Christopher Nolan Reveals His Movies Are Hard to Hear on Purpose

Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan has finally revealed why some of the dialogue in his films is so hard to hear.

In a new interview with Insider, Nolan admitted that the primary criticism of his filmography is actually “an artistic choice.” The auteur has a distaste for re-recording his actor’s dialogue in post-production, despite this being one of the most common tricks in the industry. “I like to use the performance that was given in the moment rather than the actor revoice it later,” Nolan clarified. “Which is an artistic choice that some people disagree with, and that's their right.”

Nolan revealed that some of the noise issues stem from his preference for using IMAX cameras, which generate a great deal of noise and still aren’t sound-proof. However, he saod they’re getting better.

“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.”

Oppenheimer’s dialogue is significantly easier to understand than many other Nolan movies, which are historically hard to hear. In one case, the director was forced to correct himself. Between the release of a teaser for The Dark Knight Rises (2012) and the film itself, Nolan re-recorded all of Tom Hardy’s dialogue because audiences couldn’t understand him. Similar complaints plagued Dunkirk (2017) and Tenet (2020).

In a 2014 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Nolan defended his sound mixing. “Many of the filmmakers I’ve admired over the years have used sound in bold and adventurous ways. I don’t agree with the idea that you can only achieve clarity through dialogue. Clarity of story, clarity of emotions—I try to achieve that in a very layered way using all the different things at my disposal—picture and sound.”

Audiences haven’t been deterred by the few hard-to-hear moments in Oppenheimer, which is shaping up to be one of Nolan’s most successful films. In just two weeks of release it has grossed $400 million worldwide, an astonishing showing for an R-rated, three-hour biopic.