Denis Villeneuve has mastered the art of creating sci-fi movies with the 2021 film Dune. With Timothée Chalamet in the lead role, the director felt that it was his duty to pay homage to another great director known worldwide for the science-fiction genre.
Talking about the 2021 film, Denis Villeneuve chatted with veteran director James Cameron and stated that he paid a blink-and-miss homage to Ridley Scott in his 2021 movie. Stating that there was a prop used in the film that was very similar to Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down.
When Denis Villeneuve Paid Homage To Ridley Scott
In an interview, veteran actor James Cameron and Denis Villeneuve decided to sit together for a chat. While talking about their respective movies, the duo discussed Avatar: The Way of Water, Dune: Part Two, and many more things Hollywood.
In Variety’s Directors on Directors, James Cameron actually observed the similarity first when he stated that the chopper-like vehicle used in Dune was very similar to the one used by Ridley Scott in his 2001 movie Black Hawk Down. Talking about the Ornithopters used in the film, Denis Villeneuve stated that a particular shot was a direct homage to The Martian director Ridley Scott.
“There’s a very specific shot of three Ornithopters. You see two initially and they’re stacked on a very long lens shot and then a third one swoops in across the foreground and we’ve all seen that shot done with helicopters”
Cameron further continued,
“And you instantly made your aircraft design familiar. We’ve all seen that shot in Black Hawk Down.”
Denis Villeneuve took over the conversation and interjected by saying,
“You’re the first one to mention it. It’s an homage to Ridley [Scott]. Because I wanted to have that…exactly that subconscious response in the audience’s mind thinking that all those machines could be real.”
It is pretty evident that Villeneuve has a deep love for Dune. Alongside the director, iconic composer Hans Zimmer also shared his admiration for the classic novel.
Hans Zimmer Rejected Christopher Nolan’s Tenet For Dune
It is pretty evident that Dune was crafted with love. As per the IMDB film trivia, legendary musical composer Hans Zimmer refused to work with longtime collaborator Christopher Nolan for Tenet. Before Denis Villeneuve went off to shoot into the desert, Zimmer warned him “Don’t f*** it up.”
After he came back from the shoot, Denis Villeneuve gave the final film to Hans Zimmer so that he could add the music and he also said “Don’t f*** it up.” to the musical composer! The 2021 movie eventually went on to win an Oscar for Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score) and Hans Zimmer was quite happy with the end result.
