“The power of nature to create cinema”: Denis Villeneuve’s Time at the North Pole Helped Director Come Up With the Vision For Dune Decades Later
Denis Villeneuve is a legendary director who has helmed numerous critically acclaimed movies over the years. From Emily Blunt’s thriller Sicario which was released in 2015 to the sci-fi epic Blade Runner 2049 which was released in 2017, the Canadian director has made a lot of contributions to the Hollywood entertainment industry.
Denis Villeneuve was sure that his career would end after the release of Blade Runner 2049 because he thought everyone would hate him for ruining a franchise with the remake. Hilariously, although the movie was not commercially successful, it was nominated for eight British Academy Film Awards. Following this movie’s success, Villeneuve started working on the 2021 movie Dune. In an interview with Variety, he revealed how he conceived the vision for this movie.
Denis Villeneuve Drew Inspiration From His Time At The North Pole
Denis Villeneuve’s Dune is based on Frank Herbert’s novel of the same name. He has often mentioned that he is inspired by the directors he has grown up watching and he got the chance to meet one of his heroes in an interview with Variety in 2021. This hero happened to be none other than the director of Titanic James Cameron.
James Cameron got on a Zoom call with Denis Villeneuve in which they discussed Cameron’s Avatar and Villeneuve’s Dune. The two directors interrogated each other about their perspectives on several topics. Cameron asked if Villeneuve was trying a different filmmaking style on Dune.
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During the interview on Variety, The Arrival director answered the question, saying :
“I learned about the power of landscape working on documentaries at the National Film Board of Canada when I was an assistant back to Pierre Perrault, a documentary filmmaker. We went nearby the North Pole on Ellesmere Island. We spent several weeks there. What amazed me is all the emotions that were coming every morning when you were waking up. It felt so cinematic at the time. It was a very important lesson for me, how to listen to nature and the power of nature in order to create cinema. “
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The Aliens of the Deep director said that while he has never been to the North Pole, he has read up on some things about that place due to Mars simulation projects on Ellesmere.
Denis Villeneuve Has Great Admiration For James Cameron
James Cameron has been making movies for more than four decades. He rose to fame for writing and directing the 1984 movie The Terminator, and has become a major figure in the post-New Hollywood era. Millions of people across the world and even some of the greatest people in the industry consider his work the best.
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Denis Villeneuve stands no exception to this as he expressed his affection for Cameron in the interview with Variety. He said:
“You have all my admiration because you are, I think, working mostly in virtual environment, and I have no idea how you can you keep your creativity alive in those kinds of environments. It amazes me, the way you work.”
James Cameron replied to this by saying that he has been making films for 40 years and he has built his filmmaking discipline on the basis of real sets and real tricks. This has enabled him to do all the virtual stuff that he has been doing for the past few years.
Source: Variety
