Christopher Nolan Responds to Interstellar Sound Mix Complaints

Posted by on November 17th, 2014   Filed under: Industry News, Sci-fi
Source: THR

interstellarsoundmix

Most people seem to agree that IMAX is the best way to see Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, especially considering that over an hour of the movie was shot using 70mm IMAX cameras. However, over the past couple of weeks, we have been hearing complaints from some IMAX viewers related to the film’s sound mix. The score and sound effects are incredibly loud at times, which makes it difficult to hear some of the dialogue. As it turns out, this is all intentional. Christopher Nolan recently defended the film’s sound mix and explained what he hoped to achieve with it. Here is some of what he had to say:

“The theaters I have been at have been doing a terrific job in terms of presenting the film in the way I intended. Broadly speaking, there is no question when you mix a film in an unconventional way as this, you’re bound to catch some people off guard, but hopefully people can appreciate the experience for what it’s intended to be… We made carefully considered creative decisions. There are particular moments in this film where I decided to use dialogue as a sound effect, so sometimes it’s mixed slightly underneath the other sound effects or in the other sound effects to emphasize how loud the surrounding noise is. It’s not that nobody has ever done these things before, but it’s a little unconventional for a Hollywood movie.”

He goes on to point out specific creative decisions that were made in a few key scenes, and I think a lot of it makes sense. Of course, this isn’t the first time one of his movies has been accused of having a bad sound mix. When The Dark Knight Rises was released, many complained that Bane’s muffled voice was difficult to understand.

I can understand some moviegoers feeling frustrated, especially if they are confused by other elements of the movie and they think a particular line of dialogue may hold the key to eliminating that confusion. However, Interstellar is definitely an immersive, visceral experience and clearly some of those lines of dialogue are not as important as people might think. What do you think, did you have problems with the sound mix in Interstellar? And if so, does Christopher Nolan’s explanation justify it for you?



  • ECONOMYpolitica

    Yeah, I figured it was a creative choice. I liked it.

  • Not being able to hear dialogue seems to frustrate people more than anything else when watching a movie. If a certain line is important for you to hear, the director is going to make sure you hear it. Not everything that everybody says is essential to the story.

  • Matt

    Nolan is known for not doing any reshoots on his films and keeping the on-set dialogue whenever possible. I guess this leads to a more natural approach but it can be frustrating to actually hear important lines. Ken Watanabe in Inception was really hard to understand at times. However if the alternative is listening to peoples’ complaints and having elements like the overproduced Bane voice then I say let them do their thing.

  • 1138sw

    funny the first time I watched at one theater the dialogue was not difficult to understand. 2nd viewing at a different theater though was another story. Some dialogue was difficult to hear something I did not encounter in my first viewing.

    But I enjoyed Interstellar even more upon second viewing. It wasn’t perfect and there were things I did not like (I actually prefer some of the plot points in the original screenplay more) but there were some scenes and ideas presented in this movie that just made it for me. Worth seeing twice.

  • ECONOMYpolitica

    The dialogue you can’t hear is revealed by another character at a more dramatic point in the film. It seemed obvious it was intentionally unintelligible. People really irritate me sometimes.

  • kyri

    Nolan also stated that “fake science in the movie is intentional”

    I actually rewatched the film yesterday, I think Reed was kind of right regarding the final scene being, Cooper’s last dream before/as he dies, or as a ghost living in a higher dimension /inside the film’s reality.

    Mat Damon’s description of what a person sees before he dies as a death dream is literally.. the final act, – the will to stay alive for your kids, cooper stays alive in his dream.. The flashes when he ejects his space-ship, are also a strong indication.

    It worths to mention that the entire film was extremely scientifically accurate, up to that point (a guy named Kip Thorne , he is like a big name astrophysicist also wrote a book explaining things, http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393351378/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0393351378&linkCode=as2&tag=austrasemina-20&linkId=DTCPOGOOBYU6QNI2

    I haven’t read it yet to be honest, but I would argue that , obviously no human can survive entering the black hole, I think cooper is as dead as it gets,

    though I guess as a dead person, he can be the ghost at the beginning as well.?

    //anyway..

    I also feel the need to say a few words regarding the fight scene that you guys pooped all over,

    CLEARLY that wide angle of two tiny humans – dots fighting in an icy planet is there to show how insignificant human struggles are in the grant scheme of things/space/icy planet . not everything must be KARATÈ . it is actually fairly obvious watching the film for the second time.

    Also regarding your criticism on what dr Mann’s plan was supposed to be, – I think it is also fairly obvious on a re-watch – from Matt Daymons excellent performance that the guy is fairly desperate and not mentally well.

    desperation != good planning.

  • kyri

    a very low iq force is surrounding fim-junk lately.

  • ECONOMYpolitica

    Hey, Kyri! Nice to see you commenting! I was really talking about all those other stupid movie shows like screen junkies, slash film, one of us, sequelcast, etc. I want to die when Iisten to them. They never understand the movies.

  • ECONOMYpolitica

    Thanks for having Reed on. Please have him on the show more. I really like that. Thank you, Filmjunk.

  • ECONOMYpolitica

    I should hope there’s fake science. It’s science FICTION. I thought this movie was going to suck because it would be all realistic but was pleasantly surprised. As for the love as a force story point. I really liked it. Many experts say love is a strong universal force like gravity. I liked seeing it incorporated in a sci fi film like they did. I love how these guys tell stories. They share my sensibilites. I also really love all the care and thought Nolan puts into his direction to best tell the story without really calling attention to himself like overdirectors like Tarantino do. Nolan is a true director. Just some thoughts I wanted to share after listening to a bunch of misguided haters who are obviously bitter because they are incapable of love.

  • Flo Lieb

    That’s surely how the screenwriters intended it.

    “Hey, Jonathan. We need some more dialogue here”
    “Okay, Chris, what do you want me to write?”
    “Doesn’t matter. It’s neither important to the story nor will it be loud enough in cinemas to be audible”
    “Alright, Chris! That’s why you’re the famous Nolan!”

  • pcch7

    And George Lucas had all the Star Wars movies planned from the start.. I don’t know, if this was all intentional then I think it’s a bad choice.

  • You think that every single line of dialogue is essential to understanding the plot? Sometimes characters are talking to each other and while it might not be “filler,” you could probably miss it and still understand the story no problem.

  • Flo Lieb

    But how do you know if the line you did not hear was essential or not? You’d have to put your faith into Nolan to assume he would only drown out pieces of dialogue that are not essential. I think he would make his life way easier if he’d stop messing around with his sound – it’s the backlash of mumbling Bane all over again.

  • Lori Cerny