We find Denis Villeneuve in a suite at the Ritz the day after the Montreal premiere of Dune: Part Two (Dune, part two). A bit cold at the end of a promotional marathon which took him to the four corners of the globe, the filmmaker is no less affable and happy to talk about his new film. We understand: it’s a triumph. This sequel is all the more satisfactory because when filming the first part, Denis Villeneuve had no guarantee that the studio would finance a second.
This means that Dune: Part One (Dune) was created with the desire to prove something. Conversely, the second opus was conceived by a filmmaker emboldened by the critical and popular success of a six-Oscar winning film.
Hence, without a doubt, these beautiful freedoms that Denis Villeneuve allowed himself in his adaptation of Frank Herbert’s flagship novel which tells the story of the clashes between various clans for the control of an arid planet where a resource is produced precious: Spice.
In Dune: Part Twothis “happy infidelity” at the source involves the enhancement of the characters of Chani (Zendaya), this young Fremen warrior who rises to the rank of protagonist in the same way as Paul (Timothée Chalamet), and of Jessica, the latter’s mother , much more present here than in the second part of the novel.
“I found that the female characters took a bit of a backseat in the second part of the novel, and I wanted the opposite: to bring them back to the forefront of the story,” explains Denis Villeneuve.
“Herbert, sometimes, he would throw out ideas, but without following them through to the end. For example, Jessica, she is the main architect of this story: she disobeyed his order [le Bene Gesserit] to give birth to a boy rather than a girl, because she believes that he could be this messiah that the prophecy announces. She is the ultimate hockey mom. She must therefore have her share of darkness, her share of charge against authority… She has a plan within a plan, and intends to achieve her ends and take control. I wanted to take on all of this for her, until the end. »
In the role of Jessica, Rebecca Ferguson is quite amazing.
“We talk a lot about Timothée, Zendaya, Florence [Pugh] and Austin [Butler], because it’s the new generation and they are spectacular… But Rebecca is an exceptional actress. I know that she catches the eye of my fellow filmmakers with the strength of her acting.”
More energetic
For this continuation of DuneDenis Villeneuve also considered it imperative to avoid repetition.
“I didn’t want to follow in my own footsteps. Throughout my journey as a filmmaker, I have tried to never do the same thing again. I tried to always go towards something that was different for me, in order to stimulate myself cinematographically. There, it was the first time that I revisited a universe, and my desire not to fall into déjà vu was all the greater. »
One of the aspects that distinguishes this DuneThis from the previous one is its more hectic rhythm. It is true that in the original film, a whole universe had to be set up. This time, Villeneuve had the opportunity to concentrate more on the action.
“I was excited by the idea of a film with more momentum. I wanted to inject more energy into my production. Sometimes slowness is beneficial, but sometimes it’s complacent, and that was the energy that was needed. It was a concern in every shot, this desire for a more rhythmic film. »
According to the filmmaker, there were “production pitfalls” that he did not intend to repeat. And that came through writing.
Throughout my journey as a filmmaker, I have tried to never do the same thing again
“In order to avoid certain future problems, I had to write a more solid, more assertive, more “armored” scenario. I didn’t want to end up with comprehension problems to resolve during editing — Dune, it’s a pretty dense plot. »
This foresight and this upstream rigor distinguish Denis Villeneuve in the Hollywood environment.
“In Los Angeles, there’s this philosophy that you just reshoot anything that doesn’t work after principal photography. That logic exhausts me. I don’t want to work like that. Of course, sometimes you have to turn something around, no one is perfect. But I don’t want to rely on such an operation. »
The real desert
For the record, Denis Villeneuve is not afraid of working in a way that does not correspond to that favored by Hollywood. By their nature, his two most recent films are the polar opposite of traditional blockbusters. Unlike the majority of these, Dune was not shot in a studio with actors playing in front of green screens then dressed in various locations thanks to digital input.
Here, the imposing decorations are real, tangible. So is the desert. Knowing the complexity of such a shoot, did Denis Villeneuve feel the pressure of, precisely, “shooting all of this in a studio”?
“There was a moment, when the budget started to increase, when I was told: ‘Come and shoot on the backlot, we’re going to make you a sand dune.” I was, uh… radical, totalitarian: that was out of the question. Cinema, especially on this scale, is an art of compromise, because there are always constraints. However, within constraints, this is where creativity operates. However, there are things on which I make no concessions. I imposed that we shoot in the real desert. »
Because, in this true desert, Denis Villeneuve knows how to extract every particle of poetry. FromAugust 32 on earth to the saga Dune Passing by Fires, Sicario And Blade Runner 2049this place takes on a mythical dimension for him.
“The desert is a meditative space which reflects on oneself, which forces introspection, which forces a relationship with the sacred, which forces existential questions; there is this proximity to death, then this void… Except that at the same time, it is the kingdom of survival, with all this secret fauna and this teeming ecosystem… The desert bears witness to the genius of the living, and It’s ultra-inspiring. »
Film Dune in real, not computer-generated, deserts was a given. To give in on this point would have amounted to betraying his artistic identity for Denis Villeneuve. In this regard, the filmmaker confided in 2014 to Duty on the subject of Hollywood: “The idea is to use their machine to make films… and not get swallowed up in the process. I was offered Terminator And Star Trek, but I refused to keep my identity. »
Ten years later, is not being “swallowed” still a concern?
“It’s still a big machine, but I no longer have to protect my identity. Without being arrogant, I would say that I know how to take my place. If the studios hire me, it’s because they want a film from me. »
We understand them, given the result.