Christopher Nolan Explains Why You Can’t Hear The Dialogue In Oppenheimer: It Is “An Artistic Choice That Some People Disagree With”

Can’t hear the dialogue in Oppenheimer? Don’t be quick to blame the guy in the projection booth — it’s Christopher Nolan’s doing.

By now, you should know Nolan’s movies are notorious for their loud sound mix — so loud that sometimes it obscures the dialogue (remember the uproar over Tenet?).

It goes without saying that it’s happening again with his current magnum opus, Oppenheimer, with some viewers struggling to make out the lines from Ludwig Göransson’s bombastic score and the cacophony of sound effects.

And it can be very frustrating when dealing with a talky movie featuring many characters and tons of scientific jargon. 

Why couldn’t Nolan simply fix the problem in post-production via ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement) and make it more audible?

Sure, but Nolan doesn’t do ADR. Which is unsurprising coming from someone who prefers good-old fashion practical effects over CG wizardry. 

“I like to use the performance that was given in the moment rather than the actor re-voice it later,” Nolan told Insider. “Which is an artistic choice that some people disagree with, and that’s their right.”

In other words, whatever vocal recording he gets on that day of filming ends up in the final cut (remember Bane’s muffled voice in The Dark Knight Rises?)

The problem is, a Nolan set is rarely quiet, especially when you’re around Imax cameras, which generate a lot of noise. (Matthew Jensen, the cinematographer on Wonder Woman 1984, likened the large-screen format cameras to “sewing machines” — listen for yourself.)

Nolan told Insider that the Imax cameras have come a long way since he started using them on The Dark Knight.

“There are certain mechanical improvements,” Nolan said. “And actually, Imax is building new cameras right now which are going to be even quieter. But the real breakthrough is in software technology that allows you to filter out the camera noise. That has improved massively in the 15 or so years that I’ve been using these cameras. Which opens up for you to do more intimate scenes that you would not have been able to do in the past.”

In Singapore, a rep from UIP, Oppeheimer’s distributor, told 8days.sg: “We didn’t receive any complaints from the exhibitors about the audio. However, we did receive feedback on the dialogue, which we serviced both English and Chinese subtitles (dual subtitles) to the exhibitors last week.

Since its July 20 release here, the M18-rated biopic has earned about S$2.77 million (as of Aug 3), with over 20 percent from Imax screens. Globally, the film has grossed over USS425 million (S$569 mil) on a reported US$100 million budget.

Photo: UIP