Christopher Nolan has explained that an “artistic choice” he makes while filming is the reason why viewers struggle to hear dialogue in his movies.
The acclaimed director, 54, has left some movie lovers frustrated at actors appearing to mumble their lines in his latest epic, Oppenheimer - and there was also criticism for his last film Tenet.
Nolan has revealed that he refuses to get actors to re-dub their lines after filming, meaning dialogue that fans hear on screen was performed during filming and not afterwards.
This process means lines can then get drowned out by music or special effects, however it’s a price Nolan believes is worth paying.
Speaking to Insider, he said: “I like to use the performance that was given in the moment rather than the actor re-voice it later. Which is an artistic choice that some people disagree with, and that’s their right.”
The filmmaker, who shoots his movies using IMAX cameras, claimed that part of the issue could also be that the equipment he uses isn’t fully soundproof.
He continued: “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.”
Similar complaints were made about Nolan’s 2020 flick Tenet while Dunkirk, which was released in cinemas in 2017 and featured a Hans Zimmer score, was criticised for it’s sound mixing.
Recently BBC star Jane Hill revealed she was forced to leave Oppenheimer halfway through due to the “loud soundtrack” that muffled the actors’ voices.
Despite complaints, the film has now grossed over $500million, on the same day Barbie reached $1billion in box office revenue.
The figure of $552.9 million - estimated by Universal Pictures over the weekend - makes Nolan’s epic the most successful World War II film ever at the box office, three weeks on since its release.
It has also become the highest grossing R-rated movie of the year and the fastest an R-rated film from Universal has grossed $200 million In the US.
The three-hour epic tells the story of American scientist J Robert Oppenheimer, played by Cillian Murphy, and his role in the development of the atomic bomb during the Second World War.
