Jan 31, 2026 9:52pm IST
Jonathan Nolan: ‘Heath Ledger’s Best Lines In ‘The Dark Knight’ Were Unplanned’ (EXCLUSIVE)
At a special international screening in Tokyo, Japan, where Amazon Prime Video showed the first two episodes of "Fallout Season 2", Variety India sat down with creator Jonathan Nolan and lead actors Ella Purnell and Kyle MacLachlan for a long talk about creatures, movies, music, artificial intelligence (AI), performance, and the magic of working together. The conversation took place in a neon-lit city that is also the center of pop culture for all things futuristic and fun. It showed how Fallout balances scale with soul and spectacle with humanity.
Series co-creator Jonathan Nolan discussed the monsters that have quickly become a permanent part of the Fallout universe. When asked about his earliest memory of watching a creature on the big screen, Nolan thought about the first time he saw movie monsters and realized that they didn’t come from movies but from things he did as a child. He said, “Some of my earliest memories are of Chris (talking about his brother, Christopher Nolan) figuring out how to make plasticine stop-motion movies, one frame at a time. Some of my earliest memories are of making things for the camera when I was very young. And Fallout is really the first time we’ve been able to do so much of it.”
In Season 2, one of the creatures living in the wasteland stood out above the rest. Nolan said, “The Deathclaw was very hard and absolutely scary.” He said that changing such an iconic character came with a sense of duty to the game’s fans. Adding to this he said, “One reason you change these games you love is to make them real and photo-like. We felt like we had to try to make things as practical as possible.” For Season 2, the Deathclaw became a place where digital and real-life art came together. Nolan expanded, “We worked with Legacy, who built as much of it as they could, and then ILM’s (Industrial Light & Magic) artists filled in the gaps.”
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In "Fallout", the central theme of the show is rebuilding civilization from scratch after it falls apart. When asked what he would outlaw if he had to start over in Hollywood, Nolan joked, “Notes, maybe,” before becoming serious. “I’ve never liked Hollywood as much as I do now,” he said. When asked to elaborate on this thought, he added, “There’s an awful lot of, I think, as with all these institutions, whether it’s Bollywood or Hollywood or Silicon Valley or any of these sorts of places, there’s kind of an expertise that comes into place when you have a place that people come to work on something. Even if the business is global or international. I think we spent a lot of time earlier this year working on a campaign to make sure that production in California doesn’t disappear. In the course of my career, right from Memento, say, 25-plus years ago, we had been shooting consistently in California and were surprised to realize that a lot of production had left California. There’s something so wonderful about having a community of people who are all obsessed with the same thing you are, all living in the same place. One of the most exciting things for me on our set every day is to see just how many talented and how brilliant our crew members are when they’re approaching a problem, whether it’s building the Deathclaw or building the vault or any of these larger-than-life sets. Watching all these people, I think it’s just a very special thing.”
The soundtrack of "Fallout" - the eerie background score of the country-inspired tracks - is a big part of the show’s thematic journey. Nolan called the show’s music “evergreen” and pointed out how ironically warm it was. He elaborated, “This music is so warm and hopeful, and it comes from the height of the Cold War. It’s used in a funny way in the games and the show, but it’s so well-made. The sound is so clean and clear, and it speaks so fluently to this kind of moment in history where you had this optimism about the way things could work out. I’ll leave it up to all of us to decide whether or not that came true or not.” He added, “We were talking about our musical ages at breakfast, and I think we’re all octogenarians - entirely because of the "Fallout" playlist (laughs).”
Moving to a topic that has presently taken centrestage - Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its use in movie-making, Nolan agreed that the tools could be very exciting, especially for new creators. But for him, the heart of the medium stays the same. “The best part of making movies for me is being with many talented people and making fantasy come true.” He hoped that film sets would continue to be places where people worked together. He said, “In a few years, I expect a film set to still look like it has for the past 100 years: many very talented people working together.”
That respect for performance made Nolan think about one of the most famous movie roles: Heath Ledger as Joker. Nolan said, “I remember seeing Ledger’s dailies for the first time and thinking, ‘Oh, wow.’” He talked about how working with outstanding actors makes you feel humble. As per Nolan, two of Heath’s best lines from that movie are ‘yeah’ and ‘hi’. He said, “I don’t think either of those is planned.” Describing late Heath Ledger he reflected, “Great actors take the blank space on the page and make it something that will last forever. As a screenwriter, that’s humbling.” Nolan linked that experience directly to Fallout by saying, “We’re so lucky to work with such a great cast.” This kind of collaboration is truly captivating.
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Ella Purnell and Kyle MacLachlan, who play Lucy and Hank in the series and contribute a lot to the story arc with their characters, joined Variety India’s "Fallout" chat, and their easy chemistry made the room light up right away. When they discussed binge-watching habits, Purnell laughed and said, “I would love for us to have our own version of Gogglebox. I think Kyle’s commentary on Below Deck would be great.” MacLachlan responded with his choices, saying, “I loved Landman, especially Billy Bob (Thornton).” When the conversation turned to the future, both actors focused on trends they would be happy to get rid of. “Do you know what I want to get rid of?” Purnell said. “Toe shoes.” MacLachlan quickly agreed, joking, “I want them gone,” as they looked at the strange ways that fashion was changing.
MacLachlan mentions Spielberg movies when talking about early movie monsters. He said, “I remember "E.T." and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" - the first time you saw that idea of a creature revealed. It was strange, but also kind of cool.” Purnell’s memory was more enjoyable but traumatic. “Have you ever seen "Spy Kids"?” she asked, shivering dramatically. “The people with thumbs really scare me,” she revealed.
Thinking about their characters outside of the wasteland made them laugh even more. So, what would they do if they met their "Fallout 2" characters at a bar. Purnell joked, “I’d want to get Lucy drunk and make her feel better. I don’t know how she dances.” In the meantime, MacLachlan leaned into Hank’s intelligence and said, “I’d probably want to know some science from Hank... maybe about his experiments.”
At the screening of "Fallout Season 2" in Tokyo, the most obvious thing was not just how big the show is but also the spirit behind it. In the middle of monsters, vaults, and burned-out futures, the show stays true to something timeless: artists, collaborators, and performers coming together to tell stories that will last long after the wasteland fades to black. For a show based on a video game, "Fallout" has managed to not only stay true to its roots but also create a new space for genres to co-exist. The wasteland is definitely here to stay!
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