John welcomes writer and director Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight, Inception) to discuss experimentation, subjectivity and adaptation as they take an in-depth look at his screenplay, Oppenheimer.
They explore Chris’ writing process, how to make non-linear structures work, finding the story in real-life events, being kinetic on the page, the importance of embracing editing, and why theme can be a tricky thing.
In our bonus segment for premium members, Chris and John muse about the difficulties of dream sequences — and what makes them work.
Links:
* [Oppenheimer – The First Three Pages](https://www.experienceoppenheimer.com/words)
* [Christopher Nolan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Nolan) on [IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0634240/).
* [American Prometheus](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/13787/american-prometheus-by-kai-bird-and-martin-sherwin/) by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin
* [The Open Mind](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/2776777) by J. Robert Oppenheimer
* [The Shepard Tone](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzNzgsAE4F0)
* [When We Cease to Understand the World](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62069739-when-we-cease-to-understand-the-world) by Benjamín Labatut
* [Infinite Mac](https://infinitemac.org/)
* [Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!](https://cottonbureau.com/people/scriptnotes-podcast)
* [Check out the Inneresting Newsletter](https://inneresting.substack.com/)
* [Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription](https://scriptnotes.supportingcast.fm/gifts) or [treat yourself to a premium subscription!](https://scriptnotes.supportingcast.fm/)
* Craig Mazin on [Threads](https://www.threads.net/@clmazin) and [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/clmazin/)
* John August on [Threads](https://www.threads.net/@johnaugust), [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/johnaugust/?hl=en) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/johnaugust)
* [John on Mastodon](https://mastodon.art/@johnaugust)
* [Outro](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-the-outros) by Matthew Chilelli ([send us yours!](http://johnaugust.com/2014/outros-needed))
* Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by [Matthew Chilelli](https://twitter.com/machelli).
Email us at ask@johnaugust.com
You can download the episode [here](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/622standard.mp3).
**UPDATE 1-16-24:** The transcript for this episode can be found [here](https://johnaugust.com/2024/scriptnotes-episode-622-the-one-with-christopher-nolan-transcript).