♪ ♪ the stars are blazing like rebel diamonds cut out of the sun ♪ ♪ can you read my mind ♪ ♪ that's it, thank you! [ cheers and applause ] this is "nightline.." >>. >> juju: tonight, san francisco struggles. from deserted storefronts -- >> one store closes, the next

store closes. >> juju: robberies on the rise. >> we're supposed to document how much they steal. once it's over $1,000, police can do something. >> juju: surging homelessness and the horrors of a fentanyl surge. >> i've seen over seven deaths. >> juju: inside the perfect storm that's transformed the city by the bay to a city on the brink. >> we've been a city of boom and bust since the gold rush days. >> juju: christopher nolan, the critically acclaimed director opens up about his highly anticipated new epic "oppenheimer." about the man known as the father of the atomic bomb. why he calls the film a cautionary tale. >> you mentioned a.i. in one of your interviews about unleashing technology. >> i was really interested to realize that they refer to this moment right now as their oppenheimer moment. >> juju: the actors strike that prompted his a-list cast to walk out of the premiere and the surprising reason he says he chose his leading man. >> i know him to be one of the greatest actors of his

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lately, san francisco, the tourist destination and hipster home to big tech, has taken a sharp turn for the worse. with no shortage of negative headlines or finger-pointing. turns out the root causes behind the city's struggles are far more complicated. here's abc's matt gutman. >> there's no place better in terms of our topography and what we have to offer. it's hard to beat. >> reporter: san francisco. its golden gates a beacon for dreamers and bohemians. a place beloved for its beauty. but recently the city by the bay has dulled. what did this part of town used to mean to san francisco? >> this was some of the highest rent per square foot in the city. when i had the listing on powell street, i had eight offers, all over asking price. >> now? >> no interest. >> reporter: hans hansen is a lifelong san francisco resident

and president of a commercial real estate company there. >> the vacancy there was the disney store. so that closed. next door to that was armani. that closed. next door t-mobile. they just closed. >> reporter: he's had a front-row seat to the hollowing-out of the city's downtown, the empty offices, homelessness, and a deadly drug epidemic. can you enumerate what the problems are with san francisco right now that you see? >> the real problem is that san francisco has lost its tourist attraction, as well as the convention business. as one store closes, domino effect. frankly, these type of stores here rely on traffic that goes from store to store to store. >> reporter: in cities across the country, downtown areas have suffered in the past few years. but san francisco has been hit especially hard. nearly half of the stores in the city's downtown shopping district have closed since 2019, according to the san francisco standard, a local online news organization. and overnight visits to the city

were down 31% last year compared to 2019. san francisco was a cradle of the tech book. >> google, amazon, twitter, meta, you name it. they started to expand their headquarters to have a presence in the city. >> reporter: but then came covid. >> all these software engineering companies, all these startups, now have a lot of options of choosing between remote working versus coming back to the office, and that created this trouble. >> reporter: during the week of june 29th, the daily office occupancy was only 47%. among the lowest in the country. once-coveted office space now sits empty. the mayor acknowledging last month that things need to change. >> we have to pivot, we have to make changes to our policies, make changes to our tax structure, we have to be way more friendly to business than we have been. >> reporter: we spent time with concerned san francisco stakeholders, from small business owners to law

enforcement, eager to see their city shine again. and addiction recovery and homeless advocates who are just trying to keep members of their communities alive as the fentanyl crisis wreaks havoc. since the '90s, saliel celine ae family owned san francisco deli and wine store. profits are down about 50% since the pandemic. she says reduced foot traffic and theft are the biggest obstacles. at the peak, she says the store was seeing up to five robberies each day. >> they're filling up their bag full of wine bottles. we had to change our champagne fridge from being -- having real champagne to all display bottles, because it was the first place people would go. >> reporter: while total crime in san francisco is down, the city has seen a 12% rise in robberies so far this year compared to 2022. but it's unclear how many of the crimes like nasser is witnessing

are reported to the police. under current state law, shoplifting anything under $950 is considered a misdemeanor. >> we're supposed to document how much they steal, and once it's over $1,000, then we can -- then police can do something and get involved and prosecute them. it's not realistic. >> reporter: and now the nasser family is facing yet another challenge. their landlord, the westfield mall, is pulling out, announcing it's surrendering the property to lenders. the company writing, "given the challenging operating conditions in downtown san francisco which have led to declines in sales, occupancy, and foot traffic, we have made the difficult decision." >> we have no clue as of now what the future holds for us. we really have no protection over our business. >> reporter: just a few blocks away, the nguyen family is fighting to keep doors open to their vietnamese restaurant located in the tenderloin's little saigon neighborhood. they say despite their loyal

customer base there have been challenges. >> the tenderloin has never been the best, safest neighborhood. but it's definitely gotten rougher over the years. and it's gotten pretty bad. >> reporter: part of what's making it so bad, the nationwide fentanyl crisis. in the first half of 2023, fentanyl caused more accidental overdose deaths than any other drug. >> we saw more people die from overdose deaths in san francisco at the height of the pandemic than for people who died from covid. we're a densely populated city, so we need to handle it like the crisis it is. >> reporter: j.j. smith has called the tenderloin neighborhood his home for his whole life. he's taken the role of advocate, almost protector of the neighborhood, trying to help those dealing with substance abuse. his own brother passed away from a fentanyl overdose about eight months ago. >> personally, i have seen over 70 deaths.

i have narcan'd at least 40 of those 70 deaths. >> you've narcan'd people yourself? >> yes, i've got videos. >> reporter: his twitter feed a heartbreaking catalog of the crisis. he says two years ago, he didn't know what narcan was. now he keeps it stashed on the street. he's pointing to where narcan is stashed, right in the hole in the wall. >> we keep narcan right here in the wall. here's the shot with the needle for the needle narcan. >> the addiction level, particularly because we're dealing with fentanyl right now, is unlike anything i've ever seen in my law enforcement career. >> reporter: governor gavin newsom recently deployed the california highway patrol to help with the drug problem in san francisco. in six weeks they seized enough fentanyl to kill the entire population of the city, nearly three times over. how much do we think is still left that has not been seen, not

interdicted? >> that's the question, how do we get to that? you get the low-level dealers and the mid-level traffickers, and you start developing intelligence and working those up through the task force, and hopefully put along dent in suppliers. that's our goal. >> reporter: officials say that many who they've arrested for using and selling drugs aren't from san francisco, but that leads to the question, why are so many going there? is san francisco more permissive than other cities? >> we at sfpd really are putting more focus on the street conditions, the open-air use in the street. we have to stop that behavior. >> i think prosecution is such a big part of this. >> reporter: san francisco d.a. brooke jenkins announcing a new policy last month that will charge individuals who have been arrested twice for drug use, or possession, and refer them to the community justice center which could place them into substance abuse or mental health programs. but law enforcement also says the problem isn't as widespread as it might seem. >> san francisco's a beautiful

place. it's 49 square miles. we're talking about a very, very concentrated area where this is the most pervasive in our city. not even a one square mile area. >> reporter: when julia walks that one square mile in the tenderloin, she sees herself. >> if you look 13 years back, you'd see me on the streets. sometimes i needed people to believe in me more than i could believe in myself at the time. >> reporter: she used drugs to escape a painful childhood that included foster care, homelessness, and even incarceration. >> i was struggling with a lot of trauma and experienced a lot of violence. and, you know, this was a way that i numbed out. >> if fentanyl had been on the streets? >> i would not be here. i would not be here if fentanyl was on the streets. >> reporter: a decade later, now 38 years old and a mother, she's off the streets and leading the group that helped her get to where she is now. >> i'm an executive director at an organization. there are a ton of people that

have these stories that began with use, substance use. >> reporter: arroyo's message, redemption is possible. >> if i could envision or wish anything for the city is that people have more environments to be able to thrive and dream in. >> we are a city of boom and bust. we've been a city of boom and bust since the gold rush days. >> reporter: since the collapse of gold and the city itself with the 1906 earthquake, san francisco has always reinvented itself. becoming the center for trade, then banking, then tech. >> if we can right the ship, there's no reason why we can't be rebuilt again. >> our thanks to matt. up next, the oppenheimer moment just in time for the actors strike. i talk to director christopher nolan about his new film and the labor dispute rattling hollywood. thanks to skyrizi, i'm on my way with clearer skin.

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good thing adding lysol laundry sanitizer kills 99.9% of bacteria that detergents leave behind. clean is good, sanitized is better. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> juju: we're back with the incomparable movie director and five-time academy award nominee. his films like "dark knight," "inception," "dunkirk" have captivated audiences' imaginations around the world. christopher nolan is here to talk about his latest highly anticipated "oppenheimer." welcome. >> thank you. >> juju: "oppenheimer" is a bio-pic as we call it about the backlash against the famed physicist who spearheaded the manhattan project. one of the recurring themes in many of your movies is about sort of the destructive nature of man's inventions.

why keep returning to that? >> yeah, the danger of knowledge, really. my last film "tenet" was very much, can you uninvent something? i realized coming out of that film, which has a reference to oppenheimer and a reference to the moment he and his fellow scientists realized they couldn't completely eliminate the possibility that when they triggered the device trinity, it might destroy the entire world. >> juju: you mentioned a.i. in one of your interviews about unleashing technology? >> being asked a lot about that, i've been talking to leading researchers in that field. i was really interested to realize that they refer to this moment right now as their oppenheimer moment. they're looking at his story as a cautionary tale. they're looking his story to say, what are the responsibilities as you put something out into the world? sadly, i don't think his story offers any easy answers at all. >> juju: the movie explores the backlash politically at a time when scientists in the public

domain get beat up, in many ways, for political motivations. what do you make of that in our current climate? >> as i was writing the script in the middle of the covid pandemic, it was clearly a time of great relevance. it has been with issues like climate change and the rest. whatever scientists are -- when scientists are co-opted by government and the media sphere. >> juju: cillian murphy is someone who you met 20 years ago during the "batman" era. now he's your oppenheimer. let's take a look at the clip first. >> what do you take it to mean? >> you transmit the nuclear, releasing neutrons and criticality, point of no return, massive explosive force. but this time the chain reaction doesn't stop. >> it would ignite the atmosphere. >> juju: he's appeared in six of your movies.

what makes him your oppenheimer? >> i try not to write with actors in mind. particularly when you're writing about real historical figures. he has that empathetic ability to open up his thoughts, to open up his emotions to the audience, and take you along for the ride. >> your cast reads like a who's who in hollywood. it's matt damon, robert downey jr. with a tour de force performance as well. killian, obviously. ellie blunt. florence pugh. how do you get great performances from your actors? >> a lot of the work is meeting an actor, finding a creative connection, and deciding and realizing that they could bring something to a particular part. they have an individual and unique process, but when they work with other actors, they find a way to accommodate each other wonderfully. there's a sort of great creative energy that circulates. >> juju: and yet at this red carpet premiere, and your actors walked the red carpet and then had to leave because of the strike.

>> yeah. >> juju: what was that like, how do you support the actors but also support the film? >> there's a very "business week" moment for all of us. it was wonderful they could support the film on the red carpet. then they had to down tools and walk off. and i'm a writers guild member. i've been on strike as a writers guild member for over two months now. it's an important moment in our industry where these deals need to be rebuilt, and really our thoughts were with the working members of the writers guild and with s.a.g. who are going to suffer, and the other crew members who are caught up in the stoppage. >> juju: reflect for a moment on the industry. you started as an independent filmmaker. you've obviously put out some of the biggest blockbusters of our time. where do you see the industry going? >> i think the industry is at a very exciting moment. i think the radical nature of the shifts in the business models, that is causing turbulence. that has to be addressed. there's so many ways to reach

audiences now. the technology, technological shifts that are allowing that to happen are only going to be expanding. when television came along in the '50s, it was seen as a threat. it wound up paying for big-screen movies that got sold to tv. same thing with vhs, dvd, now streaming, and whatever's next. >> juju: i've been obsessed with your work since "memento." you're known for time jumping. you're also known like "dunkirk" for long tracking shots which are prominent in this film. how would you describe your style of filmmaking which so many people see as unique? >> i try not to be too self-conscious. and the way i view cinema, i try not to view style as separate from storytelling. i think that the cinematic language together with my director of photography, we try to be unself-conscious about it are. "oppenheimer," we went back to basics. we shoot with giant imax film

cameras. >> juju: why should we see closeups of killian's face with imax? >> we knew we'd get the incredible landscapes of new mexico, we'd get the storms, the trinity test building up, which is the show-stopper of the movie. the other thing is what design mechanics do you get into people's head? filming the intimate moments, the moments just between two characters or between multiple characters? looking into their eyes. so you're in the room with these actors. i sort of refer to it as 3d without the glasses. >> juju: i feel like you gave us a glimpse into "oppenheimer's" soul. thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> juju: your film, "oppenheimer," is everywhere in theaters friday. thank you. up next, celebrating one year of the universe like we've never seen it before. nasa's new image that has us

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your annual eye exam. because i'm having trouble- reading? exactly. they sort of make me feel... like i'm the most fabulous thing you've ever seen? exactly. i'll take 'em. ♪ ♪ >> juju: finally tonight, a star-gazing birthday celebration. it's been one year since nasa's james webb telescope first wowed earthlings with this stunning image from deep space. to mark the occasion, scientists released this new shot showing the nearest star-forming region, 390 light years away, and yet incredibly crystal clear. that's "nightline." see you back here same time tomorrow. thanks for staying up with us. good night, america.