Adapting Worlds: Jonathan Nolan and Ella Purnell Bring Fallout to Life

It is almost coincidental that Jonathan Nolan and Ella Purnell's most well-known television work informs (and maybe even affects) their most recent small-screen endeavor.

The web series Fallout, which is based on the hugely popular computer game of the same name, shows what happens after a catastrophic nuclear exchange in a different version of Earth's history. A resource war breaks out, and a retro-futuristic society emerges. The fallout shelters known as Vaults, which were constructed to protect humanity in the event of a nuclear war, become the haven for the survivors. After living in Vault 33 for some 219 years, Lucy, a young lady played by Purnell, decides to step out into the severely harsh, unfriendly, vicious, and merciless wasteland of a destroyed Los Angeles.

The highly acclaimed television series Westworld, created by Christopher Nolan, is credited with changing the paradigm of science fiction television. Set at the intersection of the reimagined past and the near future, it centers on an amusement park called Westworld that serves as a retreat for wealthy tourists until its robot managers go awry. The show ran for six successful years. Fallout, which will debut on Prime Video on April 11, is a mirror of the themes and tone of Westworld in many ways.

Similar to Ella's role in Fallout, Ella's character in the worldwide blockbuster series Yellowjackets is thrust into an unfamiliar setting when her plane crashes in the wilderness of Ontario. Then a crucial game of survival begins, reminiscent of what transpires in her most recent series.

Simmering for a few years and supported by funds and resources, the fallout may be worse than anything that has surfaced recently. In addition to directing a few episodes, Nolan co-created the show with his wife Lisa Joy. He was in Mumbai lately to promote Fallout. The guy, who co-directed movies such as Memento, The Prestige, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, and Interstellar with his older brother, contemporary auteur Christopher Nolan, spoke with t2oS at the Novotel Juhu in Mumbai together with Ella Purnell.

MAGICAL & PERSONAL

Jonathan Nolan and Ella Purnell during the Fallout special screening in Mumbai last month

After viewing a few Fallout episodes, one is immediately struck by the scope of the enormous project, but they also remember the human aspect of it. I mentioned to the writer-director that Jonathan Nolan was known for that in our talk.

The sense of these vast landscapes that you may explore—huge vistas of these ruins of civilization—is one of the things that struck me as being so stunning about the games. However, you are able to pick up and inspect each artifact as you explore that environment. All books are available for reading. Therefore, even for individuals who had never played the games before, we wanted to recreate that sense of the broad and the personal for the audience. I came in mostly as a fan of the game," Nolan said, appearing unaffected despite having traveled across the globe to reach India.

Ella Purnell was unfamiliar with the Fallout universe, but Nolan's experience with it allowed him to see a cinematic adaptation for it "almost immediately." Even so, she gave it a try and discovered that "watching other people play the game more helpful" was more beneficial. "I am a great student and I went above and beyond, Jonah (Nolan) said, but I didn't have to play the game," the British actress chuckled, her denim-on-denim OOTD strikingly counterbalancing her startling red puckers.

Ella stated she recognized the culture of the Fallout set. It was incredible to be able to step on stage and feel the full weight of the moment when we first started filming. Putting on the Vault costume and appreciating how much of a significant deal it was to see the Vault so authentically and faithfully mirrored in the game. It simply makes things more enjoyable," she said.

EQUALITY & IMPORTANCE

Team Fallout maintains that the show is a “light watch” that strikes a balance between multiple distinct genres, even though its themes appear to be grim. "I think this is the funniest thing I have ever done." I have a lot of sinister habits. True, Fallout depicts the end of the world, but it's a peaceful ending. She chuckled, tongue in cheek, "It is a great balance between comedy... and some slightly depressing things." "The character was fantastic. She gets off to a strong start. After that, she continues to the wasteland, where something occurs.

Jonathan found it interesting that from the time he began working on its adaptation until the time it was released, the spirit of Fallout shifted and maybe even developed.

His approach to the project was informed by the Covid-19 pandemic, which, like what happened in Fallout, altered the course of history.

"Oh, well, this is interesting relevance," I thought at the beginning of the pandemic. And then I felt that I wanted it to be a little less relevant as the world kept breaking apart. "No, that is not okay," I said. "We cannot return to the previous state of the world," he murmured.

The idea that while some individuals were fortunate enough to escape the apocalypse in an opulent underground vault, everyone else had to face it on the devastated surface above is one of the themes of the video game Fallout and the societal criticism it receives. Throughout the pandemic, several nations, including America and India, had to learn this harsh lesson, the speaker noted.

A brief moment from RRR

Fallout's central theme—the growing divide between the affluent and the impoverished—applies to all time periods and civilizations.

These individuals—those who got to stay at home and those who had to keep working—are referred to as the essential and inessential people in America, respectively. That was made painfully obvious during the pandemic, along with a great deal of other differences and divisions in our society.

"A few months ago, I attended a talk by the incredible writer Stewart Brand, who stated that reconstructing the world is the key to survival as it ends every time. For us, even if Fallout is about the end of the world, there is a strange optimism running through it, Nolan told t2oS, thus equating the actual and fictional worlds.

Ella's portrayal of Lucy was influenced by her desire to work for the greater good and her naivete when she took on the role. "Lucy genuinely, sincerely believes in the Golden Rule at its core. She firmly thinks that doing the right thing is important. And that's the drawback of innocence—a lot of privilege and naivete. That is where I was beginning, then. I wasn't considering the pandemic's ramifications or politics at the time, the woman admitted.

JOYSTICK GOES AWAY

Hollywood has dabbled in video game adaptations quite a bit over the past ten or so years, with varying degrees of success. I asked Nolan what it is about the game industry that interests modern directors.

"There weren't many successful game adaptations that you could name when we first discussed our ideas with Todd Howard, director and executive producer at Bethesda Game Studios, where he oversaw the creation of the Fallout and The Elder Scrolls series. I believe that early on, filmmakers became fixated on syntax. Because that's how games appear, they became fixated on the notion that they would have to film it in first person. For us, the key was to look past the medium and style and instead focus on the storytelling itself, asking ourselves, "What about these stories surprised you?" "What new insight can these tales offer us about the world we live in?" he said.

"Video games began to become more intelligent, politically conscious, and advanced in the late 2000s. To be honest, filmmaking took a slight detour from it. Making movies is a costly and challenging endeavor. It is usually beneficial if the viewer already has an emotional connection to the content (via the video game). Nolan noted, "The emotional connection that players feel with these stories is rather wide, as is the audience for these games.

Nolan always prioritizes the story above all else, regardless of the medium, having written and co-created some of the most genre-bending (and mind-bending) movies in recent memory. "In my opinion, effective storytelling is effective storytelling." We were thrilled to adapt one of these outstanding video games onto the big screen.

THE WRITE WORD

Although the writers' strike last year completely rocked Hollywood due to the oncoming threat of artificial intelligence, Nolan is hopeful about the future of writers.

The shorter stories are now displayed on the larger screen, while the lengthier or larger stories are displayed on the smaller screens. Whether you're talking about video games, movies, or television, it has been thrilling. Human authors are incredibly skilled at crafting thought-provoking, captivating tales with their pen. One of the most intriguing aspects about streaming's introduction was that. the chance to tell tales without holding back. We have been able to tell our Fallout story in a way that feels really uncompromising, controversial, humorous, and dark—all these diverse flavors much like the games—thanks to Prime Video's assistance. "To be making a movie or television show right now is amazing," he remarked.

It was expected that Ella and Jonathan would mention the names of this story when asked to cite an outstanding work of literature that they had seen in each other's filmographies.

I rewatched the Westworld pilot because I thought it would be a good pre-start for Fallout. It is the type of effort that endures. Ella grinned, "It's so good."

Ella's "best work," according to Jonathan, is in Yellowjackets. I talked a little bit about that sense of being a fish out of water and felt it was an amazing performance on her side. You are suddenly taken to a completely other time and place from how you are now live your life. Ella stood out among the fantastic cast of the show.

AHOY INDIA!

Nolan described his time in Mumbai as "a humbling experience." "We consider ourselves to be major stars in Hollywood, so it's humble-making to come to a place where they're making bigger and bigger movies. He grinned, "I want to stay here and try to sneak onto some of the movie shoots.

The man is obviously a fan of RRR! "I am really envious of the action set pieces that RRR possesses! It has an amazing plot and an emotional hook, but what really excites me about RRR (directed by SS Rajamouli) is the physical stunt work, which they did brilliantly.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Press Time staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.