Oscar-nominated production sound mixer Jose Antonio Garcia never actually saw a script for “Roma” during shooting. “I think the production designer was the only one who got a script,” he recalls. Everyone else got “a piece of paper with broad strokes of the dialogue, whatever might be said or not.” Therefore, every actor “would be wired” with microphones, and Garcia would “brace for impact.” Suffice it to say that this complicated Garcia’s job, but instead of creating chaos, it led to “a beautiful experience.” Watch our exclusive video interview with Garcia and re-recording mixer Craig Henighan above.
SEE Eugenio Caballero Interview: ‘Roma’
Writer-director Alfonso Cuaron based this film about a maid (Yalitza Aparicio) working for a middle-class family largely on his own childhood, down to the specific sounds of the city. Henighan, therefore, wanted “to make the film feel as immersive” as possible, to “make you really feel like you were in Mexico City in 1970.” To do this, he and fellow re-recording mixer Skip Lievsay (who shares their Oscar nomination for Best Sound Mixing) used Dolby Atmos in order to “pan dialogue” and the multi-layered soundtrack “around the theater.”
SEE Skip Lievsay Interview: ‘Roma’
Garcia previously competed at the Oscars for “Argo” (2012). Henighan is a first-time Oscar nominee, but he won two Emmys in a row for “Stranger Things” in (Best Sound Editing for a Series, 2017-2018). Their bid is one of 10 “Roma” received overall from the motion picture academy, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Aparicio), Best Supporting Actress (Marina de Tavira), and Best Original Screenplay. And it has already won Critics’ Choice and BAFTA Awards for Best Picture.
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