Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve shared a conversation over the weekend for the ‘Directors Cut Podcast’ following a screening of Villeneuve’s Dune. Nolan, a kindred spirit when it comes to outsider art backed by the big budget studios, had nothing but praise for the director and his monumental undertaking. It was an exchange between two filmmakers who share similar struggles to create their singular vision under the big tent poles.
Christopher Nolan began by describing Dune, “It’s one of the most seamless marriages of live-action photography and computer-generated visual effects that I’ve seen. It’s very, very compelling at every turn.”
“I think this film is going to introduce a whole new generation of fans to Dune who have never read the book and perhaps will go and read it now. I think it’s an extraordinary piece of work. I’ve had the luxury of seeing it a couple of times now, and each time I watch it I discover new things, new details to the world. The way in which it’s made is absolutely for the big screen. It’s a real pleasure and a real gift to film fans everywhere, and thank you very much for that, Denis.”
Nolan also wanted to talk shop, asking how he achieved the feat of blending the CGI around the unconventional cinematography. “The same way that you do it, I think,” Villeneuve answered. “I think you shoot as much as possible in real locations and you try to embrace reality. There are some shots in truth that are pure CGI, but I tried to avoid those as much as possible.”
“The whole movie, to shoot with real environments,” he explained, “it’s all about light at the end of the day. I had a masterclass on how to light a shot on doing Blade Runner with Roger Deakins. Because Roger supervised all of the VFX with me, so I spent a year listening to him on every shot. I learned so much on how to work with VFX with Roger, and that helped me tremendously on how to direct the team here.”
Nolan also had questions of how the negotiating of splitting up the book into two films came about. “It’s something I proposed to the studio right away, because I was feeling that to try to put that huge story into one movie would be a mistake. It was not a discussion; they agreed spontaneously.”
Although he wanted to shoot both films back-to-back, in hindsight he’s glad they were wary of the budget they would have to agree upon to achieve that. “I would have died,” he said, laughing. “I’m so happy that we didn’t. I would not have had the stamina to do that. Frankly, the truth is that I’m grateful that it happened this way.”
Nolan gushed over the choice of the legendary locations to shoot. “One of the most spectacular locations you used in the film is Wadi Rum in Jordan, which some of you may known from Lawrence of Arabia. A lot of films have shot in Wadi Rum since Lawrence, but for my money this is the first time I’ve seen it used in as expressive a way. The sense of place is extraordinary.”
“When Greig Fraser and I were brainstorming the film, for us it was like a kind of love letter to the big screen theatrical experience. The book was calling for that, the landscape and the story of a boy who will slowly remove the burden of all his heritage and make peace with a side of his identity as he goes deeper and deeper into the landscape.”
Throughout the day and date struggles Denis Villeneuve had to endure, you could feel his pain. The film he envisioned and was creating didn’t involve taking it in on the subway on your iPad. Hearing his passion again makes seeing it in the theater all the more imperative. Dune is in theaters now. This news originated at The Hollywood Reporter.
Source: movieweb.com