At a special screening of Dune Part 2 in London on Sunday, director Denis Villeneuve expressed his appreciation for the collaborative nature of filmmaking, and pegged it as a potential future for AI-generated films. Contrasted.
“I work with amazing artists. What I love most about film is this collective act of creativity trying to create poetry…At the end of the day, it’s film, it’s storytelling. Together. I’m so thrilled to have made this,” Villeneuve said in a conversation with fellow filmmaker Joe Wright. “That’s why if we ever came up with the idea that we could make movies just with computers, maybe it would be interesting in some ways, but I’m definitely going to miss it, a very beautiful and human form of creativity.” Collective action is
The director also revealed how his background in biology influenced the design of the film’s creatures, particularly the sandworms. “We were obsessed with the idea of making this beast look as real as possible,” Villeneuve said. He and production designer Patrice Vermette studied different animal species to determine how the worm’s skin would withstand the harsh desert environment.
Talking about the balance between intimacy and spectacle, Villeneuve said, “‘Part 2’ is a love story, and the entire structure of the film is based on that love story.” he focused on his relationship with Paul [Timothée Chalamet] And Chani [Zendaya]enhance the scene you’re filming and strengthen your connection.
A focus was also placed on the creation of the Fremen language Chakobusa. Linguist David J. Peterson developed a complete language based on a book by Frank Herbert, creator of the movie Dune, and actors went to the Chakobsa School to learn the fictional language. I decided to attend.
When asked about how he deals with difficult moments during production in general, Villeneuve said, “There are always at least one day when I’m a shitty director. There are days when I feel like a malfunctioning instrument.” spoke. He emphasized the importance of reshooting if necessary, even though it was embarrassing at first.
On Saturday, Villeneuve attended the BFI London Film Festival and attended a Screen Talk hosted by “Ted Lasso” actor Brett Goldstein. During our conversation, he talked about some of the most memorable moments of his career, including filming the epic sandbug ride scene in “Dune 2.” Villeneuve admitted that the scene took 44 days to film, with some shots taking an entire week to complete.
“I realized that what I wanted to do with this was that I didn’t want to compromise,” Villeneuve said. “The most important thing about visual effects is how you shoot them. And we wanted to shoot with natural light. And we realized that filming takes months. Each shot is very intricate. Because of the complexity, each shot took half a day, sometimes a day, and sometimes a week. If I had done it myself, I would still be doing it.”
To get this scene just right, Villeneuve created a separate unit on set called the “Worm Unit”, led by his wife Tanya Lapointe. She “understood my vision perfectly,” Villeneuve said, adding, “She’s also my wife.”
On Sunday, Villeneuve revisited that experience. Villeneuve admitted to feeling momentarily frustrated during a particularly difficult shot. “The worst thing I’ve ever said is that I’ll never do it again, someday. [the shot] didn’t come up, so I said to Tanya, “Okay, forget it.” I’ll do it myself. ” This is the worst thing I can say, but I apologize. I’ll never say that again, but the shot came back perfect. ”
In April, it was announced that a third Dune movie is in development, based on Frank Herbert’s Dune Messiah, set 12 years after the events of Frank Herbert’s first novel. was confirmed. However, as Villeneuve said on Vanity Fair’s Little Gold Men podcast last month, he made it clear that the series is “not like a trilogy.”
“First of all, it’s important for people to understand that for me this was really a diptych,” Villeneuve said of the first two Dune films. “It was actually two movies that were adaptations of the first book. Once that was done, that was it. Even if we were to do a third book, which I’m writing, it wouldn’t be a trilogy. It’s strange to say this, but if I were to go back there it would be to do something that feels different and has its own identity.”