Initially, Denis Villeneuve was expecting somewhat of a more "intimate cinema lesson" as he told the packed crowd at Place des Arts' Théâtre Maisonneuve which holds more than 1400 seats. Usually at the Rendez-Vous du Cinema Quebecois, which is what this talk was for, these kind of intimate discussions hold up anywhere between 100-200 people in attendance. Villeneuve has become such a national hero here in Quebec that when he finally walked on-stage the applause was rapturously ecstatic from 1400 strong. The talk was meant to reveal the intimate creative details of an artist at the peak of creative powers, the person asking Villeneuve the question during this Q&A was Marie-Louise Arsenault, a former college roommate of his during film school. He spoke for 90 minutes in what felt like a fascinating career retrospective of an artist whose art continues to expand and fascinate with ever movie.
Looking rather surprised by the audience reaction, Villeneuve uttered "I feel like an imposter at Rendez-vous." Sure, his French-Canadian films ("Maelstrom," Polytechnique," and "Incendies") were what put him in the international map, but the filmmaker admitted to wondering if he really is a "Quebecois filmmaker" anymore, for no less than the reason that he's taken Hollywood by storm these last few years and become an auteur to eb reckoned with ever since his American 2013 debut "Prisoners." He followed that up with critically acclaimed films such as "Enemy," Sicario," "Arrival" and last year's "Blade Runner 2049."
For all the complaints that American filmmakers might have with the lack of creative freedom they are given for their films, Villeneuve is that rarity, somebody that has actually managed to make no concessions and have studio heads give him the freedom that he needed to make the movie that he wanted to make, “I must admit that strangely, I feel at home there [in Hollywood]. Their system is not perfect, but it certainly has qualities.”
His next film will be an adaptation of Frank Herbert‘s classic science fiction novel “Dune,” which was made into a misbegotten film by David Lynchback in 1984. Now Villeneuve is taking a crack at it and taking his time to not make the same mistakes Lynch had done. But a particularly interesting tidbit was revealed by the 50-year-old filmmaker, he plans in making two separate films, "Dune will probably take two years to make. The goal is to make two films, maybe more. "
This would no doubt be the perfect way to adapt “Dune.” There’s a timeskip in the middle of the book which makes it quite easy to pull off this split, this would also make it much easier for Villeneuve to cut less scenes and give us the full 4 hour version, or more, he envisions. If you remember, back in December, Villeneuve had revealed an urge he had in the “Blade Runner 2049" editing room to release the film in two separate parts as he originally had a 4 hour cut of the film. Then there was the urge to release the aforementioned 240 minute cut in its entirety, saying that cut was “quite strong,” which, of course, didn’t make much sense commercially as that kind of running time tends to be a box-office kiss of death. Nevertheless, when it comes to”Dune,” we are quite excited for it and crossing our fingers that a newly Oscar-ized Roger Deakins will be back for a fourth collaboration with Villeneuve.