There are plenty of things you can debate when it comes to the filmmaking style of Christopher Nolan. Some call his a master craftsman that isn’t the best with plot or character development. Others think he’s one of the best large-scale action directors of all time. And then there’s the discussion about how he uses sound in his films, with some thinking that the dialogue can be muffled and drowned out by the score and/or other sounds happening in the film at that time. And according to Nolan, he’s well aware of people having issues with the sound design of his features, but he just doesn’t think people understand why he does what he does.
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As revealed in Tom Shone’s new book “The Nolan Variations,” the filmmaker is actually shocked by the response to his sound design, and he’s actually heard complaints from other filmmakers that he is friendly with specifically about the sound in “Interstellar.”
“We got a lot of complaints,” Nolan said. “I actually got calls from other filmmakers who would say, ‘I just saw your film, and the dialogue is inaudible.’ Some people thought maybe the music’s too loud, but the truth was it was kind of the whole enchilada of how we had chosen to mix it.”
He added, “It was a very, very radical mix. I was a little shocked to realize how conservative people are when it comes to sound. Because you can make a film that looks like anything, you can shoot on your iPhone, no one’s going to complain. But if you mix the sound a certain way, or if you use certain sub-frequencies, people get up in arms.”
He went on to describe the reasoning for using such unique sound design in his space epic, specifically when it comes to the score from Hans Zimmer.
“A lot of it was the music where Hans had this organ and he used the absolutely lowest note, which would literally make your chest drop,” Nolan said. “There’s certain low end frequencies that automatically get filtered out by the software. He took all of those controls off, so there are all those sub-frequencies there. And we did the same on the dub stage. It’s a pretty fascinating sound mix. If you see it particularly in an IMAX theater, projected, it’s pretty remarkable.”
Though he’s speaking about “Interstellar” in this example, Nolan’s unique sound design is now a trademark of his filmmaking style. There are folks that totally love how he mixes the sound in his movies, while other find it a bit annoying and difficult. Regardless, going into a Nolan film nowadays, it’s something that is just expected.