. Gavin Newsom just signed a bill into law that aims to bring some of those resources back, but in the meantime, the need remains.

“More than ever, people and bears are sharing space,” West said.  "The fact is that they're here and they're not going anywhere, and we're here as humans and we're not going anywhere.”

Neither did West’s passion for wildlife coexistence when she was laid off. That’s why she just launched her own business to help fill the resource gap: Wild Neighbor.

Jessica West, a bear biologist, installs an "unwelcome" mat at a home. The electrified mat helps keeps curious bears away.

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An "unwelcome" mat with bear prints outside of a home in Ojai.

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She offers detailed property assessments and recommendations for $150. She focuses primarily on prevention, such as strategically placing electric wiring and “unwelcome” mats to secure crawl spaces, trash and other vulnerable areas, which can cost $350 to around $900 depending on the home. She also rents such equipment if residents prefer. West works with manufacturers of electric bear-resistant tools that have been vetted for fire safety and bear conflict.

“We really want to avoid potentially orphaning those cubs,” she said.

It’s best to avoid allowing a bear to get into your crawl space or trash in the first place, West said. When bears become too accustomed to humans and eating human food, the risk of injury to people and pets rises. And the bears themselves are more likely to be euthanized.

In 2023, California hit a tragic milestone: It was the state’s first documented killing of a human by a black bear, in Northern California. In Southern California, foothill communities such as Sierra Madre have seen several bear-related injuries in recent years (more on that in our 2024 podcast on this topic). Several bears, including a well-known one in La Cañada Flintridge, have also been euthanized in recent years.

In the vast majority of cases, this is preventable, West said, if residents take a little responsibility for securing their own properties. That can also save thousands of dollars in damage caused by a bear.

Since West is no longer with the state, she can’t trap bears that have risen to the point of becoming a problem — for example, those that learn how to regularly get into homes or cars, or have lost their fear of humans. She does encourage her clients to share sightings and any concerning conflicts with the Department of Fish and Wildlife, but she doesn’t share anything herself without clients’ permission. (Learn how to report bear sightings or human-bear conflict here.)

West said that in lieu of state resources, companies like hers may become more common.

“What [clients] can expect is someone who is going to listen to them, and someone who is passionate about their job and really wants to help them,” West said. “Because at the end of the day, I'm a bear biologist by training. I love bears, but my whole goal in all of this is to help people. Because if we help people, we're also helping bears.”

City inspectors have declared several buildings on the Peninsula unsafe to enter after Hurricane Rachel’s high surf and tides chewed away at the shoreline, tearing apart a section of a wooden wall that is the neighborhood’s last line of defense against the ocean.

Officials issued a notice Thursday night that a large section of the bulkhead, left exposed after waves from Hurricane Marie ripped away its surrounding sand, was badly damaged over the past day and left a gap that allowed water to reach homes and side streets.

Residents stood in shin-deep flooding on Friday, with vehicle access closed at 62nd Place. Waves continued to chew at homes’ foundations along the shoreline and tear planks from the boardwalk. At least one home in the 6500 block of Seaside Walk appeared close to collapse.

Laath Martin, a city spokesperson, said inspectors are still assessing the extent of the bulkhead and boardwalk damage.

Crews rushed to make emergency repairs, pump water off the streets and fill in the exposed section with roughly 1,000 sandbags. The city is bracing for rain this weekend, and more high tides and surf are expected.

Inspectors surveyed homes threatened by water damage and red-tagged two buildings containing three units in the 6400 and 6500 blocks of Seaside Walk. The red tag means they’re too dangerous to enter.

Craig Nakano, a spokesperson for the city’s Community Development Department, said Friday that nobody has been displaced by the tagging. One property was under construction, he said, while the other was confirmed by the owner to be vacant.

A young man talks with an employee helping pump water out of the street as high surf from Hurricane Rachel crashes into the Peninsula in Long Beach on Friday, October 9, 2026.

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The Long Beach Post

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A third building received a yellow tag, which means its owner may go in briefly to collect belongings but may not stay. Nakano confirmed that the owner had already found somewhere else to stay.

Two buildings were already yellow-tagged after damage from Hurricane Marie weeks ago. The latest damage brings the total to five damaged Peninsula structures, two red-tagged and three yellow-tagged. The tags are preliminary, and a red tag can be downgraded to yellow once repairs are made and inspectors sign off. Inspectors will keep checking homes twice a day.

The latest bout of strong waves — whipped up by Hurricane Rachel — came just weeks after other hurricane-charged swells battered the Long Beach coast and the Peninsula.

The city is planning a multimillion-dollar dredging project to rebuild the stretch of Peninsula beach that’s been eroded. Long-term fixes are expected to be even more expensive.

In the meantime, storms keep rolling in.

The forecast for this weekend

Bryan Lewis, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said high surf and tide are expected to rise precipitously each day through Sunday, with tides reaching 7.5 feet high on Saturday and nearly 8 feet high on Sunday morning around 10 a.m. Waves are currently ranging from 4 to 7 feet high, but are expected to rise to up to 8 feet by Sunday, he said.

Conditions on Sunday evening and Monday morning, he said, will mirror Saturday, and likely will not relent in strength until Wednesday morning.

The NWS expects to announce a flood warning later Friday. They currently have an advisory running through Tuesday. Warnings are usually triggered when coastal buoys the Service monitors — in this case ones in the San Pedro Channel and city harbor — are routinely hit with high enough surf, Lewis explained.

This storm could also bring rain and wind. The city expects up to a half-inch of precipitation this weekend and gusts strong enough to knock down trees and power lines.

“Protecting our residents is our top priority as high surf and erosion impact our Peninsula community,” Mayor Rex Richardson said in a statement. He praised emergency crews and urged residents to “be prepared and follow City guidance.”

Lewis said rain showers could start in the area as early as Friday night and Saturday morning, with a second storm system hitting the area on Monday. Showers are expected to total between a half inch and three quarters of an inch of rain.

“This will bring additional rain, so that’s kind of separate from what tropical storm Rachel could be responsible for,” Lewis said.

Metrolink, Southern California’s regional commuter rail service, is planning for major service cuts — slashing 29% of weekday trains and 40% of weekend trains. Those cuts could go into effect as soon as next month.

The Metrolink Board of Directors on Friday voted to move forward with a $420 million budget proposal for this fiscal year, which includes the service cuts. The proposal now goes to member agencies for review and approval.

A majority of Metrolink’s budget is funded by Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties’ transportation agencies. For more than a year, Metrolink officials have been building a budget that member agencies, like the Orange County Transportation Authority and L.A. Metro, would approve as it struggles to close its funding gaps.

How did we get here? 

The service announcement comes the same week as the agency rolled out fare increases.

Metrolink officials blame low ridership numbers for the budget troubles and increasing operational costs for the potential change in service.

The agency expects an 18% dip in ticket revenue in the next fiscal year. On top of that, both OCTA and L.A. Metro proposed cutting their subsidies to the rail service by millions of dollars.

Tom Schamber, Metrolink's chief financial officer, said the service cuts were necessary to balance the budget.

“These cuts were targeted at low-performing trains and trains that overlap with the Pacific Surfliner service,” Schamber said. “The schedule will look more like a commuter rail service focused on weekdays during peak periods.”

How could my routes change?

In Orange County, the number of weekend trains will be cut in half and weekday trains by nearly 40%. Weekday service to Oceanside is included in those cuts.

San Bernardino and Antelope Valley lines will also see major service cuts to weekday and weekend trains. Weekday trains for the Ventura County line were cut by 36%.

You can see the proposed service schedule here.

What do some riders think? 

During public comment on Friday, many riders expressed concern that Metrolink was entering a transit death spiral — a slippery cycle where fewer services and higher fares lead to fewer riders and deeper financial trouble.

Cooper Crane, a UC Riverside graduate student and historian of Southern California’s public transportation network, said the cuts make the service impractical.

“It is going to bring Metrolink into a death spiral, which could be compared to the historic collapse of services such as the Pacific Electric here in Southern California,” Crane said. “We don't want to experience something like the collapse of the Pacific Electric again, but the budget cuts that have been made by Orange County and the lack of government commitment to the support for the service is pretty much exactly what that will lead to.”

Mason Buck of Irvine said he mainly uses the Metrolink services recreationally.

“You can understand my concern when I look, and I see weekend service getting absolutely gutted in Orange County. … Issues like this are extremely frustrating to me because it feels like such a self-inflicted wound,” Buck said. “I just want an alternative to driving.”

The changes will not just stunt ridership growth but exacerbate ridership loss, Adriana Rizzo, a founding member of Californians for Electric Rail, said.

“This is going to be a net negative for Metrolink. I'm very concerned that we're going to be back here in six months, looking at even more severe cuts,” Rizzo said. “Metrolink is essential for the economy. It's essential to keep our region moving, and we cannot just let it die.”

What’s next?

County transportation agencies need to consider and adopt the budget before it goes back to the Metrolink board for final approval on Oct. 23.