Denis Villeneuve: “Movies Are When There’s a Really Big Lady”

Denis Villeneuve is making sand waves with his new movie Dune: Part Two. That’s why we wanted to sit down with the incredible director and learn what goes into making such a cool flick.

Dibs Next: So Dune: Part 2 comes out this week. Do you need to see Part 1 to understand what’s going on? Or is it like Columbo or something? It’s a case-of-the-week thing.

Denis Villeneuve: No, you have to watch Dune: Part 1 to understand what’s happening in the second part.

Dibs Next: So it’s not like television?

Denis Villeneuve: Not really, no.

Dibs Next: But what really is the difference, right? TV and movies? I mean obviously the screen is smaller, but you could probably build a really large television. So they’re honestly pretty much the same.

Denis Villeneuve: No no. Television and film are very different. Take dialogue, for example. Frankly, I hate dialogue. Dialogue is for theatre and television. I don’t remember movies because of a good line, I remember movies because of a strong image. Movies are when there’s a really big lady. That’s the power of cinema, but it is something not obvious when you watch movies today. Movies have been corrupted by television. They are neglecting the need — the requirement — of having an extraordinarily large woman on screen. In a perfect world, I’d make a compelling movie that doesn’t feel like an experiment but does not have a single word in it either. It’s just a guy walking around with a woman the size of a skyscraper. Actually, it would be a remake of “Attack of the 50 Foot Woman” but without any dialogue at all. People would leave the cinema and say, “Wait, there was no dialogue? And also there was a huge beautiful sexy lady?” But they won’t feel the lack.

Dibs Next: Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on…. Movies are when there’s a really big lady?

Denis Villeneuve: Did I fucking stutter?

Dibs Next: So, I mean…like “Blade Runner 2049.” That famously has a scene where Ryan Gosling sees a ginormous pink lady. So that’s a movie.

Denis Villeneuve: “Blade Runner 2049” is a movie, yes.

Dibs Next: But that’s it? That’s the only movie you’ve made?

Denis Villeneuve: Well, no. “Arrival” is a movie.

Dibs Next: Amy Adams is a giant woman?

Denis Villeneuve: No, of course not. But one of the aliens is a woman. And those things are huge. Both Dune movies are movies too. Because the worms in them are women. One of the worms in the new one is a guy, but there’s still a girl worm as well. The spider in “Enemy” is a woman. All of my other movies are basically theatre, in my opinion. “Prisoners” is actually sort of about the aggression of masculinity, so you could say there’s even a giant-woman-shaped hole in that film. That’s what cinema is all about. Our world lacks the mystery and religion of the past. So where do we go to worship? To pray at the altar of things that are larger than ourselves? Film. And the things that are larger than ourselves are specifically women and they are larger physically. That’s the magic of the moving image. You can’t get that at home or on stage. 

Dibs Next: Man, this is really changing my perspective on what makes a movie good. I get what you’re saying about film being about images — even if you are specifying one specific type of image — but a lot of filmmakers are so much more dialogue-focused than you. How do you feel about someone like Quentin Tarantino, for example?

Denis Villeneuve: I don’t think he would disagree with me at all! We’re good friends, actually. And he has told me many times that he doesn’t see his own movies as movies, per say. He really sees them as dialogue-based puzzles. For him, the goal is just to see how many times he can get away with personally saying the n-word in front of as many people as possible. It’s some sort of sexual fetish. And that’s a noble goal, I suppose. But he and I both agree that it isn’t cinema.

Dibs Next: Wes Anderson?

Denis Villeneuve: I watch his movies with the sound and subtitles off.

Dibs Next: Aaron Sorkin?

Denis Villeneuve: He is literally filming plays. Come on.

Dibs Next: What about “Sicario?” Is that a movie?

Denis Villeneuve: Nope. You can tell it’s TV because it doesn’t have a giant woman and it’s written by Taylor Sheridan.