• 2 days ago
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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Transcript
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.

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