It's been 8 years since Amy Adams & Denis Villeneuve worked together for the movie 'The Arrival.' Amy and Denis sit down to discuss everything from the first time they ever met, the "greatest gift" Denis gave to Amy, to their latest projects including 'Dune' and 'Nightbitch.'
Director: Funmi Sunmonu
Director of Photography: AJ Young
Editor: Matthew Colby
Talent: Amy Adams; Denis Villenueve
Senior Correspondent, HWD: Rebecca Ford
Coordinating Producer: Emebeit Beyene
Production Manager: Andressa Pelachi
Production Coordinator: Elizabeth Hymes
Camera Operator: Oliver Lukacs
Audio Engineer: Glo Hernandez
Production Assistant: Crystal Boyd; Fernando Barajas
Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin
Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant
Supervising Editor: Doug Larsen
Additional Editor: Jason Malizia
Assistant Editor: Billy Ward
Director: Funmi Sunmonu
Director of Photography: AJ Young
Editor: Matthew Colby
Talent: Amy Adams; Denis Villenueve
Senior Correspondent, HWD: Rebecca Ford
Coordinating Producer: Emebeit Beyene
Production Manager: Andressa Pelachi
Production Coordinator: Elizabeth Hymes
Camera Operator: Oliver Lukacs
Audio Engineer: Glo Hernandez
Production Assistant: Crystal Boyd; Fernando Barajas
Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin
Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant
Supervising Editor: Doug Larsen
Additional Editor: Jason Malizia
Assistant Editor: Billy Ward
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00You are very honest.
00:01As I was having trouble with a moment in a scene,
00:03and I came up to you with all of my angst,
00:05I'm in the little orange suit with my hood off,
00:07talking at what must have been a mile a minute,
00:10and I looked at you and you go,
00:11to be honest, I don't understand anything you've said.
00:17Hola, madame.
00:18Hello, how are you?
00:21Good to see you.
00:22Good to see you, too.
00:30The first time I met you, it was like,
00:32I was really impressed how thoughtful and present,
00:35and just like right now, look at me with your eyes.
00:38But in French we said,
00:41it means like a quiet power,
00:44and a very strong presence,
00:46and I was really impressed the first time I met you.
00:49When I first met you,
00:51I was just getting off of a film,
00:53it was a really hard experience,
00:54and I was like, I'm not reading anything.
00:56I don't know if I'm working again.
00:58I was like, and my very smart and thoughtful team said,
01:03you can not read anything, but you have to read this first.
01:07So I was adamant, I'm like, great, I'll read it.
01:09I got to the end of it, I was so moved.
01:11And then of course, immediately had to read it again.
01:14So by the time I met you,
01:15I think I'd read it like three times maybe.
01:17But what I remember most about meeting you
01:19was you had a very honest energy,
01:22and you were very open and very vulnerable,
01:24and I felt very safe with you.
01:26And I knew to do this,
01:28I'd need to take that leap,
01:29because it was one of those things I always felt,
01:32it's either going to be one of the things
01:33I'm the most proud of, or we're going to miss, right?
01:36But it was worth it.
01:37Flirting with disaster.
01:38Flirting with disaster, but it was worth it,
01:40because there was such a beautiful possibility in the script.
01:44And you communicated that to me,
01:46and I immediately felt safe.
01:49And I remember you said,
01:51okay, well, I was either going to do this or Sicario first,
01:54so I'll go do Sicario.
01:55And I thought, oh, we're never going to make it.
01:56And then you came back a year later, and we made it.
02:00Yeah, it's a promise I've made.
02:02That project was fundamental, so important to me.
02:06But I was feeling that I needed to finish something else
02:09before jumping into that project,
02:13which is still to this day
02:15one of the most beautiful experiences I had on the movie set.
02:18Me too, absolutely.
02:20I remember how grounded you were as we were shooting.
02:25I felt you were fearless.
02:26There was something about, like I gave an example,
02:29we were doing a scene in the hospital with a tiny baby,
02:33like a newborn, like a couple of days old or something.
02:38And the baby was a bit, of course, agitated.
02:40And you took him, and you were so calm.
02:43And the baby became relaxed right away.
02:46And you asked me, I remember you said,
02:47no, no, I don't look real.
02:48You wanted to show your shoulders,
02:51had sweat on you, mess up your hair.
02:54And I was like so moved by your appetite,
02:58your desire for authenticity and to bring something real.
03:02Because the more we will be close to something,
03:04the more moving, the more real it would look like.
03:07So at that time, I was feeling
03:09that we were walking in the same direction.
03:11I felt that you're the best ally for me
03:14to put all my chips on you,
03:16because the visual effects, all that is not important.
03:19What is important is if you believe
03:21in what we were about to do.
03:23And I felt that all the time.
03:24You were my strong, you were my rock during this movie.
03:27Well, you were my rock.
03:28I remember, well, I remember I put so much time
03:31and energy and worked so hard,
03:33especially because we were working on this tightrope
03:36of trying to play things so it can play both ways, right?
03:42Because of the reveal at the end,
03:43I had to do so much work to understand,
03:45like, how do I play a character
03:47so that the first time you watch it,
03:49you think that it's one thing.
03:51And then the second time you watch it,
03:52you can see it from a totally different perspective.
03:54So that was always on my mind.
03:55So I'd done so much work and came in
03:57with all of this, like, energy.
03:59And I still remember the first day
04:00and we were going through the script
04:01and I was, like, just hammering you
04:04with questions and thoughts and this.
04:06And the next day, you gave me one of the greatest gifts
04:09a director has ever given me,
04:11where you said, you own her.
04:14I'm giving her to you.
04:15I know that you know her.
04:17And she's yours now.
04:19And I don't know why I'd never really thought
04:21about being able to have that kind of faith in myself.
04:25But when you had that faith in me, I just felt free.
04:28The way that you're able to create an environment
04:32of mutual respect from all departments
04:34is a really rare talent.
04:36And everybody is in the process together.
04:40Like, I never felt that I was separate
04:42from any of the departments.
04:44It always felt like we were building something.
04:46And that felt so unique to me
04:49and so different than a lot of the films
04:51that I've worked on.
04:53Dune is a little epic.
04:54A lot of people have a point of view, I imagine.
04:56What is nice about doing that adaptation
04:58is that you have always, like, an art star.
05:01The book is like a kind of Bible for everybody.
05:04There's always something.
05:04The book is so dense, so rich, so much descriptions.
05:07There's a spirit to it that sometimes
05:10when you make movies, a movie that you wrote yourself
05:12or you have to, it's a music or a painting
05:16or something that would be the...
05:17But with a book, you have the object.
05:19As I'm doing the adaptation, writing,
05:22it can be a burden.
05:25Sometimes you feel like walls around you
05:28that you cannot...
05:29But otherwise, I really love to adapt.
05:33I like being a part of an adaptation as well
05:35for the very same reason.
05:36Because if I ever get stuck,
05:38if I ever want to know where the character's at,
05:40books have a much stronger internal monologue
05:43for the characters,
05:44especially a book like Night Bitch,
05:46which is written in totally an internal monologue.
05:48So I can always go back and see
05:50kind of what she was thinking in the moment
05:52or kind of the environment,
05:54how she described something.
05:55So even if I'm not saying it
05:57or even if the thought isn't being voiced at any point,
05:59I can internalize that.
06:01Marielle Heller, who adapted Night Bitch,
06:03did such a great job at sort of mining it out.
06:06She really did like the lion's share
06:07and then she'd call me and we'd talk about things
06:10and kind of think about what was important
06:11to us to communicate.
06:12But she delivered that script.
06:14And I was like,
06:15if I make any notes,
06:16it's only to make myself look like
06:18I'm smart enough to make notes
06:19because it was just beautiful.
06:21I had no notes.
06:22I was like, I get it.
06:23Marie does a lot of the monologues that are done,
06:26not really breaking fourth wall,
06:28but like the internal monologues spoken out loud.
06:31I'm never going to be smart, happy or thin ever again.
06:40Oh, and I'm pretty sure I'm turning into a dog.
06:43You're so funny.
06:45Having had read the book
06:46and having that voice in my head
06:48really did help me understand sort of the music
06:51that I would be playing, you know?
06:52That's interesting because I don't know
06:54if the actors who play in Dune
06:55can dive more into their characters
06:58by reading the book in some ways.
07:00That it's like there's a distance
07:01between the adaptations.
07:02So I don't know if we can,
07:03but for me as a director
07:05and for my production designers
07:06and for all the other department,
07:08the book is definitely a reference.
07:10Each shoot is different.
07:11Yeah.
07:12Dune part two was singular about that experience.
07:14It's just that I started the shoot tired
07:17because I had done part one,
07:19do the post, do the press,
07:21do the award season
07:22and then went into a prep right straight straight.
07:25And there was no time to rest.
07:26There was no time to re-energize.
07:29And I was a bit worried about that.
07:31I was excited to do the movie,
07:32but I was, and what kept me alive
07:34through all those weeks
07:36were really the actors' performances.
07:38Take my life, Uzoul.
07:40It is the only way.
07:42I'm pointing the way.
07:46Slow down.
07:47Une assaute, une terre aux ferzies,
07:51les flippettes communes.
07:54To have that kind of spark
07:56that happens in the, of the camera
07:57and that joy that gave me the necessary energy
08:00to go through the journey.
08:03This is why everybody loves working with you
08:05because you have so much reverence
08:06and respect for actors.
08:07And it's just lovely to work with.
08:11You really do.
08:12You are very honest.
08:13That's one of the things I talked about
08:14when I first met you that struck me.
08:16I tell this story on set
08:17because it's when I knew I trusted you.
08:20As I was having trouble with a moment in a scene
08:23and I came up to you with all of my angst,
08:25I'm in the little orange suit with my hood off
08:27walking next to you,
08:28talking at what must've been a mile a minute
08:30because I was like, had a problem and a question.
08:32I was working it out in my head
08:32and I was talking and I was doing this and this
08:34and I go, but then there's this and there's this.
08:36And I stopped and I looked at you and you go,
08:39to be honest, I don't understand anything you've said.
08:45And I said, that's okay
08:47because I think I just worked it out in my own head.
08:50And really, I think I just needed a sounding board.
08:52But the fact that you just were like,
08:55I don't know what you said
08:57because I was mumbling and talking so fast.
09:01And once you told me that,
09:03you must've known it's not what I wanted to hear,
09:06but it was what I needed to hear.
09:09And it made me also realize,
09:10oh, actually, I already figured it out,
09:12but I trusted you
09:14because I knew you would always tell me the truth.
09:16I'm like that a lot, but I think-
09:19That's very funny, I remember.
09:22But sometimes, specifically on set,
09:25I understand that in the movie,
09:27Nature of Arrival, for you,
09:29it was very complex storyline.
09:32Mm-hmm.
09:33But I was trying to keep it visceral
09:35because otherwise, we will lose ourselves in the-
09:38No, I loved it.
09:39I always loved when you pushed and pulled
09:42and brought your ideas.
09:43You were great to work with
09:44because although you had a lot of faith in me
09:46bringing my point of view to it,
09:48you still were able to direct a vision for the character
09:52and for the film and for the energy of the film
09:55and without losing the character, which is amazing.
09:57But there's something I absolutely,
09:59and not that I know we go too much in the love fest,
10:03but I love how much you trusted me.
10:08That means the world to me.
10:11Because as a director, it's like you built a boat,
10:14you said to everybody,
10:14we're going to discover a new continent
10:16and you hope the boat will not sink.
10:19You hope the wind will blow in the right direction
10:21and you hope you will find something at the other end.
10:24But still, that can happen only if people trust you
10:27and I felt that you were a force
10:29that was driving everybody forward, yeah.
10:33What you did with Jean-Marc Vallée on Sharp Objects,
10:36it was absolutely incredible.
10:39I was really impressed
10:41and I think that Jean-Marc really,
10:43it was like blossoming, I don't know if you can say that,
10:45like becoming even the best work.
10:48I did really enjoy the long format of character development
10:52and kind of getting to spend time and moments
10:55and really explore that.
10:58Are you open to, no, I'm kidding.
10:59I'm like, I'm going to pitch him something
11:00while we're on the couch.
11:01No.
11:02Personally, I don't, I'm not, I love to watch it.
11:06Got it.
11:07I love to love it, but I am not inspired by the long form.
11:13I love the economy of time of a feature film.
11:18Like there's something more contained that I prefer.
11:21If I was going to ask or say what I want you to do,
11:25it's something with me.
11:27Just anything with me.
11:30What I would love is to do a musical with Amy Adams.
11:33That would be so fun.
11:34We could practice at karaoke.
11:37No, that won't happen because we've been to karaoke together
11:41and that was like, I'm still grateful
11:44that you're still talking to me.
11:46Oh, you're so funny, you were wonderful.
11:48Never go karaoke with Amy Adams.
11:52I can never hear Skyfall the same way.
11:55Darren and I, every time we hear it, do you, you were wonderful.
11:59Every time I hear Skyfall, I still, me too, I think of you and Darren.
12:04Yeah, it was wonderful.
12:06It was lovely to chat with you, Amy.
12:08Great to see you again.
12:09Lovely to see you, always lovely to see you.
12:11I'll see you.
12:12Singing.
12:13Karaoke.