When Production Sound Mixer Ed Novick
got the call about Adam McKay's film
Vice, a fictional drama uncovering the
unwavering power of Dick Cheney (Christian Bale) who
served as the Vice President to George W. Bush from
2001 to 2009, the decision to say yes was an easy one.
Novick previously wrapped the pilot for McKay's
Succession; HBO's must-watch series about a filthy
rich and dysfunctional family trying to keep its media
empire alive. In Vice, the writer-director follows his
2015 film The Big Short, another Bale-starring allegory
focusing on the 2008 financial crisis, with a biopic of
Cheney from adolescence to his rise in the political
ranks.
Sitting in the sound recordist's Los Angeles home,
Novick admits he enjoys the "free -wheeling" directing
style of McKay. "Adam has a way with actors where he
lets them explore. As long as I have enough mics and
tracks, I'm good to go," says Novick, who's been sliding
faders since the early eighties and won an Oscar for
Christopher Nolan's Inception.
22
Meticulous
prep allows
sound to track
Writer-Director
Adam McKay's
Vice
POWER PLAY
by Daron James
