This is Fresh Air, I'm Terry Gross. My guest Christopher Nolan wrote and directed the new film

Oppenheimer, one of the most popular and talked about films of the summer. Christopher Nolan also

made the World War II film Dunkirk, as well as the film's tenet, The Batman Trilogy, Inception,

Insomnia, and Memento. Globally, his films have made more than $5 billion at the box office.

Oppenheimer is a biopic about the man who was called the father of the atom bomb,

Robert Oppenheimer. He was a theoretical physicist and directed Los Alamos, the secret project in New

Mexico, where research was conducted to create the first atom bomb and where that first bomb was

designed and tested. When it was detonated, we crossed the threshold into a new world in which

humans could destroy humankind. The bomb was intended to end World War II. By the time it was

tested, Germany had surrendered, but Japan had not. The US dropped atom bombs on the Japanese

cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945. That ended the war, but it's estimated that

as many as 200,000 people were killed. Oppenheimer became an advocate of arms control after the war,

and opposed military plans for massive strategic bombing with nuclear weapons, which he considered

genocidal. He also opposed the creation of the even deadlier hydrogen bomb. In 1954 during the

height of the anti-communist era, he was accused of being a risk to national security because of

his alleged earlier ties to the Communist Party. He protested at a hearing that culminated in being

stripped of his security clearance. Last December, that decision was revoked by Energy Secretary

Jennifer Granholm. Christopher Nolan, welcome back to Fresh Air. It's a pleasure to have you

back on the show. Thank you. Before we talk about your films and hear a scene from Oppenheimer,

let's talk about the writers and actor strikes, which have shut down new TV and film productions.

You're very successful. I doubt you have to worry about better contracts. What does the strike

mean to you as a director working with actors? Well, I think as any working member of our business

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