Fresh Air Weekend: ‘Oppenheimer’ director Christopher Nolan; Humorist R. Eric Thomas

Writer, director and producer Christopher Nolan says Oppenheimer is the “darkest” of all the films he’s worked on.

Melinda Sue Gordon//Universal

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Melinda Sue Gordon//Universal

Writer, director and producer Christopher Nolan says Oppenheimer is the “darkest” of all the films he’s worked on.

Melinda Sue Gordon//Universal

Fresh Air Weekend highlights some of the best interviews and reviews from past weeks, and new program elements specially paced for weekends. Our weekend show emphasizes interviews with writers, filmmakers, actors and musicians, and often includes excerpts from live in-studio concerts. This week:

‘Like it or not, we live in Oppenheimer’s world,’ says director Christopher Nolan: Nolan’s film tells the story of Robert Oppenheimer, the man who spearheaded the development of the atomic bomb. “Of all of the subject matter I’ve dealt with, it’s certainly the darkest,” he says.

James McBride’s ‘Heaven & Earth’ is an all-American mix of prejudice and hope: Set in a neighborhood where Blacks and immigrant Jews have lived next to each other for decades, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store is one of the best novels critic Maureen Corrigan has read this year.

Don’t believe his book title: For humorist R. Eric Thomas, the best is yet to come: Thomas’ new book, Congratulations, the Best Is Over!, is about middle age, and what it was like to return to his hometown of Baltimore as an adult — when both he and the city had changed.

You can listen to the original interviews and review here:

‘Like it or not, we live in Oppenheimer’s world,’ says director Christopher Nolan

James McBride’s ‘Heaven & Earth’ is an all-American mix of prejudice and hope

Don’t believe his book title: For humorist R. Eric Thomas, the best is yet to come