Reviewmyscript.com hopes you’ll be seeing Dune when it comes out this Friday, the 22nd of October. Once you’ve let the bombast wash over you, why not temper any curiosity over how such a monumental adaptation was undertaken by watching this 30-minute interview with director Denis Villeneuve on the production and writing-process of the film. Tom Power interviews the Canadian filmmaker for q on CBC, broaching the seemingly insurmountable task that was creating Dune.
The two discuss young Denis’ interest in the hulking source novel, and what it was about the hero Paul Atredeis that spoke to him as a teenager still in the process of discovering who he was. This love for Dune came about just as he was developing his passion for cinema, and becoming interested in making films for the first time, he and a friend would draw storyboards for their ideal Dune film. In keeping with this, the film received Villeneuve’s first PG-13 certificate, since a conscious effort was made to ensure that the film was suitable for teens, so that they may be inspired by the film as he was by the book.
Despite his obvious devotion to the task, Denis had his fair share of apprehensions, feeling that he had to do films like Arrival and Blade Runner 2049 before he could tackle his dream project, seeing as when working in science-fiction it is necessary to be the master of an entire universe. He had to satisfy the young and arrogant ambitions he had when first reading the novel, and so avoid thinking of previous adaptations, referring only to the book when answering queries about how a scene should be handled.
Regardless, as with all adaptations, changes still had to be made. The depth of female characters especially seem to have received new life, though Villeneuve feels this depth was present in the source material, and he has only chosen to focus more on the women of the story, highlighting the elements of femininity which coloured the novel and made his favorite characters women (especially members of the Bene Geserit). Major focus is given to the relationship between Paul and his mother Lady Jessica, since the massive scale of the production could swallow the story, but the writers have kept the emotional elements intimate, and between only a handful of characters.
Also hear about the more directorial techniques, what makes Dune such a necessary theatre-going experience (preferably in IMAX), and Villeneuve’s thoughts on the decline in cinema-going, as well as a reflection on his Canadian roots, and whether or not he continues to draw from Montreal and the artists of Canada when working on a production so utterly divorced from his home.
Watch more interviews with everyone from Jamie Foxx and Jake Gyllenhaal to Riz Ahmed and Danny Trejo, all conducted by Tom Power.