Christopher Nolan Explains Why You Sometimes Can't Hear the Actors During His Films

If you’ve seen Oppenheimer in theaters already, there may have been some moments where the dialogue seemed hard to hear.

Director Christopher Nolan has faced this criticism a few times over the years, including when John David Washington‘s voice was barely heard while he was wearing the oxygen mask in Tenet and when Tom Hardy‘s Bane mask sometimes kept the audience from hearing too well. There are moments that audiences have complained about this in Oppenheimer too.

Well, director Christopher is now explaining why he made that choice purposefully.

Keep reading to find out more…

Nolan routinely films his movies using IMAX’s cameras, which are not soundproofed.

“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,” he told Insider. “There are certain mechanical improvements. 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,” he added.

Another interesting fact about Christopher: he doesn’t send emails.