Dune director Denis Villeneuve recalls the moment he fell out of love with Star Wars

As a cinephile who grew up during the golden age of cinema, I can wholeheartedly relate to Denis Villeneuve‘s experiences with Star Wars. Like him, I was swept off my feet by the original trilogy and eagerly awaited each subsequent installment, only to be left feeling slightly disappointed. The divisive nature of this beloved franchise is a tale as old as time indeed!

The popular series Star Wars on Disney+ is generating positive buzz once more with the new show Skeleton Crew, which I’m happy to see fans appreciating. However, it’s worth noting that historically, the Star Wars franchise has had a pattern of causing division and disappointing its fanbase. For instance, newer fans who started with the 2015 film The Force Awakens experienced this when the subsequent movies The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker sparked online controversies. Going further back, fans of the original trilogy were displeased with the 1999 release of The Phantom Menace. Even before that, followers of the original movie felt let down by the 1983 release of Return of the Jedi. Essentially, this franchise has a long history of stirring up debates among its fanbase.

Denis Villenueve, who directed the highly acclaimed Dune movies, shared that he was among those deeply captivated by Star Wars, as he discussed on The Town podcast. Being just 10 years old when the original Star Wars film premiered in 1977, he was ideally situated to be completely spellbound by it. “That movie penetrated my mind like a silver bullet,” he reminisced. “I became utterly captivated by Star Wars. To be specific, The Empire Strikes Back was the film I eagerly awaited the most in my life. I watched the movie countless times on screen. I suffered from being traumatized by The Empire Strikes Back, yet I have a deep affection for Star Wars.

After that, “Return of the Jedi” emerged, a film which Villeneuve found disruptive to his admiration. He stated, “I was 15 years old, and my best friend and I were considering hailing a cab and traveling to L.A. to meet George Lucas – we were so enraged!” He recollected. “To this day, the Ewoks. It turned out to be a children’s comedy.” It’s intriguing how history tends to repeat itself, as criticisms about “Star Wars” being overly kid-friendly were similarly expressed when “The Phantom Menace” was released around two decades later.

Despite the impactful encounter, Villeneuve never fully regained his creative momentum post-experience. Undeniably, Star Wars ignited his passion and shaped his filmmaking approach, yet he harbors no ambition to direct a Star Wars movie of his own. He expressed that the franchise became entrenched in its own mythology, appearing rigid and formulaic, devoid of any fresh twists or turns. Consequently, he expresses no wish to create a Star Wars film as it feels like the script is already written.

Dune director Denis Villeneuve recalls the moment he fell out of love with Star Wars

Read the screenplay for Dune: Part Two!

Instead, Villeneuve chose to adapt Frank Herbert’s 1965 science fiction novel, Dune; this book was previously brought to the big screen in 1984, but that film didn’t achieve the same level of success as Star Wars, so there weren’t high expectations when Villeneuve reimagined the tale across two films released in 2021 and 2024. Both movies proved to be box office sensations, and Villeneuve is currently working on a third installment based on the sequel novel Dune Messiah. While it’s not accurate to label Villeneuve’s Dune films as the new Star Wars, they have certainly left an indelible mark on popular culture that likely brings Villeneuve great satisfaction.

Dune: Part Two is currently up for a bunch of Golden Globe awards, including Best Drama. People are talking about it again, as they should. If you’re interested, Deadline has just released the script for the movie; take a look if you want to see what changed in the transition from page to screen.

Regarding Villeneuve, it seems that Dune: Part Three might be his last installment in the Dune saga, but if Warner Bros. Discovery manages to entice him back, he might tackle other Dune books such as God Emperor of Dune, a prospect I find intriguing. However, Villeneuve appears eager to delve into creating unique films once more; he’s also the director behind movies like Arrival and Sicario.

Denis Villeneuve expresses his preference for his work not appearing on streaming platforms like Netflix. He believes that the big screen is an integral part of storytelling, as it allows a shared emotional experience between viewers in a cinema. He suggests that we are fundamentally social beings, and that experiencing movies together in a theater will continue to be preferred over solitary viewing at home.

2024-12-12 20:42

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