Aspiring filmmaker Denis Villeneuve is making waves for directing Dune: Part Two, which is just 3 days away from release. The director is best known for several feature films, including Arrival (2016), Sicario (2015), Prisoners (2013), Enemy (2013), and many more.
Four-time recipient of the Canadian Screen Award (formerly Genie Award) for Best Direction, Villeneuve’s first feature film (which he also wrote) was Un 32 août sur terre (August 32nd on Earth) in 1998. The film is about a woman who experiences an existential crisis after a car accident.
Villeneuve’s first Hollywood feature was Prisoners (2013), a complex mystery movie about two little girls who go missing. This film marked the filmmaker’s first big foray into mainstream cinema.
The 56-year-old director has certain rules when it comes to direction that makes him unique. However, he also adheres to some rules himself, which he always follows on the silver screen.
Denis Villeneuve Adhered to One Rule While Collaborating with Hollywood Studios
From Hollywood outsider to the director everyone’s dying to work with, Denis Villeneuve‘s rise in just six years is genuinely awe-inspiring.
Villeneuve toyed with the idea of a science career but was drawn to storytelling. His early films, like Maelstrom and Polytechnique, revealed a director willing to tackle difficult subjects head-on.
In 2010, Villeneuve shifted his focus from Hollywood glitz and dove headfirst into the drama of the Middle East with Incendies—a tale about a twisted family saga.
It snagged all the Canadian film awards and even scored an Oscar nod for Best Foreign Language Film. Hollywood began to notice the bold director. While the film’s success had stamped his cinematic style, Villeneuve had bigger stories to tell.
In an interview with Vulture, the Trois-Rivières native humorously asserted that he didn’t want to direct Legally Blonde 7 (addressing rom-com films here), and that’s the reason he wasn’t keen on a Hollywood career. But later, Villeneuve got invited to work there. The three-time winner of the Genie Award went on to say:
“I didn’t want to direct Legally Blonde 7. And so I was not dreaming of going to Hollywood, necessarily. It just seemed an impossible road to go there and do my own movies. But then I was invited.”
Still, he played it cool. Even though Villeneuve was handed blockbuster opportunities on a silver platter after Prisoners, he swatted them away, saying, “There were some tools I still needed to master. It was like karate — I needed a different color belt.”
At that time (which he still does to this day), he wanted to prioritize his artistic vision over commercial appeal. But it’s not always rainbows and sunshine. There was also a time when the director thought his Tinseltown journey was over.
Denis Villeneuve Bold Move with Blade Runner 2049
In an interview on MTV’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, Denis Villeneuve talked about Blade Runner 2049’s flop. When the movie didn’t even come close to covering its budget, Villeneuve thought he would never be able to make the next film again.
Villeneuve said on the podcast, “The miracle for me about Blade Runner 2049 is the following: I’m still making movies, and you’re still talking to me.” The filmmaker took a risky plunge by deciding to make a sequel to the 1982’s Blade Runner. He said:
“I knew that when I did this movie, I flirted with disaster. I put myself in massive artistic danger. That was walking, as Christopher Nolan said to me once, walking on sacred territory. It’s true. It was sacrilegious what I did.”
Luckily, critics and movie buffs gave Blade Runner 2049 a big thumbs up for its impressive craftsmanship.
Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming film Dune: Part Two is set to hit theatres on March 1.
