Director Denis Villeneuve, who is receiving the Visionary Award tonight at the 2025 Palm Springs International Film Festival, chats about how he's moved by the audience's reaction to 'Dune: Part Two.' Plus, he says it's been a privilege working with Timothée Chalamet and that he's very proud of him.
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00:00Happy New Year. How are we feeling?
00:01Happy New Year. I'm very happy to be here because
00:04this film festival has been good to me through the years.
00:06When I was an indie filmmaker, I came here
00:09and to come back is really moving for me.
00:11It's a film festival with great cinephiles
00:15and I'm honored to be among the other artists tonight.
00:19And a visionary award nonetheless.
00:21Yeah, that's a...
00:23It can sound pretentious, huh?
00:24But I will try to, yeah...
00:27It gives me a big challenge to honor that title.
00:30Yeah, but I think you deserve it.
00:31These two films and especially, you know,
00:34the second installment, there's not a better word
00:36for what you did with these movies.
00:38Now that you've had a little bit of distance
00:39from the release and the way they're being received,
00:41what are you sort of thinking about
00:43or feeling about this journey for you with Dune?
00:45I would say that when we released the first film,
00:47it was during the pandemic.
00:49And I was like, didn't have the real contact
00:53with the audience as we did on part two.
00:55And when we released the movie
00:57and finally I got that wave of joy
00:59and that's appetite for the film
01:01that I misunderestimated.
01:04And I'm really moved by the way the movie was...
01:10Was accepted, was received by the public.
01:14Honestly, that was a big reward for me.
01:18Can I ask you this question too?
01:19Because the first one came out during the pandemic.
01:21It went on streaming.
01:23And then the second one really helped revitalize
01:25the box office.
01:27So much of the conversation this last year
01:28and the year before was about what's wrong with Hollywood.
01:31We wanna focus on solutions into 2025.
01:33So may I ask you, what way would you think
01:35it would be the best suggestion you could offer
01:37for how to fix Hollywood
01:38and what it can do moving forward?
01:40Go creative, go bold, and go for all of it.
01:43Go all the way.
01:45I mean, it's like we have to bring to the screen
01:47projects that are innovative and that are daring
01:50and that are bold.
01:52I mean, and that are evidence that people will
01:55have the will to spend $25 to watch.
01:59We need to, the ball is in our camp, you know?
02:04We need to make great movies.
02:05That's it.
02:06So how will you be doing?
02:08I mean, obviously you do that every time,
02:09but like in what ways will you be, you know,
02:12talking to studio executives
02:13to encourage them to be more bold?
02:15I think that the idea of bringing original stories
02:19to the screen, we need to go back to that.
02:21I think that it's something that is,
02:25there are a lot of great movies
02:27that have been made this year, I must say.
02:30And, but I think we are still recovering from the pandemic,
02:33still recovering from both strikes.
02:35And I'm really, I'm optimistic for the future.
02:38Yeah, yeah.
02:39And may I ask you tonight, you know,
02:40your guy, Timothée Chalamet is also getting an award
02:43and will honor you with his presentation with Amy Adams.
02:47Tell me, you know, what it's been like for you
02:49to work with him over these past couple of films
02:51and see him grow as an actor.
02:53It's a privilege.
02:54It's a privilege to work with Timothée,
02:55to see him growing, to getting older in front of my camera
02:59and to see him in all those movies that I adore,
03:01the work he did with Luca,
03:03or A Complete Unknown, his performance is astonishing,
03:08incredible.
03:09And it's always moving for me to see him
03:10in other people's work, other directors' work,
03:13when I see facets of him, sides of him that are new
03:16and I adore him.
03:18He's a fantastic artist and I'm very proud of him.
03:20And then when will you go back to work this year?
03:22I'm working right now.
03:24Yeah.