When Christopher Nolan Revealed The Mistakes He Made In Oppenheimer, “I Like To Use The Performance That Was…”

Christopher Nolan once admitted to the sound mix issues in Oppenheimer.

By
Samridhi Goel
- September 25, 2024 | 5:54 PM IST
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The visionary and renowned filmmaker, Christopher Nolan, has delivered some masterpieces. With films like Inception, Interstellar, and The Dark Knight trilogy, Nolan has established himself as one of Hollywood’s most influential directors.

His 2023 film Oppenheimer achieved a great milestone. It featured the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist behind the creation of the atomic bomb. While Nolan ensembled A-list actors from the industry, including Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, and others, the stunning movie exemplified his talent, but that didn’t come easy.

Amid all the praise for the remarkable visuals, tension, startling sound design, and structure, Nolan made some mistakes while filming the movie. While film critics and audiences widely applauded Nolan’s work, he once admitted about the sound mix issues in Oppenheimer.

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As many complained about the dialogue being difficult to understand due to the intensity of the volume, Nolan addressed it and admitted that there was a specific reason for that. The director explained that he avoids using additional dialogue recordings during post-production, preferring to capture the dialogue on set in real-time rather than asking actors to re-record their lines in a soundproof booth later.

He said, “I like to use the performance that was given in the moment rather than the actor revoice it later. Which is an artistic choice that some people disagree with, and that’s their right.”

Furthermore, Nolan insisted on using the vocal takes captured during filming for the final theatrical cut, rejecting the use of ADR. While Oppenheimer may feature mostly clear dialogue, Nolan shows no signs of altering his approach to accommodate frustrated audiences. His commitment to capturing the raw performances on set remains steadfast, even if it occasionally results in dialogue that is harder to understand.

Oppenheimer grossed over $977 million globally, becoming the third-largest film of 2023.

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