This week on the Awards Tour podcast, our host, Jacqueline Coley, sits down with Oscar-nominated producer, director, and writer Denis Villeneuve, who’s busy this awards season promoting his current project, Dune: Part Two. Both a hit with the critics and a box office smash, Dune: Part Two found the Sicario helmer directing a talented young cast, including Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Austin Butler, and Florence Pugh.
Please enjoy this preview of our conversation with Denis Villeneuve and watch the entire discussion in the video above.
Jacqueline Coley for Rotten Tomatoes: Since it’s come out, what’s been the most satisfying part of the reception and the release of Dune: Part Two?
Denis Villeneuve: That’s a big question. The thing is, I would say when we released part one, if people remember, it was at the end of the pandemic, and it meant that people were going back to the theater, but I was not allowed to be in contact with the crowd that much. We were not allowed with the audience. It was compartmentalized because of the pandemic.
And so when we did the press tour for Dune: Part Two, it was the first time that I was finally meeting the fans of the first film. And I was destabilized by the amount of energy I received, the amount of appetite for the second one, the joy that the movie, the first movie, brought. That was my favorite thing to feel that. As a filmmaker, as an artist, you want to participate, you want to be in a relationship and to feel that there was somebody else at the other end that listened, that received the first movie with joy.That meant the world to me.
RT: And you pulled off one of the greatest surprises in cinema, casting Anya Taylor Joy and not telling a soul — tricky, very tricky, sir.
Villeneuve: I knew that Anya would Alia before I shot part two. I knew she was the one. I had met her while prepping Part Two. I knew the character would be mostly seen only in her mother’s womb, but I knew that it would be her voice. I knew that when we were doing the shape of the baby of the animatronics, it was like thinking about Anya’s features. And I loved how, in Part One, we had thrown, let’s say, ideas that will find their fulfillment in Part Two. We barely met Stilgar, barely met Chani in the first movie, but we had hints of those characters that we will finally fully embrace in the second part. And I wanted to have that same thing in the future. I wanted to create bridges like that with Princess Irulan and, more specifically, Alia Atreides, the character that would be played by Anya.
Watch the video for the full interview with Denis Villeneuve.
Dune: Part Two is available to Rent or Buy and is Streaming on MAX.
