Christopher Nolan Breaks Silence on 'Interstellar' Sound - “I’ve always loved films that approach sound in an impressionistic way and that is an unusual approach for a mainstream blockbuster, but I feel it's the right approach for this experiential film,” Christopher Nolan said, speaking for the first time in detail about the use of sound in his new film Interstellar. “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.”
Nolan — who said he is a fierce believer that “sound is as important as picture” — said that he likes to hear how his movies sound in actual theaters. “Usually [I visit] six or seven. I like to hear it out where people are going to see it, not just in the cocoon of the dub stage. That is something I have done for years, because everything we are doing is intended to communicate something to the audience."
“The theaters I have been at have been doing a terrific job in terms of presenting the film in the way I intended,” he continued. “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.” To check out how Interstellar is playing, Nolan said he has visited the TCL Chinese Imax Theatre and the Arclight Cinemas Dome in Hollywood and the AMC Loews Lincoln Square in New York.
As one example, he cited the scene during which Matthew McConaughey is driving through a cornfield — something Nolan actually did, riding in the back of a car while filming point of view shots. “It’s incredibly loud … exhilarating and slightly frightening,” he laughed as he described his experience. “I was very keen to try and give the audience the experience and the chaotic feeling with the sound.”
“The idea is to experience the journey the character is going on,” he said. “[For instance] the experience of being in the cockpit is you hear the creaking [of the spacecraft]; it’s a very scary sound. We wanted to be true to the experience of space travel. We wanted to emphasize those intimate elements.”
We made carefully considered creative decisions,” Nolan said. “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.”
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/christopher-nolan-breaks-silence-interstellar-749465
