First question is making a movie is always a gamble but in a way Dune is
a gamble twice as much it opens as Dune Part One how does it feel to create a
movie that has to stand on its own but also be an opener for a whole world?
Yeah we can say it's a gamble I mean it's like a but I thought that it was a better idea
to do that than to try to compress all that story into one movie.
I like challenges I like for me that was part of the game to approach this this way and it's quite
I like yeah it's daring I love it I love the challenge for me it was like but
I will say this I kept in my mind as I was doing the movie,
in the back of my mind I'm saying if it's the only one I'm putting all my joy and my I put a lot of
it all my energy into it like if it was the last movie anyway when you do a movie you
always do it like if it was your last movie so it's like that's a way to do things.
The idea of tackling a pre-existing property that's so popular that's been filmed before
that has many fans that are rabid and waiting for Villeneuve version
was there a pressure on you on both of you in fact because you are creating Paul Atreides
but people has their own Paul Atreides in mind was that a big pressure
thinking of all the fans that know the book by heart?
Yes yes yes yes the thing is that
the idea was really to go back to the source material to the book
and to I tried with my team to be as close to the spirit, in fact the good news is that I'm
probably among the biggest fan of this book I love this book since decades since maybe 40 years so
I mean I am one of this these hardcore fans so my toughest judge was myself so that I knew and that
was difficult to deal with that judge I would say, yes.
And what about you?
I would say less of pressure from the previous
iterations with huge respect for the David Lynch version
the computer game the sci-fi version and more pressure from the amalgamation as you put it
of a projection of Paul that people had you know from being a fan of the book or
you know also because it's been a while since
for the first time ever perhaps this sort of you know technology available
to the film too that an adaptation's been able to be done like this and also with
a master of cinema right now doing it so I think the art takes place
in the head of the audience members so people will judge for themselves.
An interesting thing about the film is that it conveys a lot of information from the book
without saddling it with exposition and explanation gives a lot of for granted
but you understand everything how did you work to preserve
the the ideas while not explaining them?
Yeah that was the one of the big challenge you know it's a book
that contained a lot of background story very complex cultures
colliding together and to try to preserve as much of the details, the colours
the texture, the depth of the book still not overwhelming the audience with exposition
that was not done over a weekend honestly it was a long process of writing of a meditating,
of dreaming and the I would say that the movie got the better
from the screenplay to the shooting stage to the editing room it's really a movie
that evolved through time as we were making it's like in fact the answer is a lot of work to say!
Some more work is about the language the way you convey the idea of telepathic communication with
the gestures and was that a nightmare was that easily solved at the beginning of the project?
No that was fun to do that I had a lot of pleasure I came with -
this is an idea that came from the book but it's like it's something that gave me
access to the the strategies the inner thought of the characters and the strategies
to and so it's not that that was just a lot of fun to do yeah and it's a sign language that was
designed for the movie by a language expert in L.A. that designed all those gestures so
that the actors were studying this new language that yeah it was a lot of fun it was amazing.
Yeah which happened in a way in Arrival that's why I was asking.
Something about Paul Atreides, he's a reluctant leader he's not
the first idea you get of an action hero because he becomes a hero but also when he kills for the
first time he has compassion for the person so how did you work on this character and then
how did you choose Timothée for for the part well?
I love that contradiction I've never worked on a movie of this size before
and I keep saying it but I just read in a book recently to live in paradox not contradiction
and I feel that's perhaps the place that Paul gets to by the end of the movie
and certainly not at the beginning and certainly not when he's on the you know sort of
hero / anti-heroes journey that he's launched on after the
gom jabar scene as far as someone to play that's a
what a gift to be able to play that in a movie of this size and not to play an archetype or some
sort of pastiche of a character but rather play someone who is in deep conflict about
the things that every young teenager goes through in some way but also the pressures that are
unique to Paul unique to the the situation of the Muad'dib, the prophecy of the Bene Gesserit and
you know with Denis's sensibilities I don't want to speak out of turn but I feel
just looking at his other films he's as invested if not more invested in
character development behaviour as he is and all these things that are above my pay grade the scope
of the film the sets, the sound design, music so I think it all bled into each other.
And how about your choice of Timothée?
Yeah that's always embarrassing for Timothée when I start to talk about that
but I have to see the truth the thing is that Timothée
is one of the best actor of his generation if not the best
and I needed someone that would like have the strong shoulder enough to be
able to carry the weight because we are just above his shoulder for for two hours and a half you know
it's just like we are he's almost in every shot every scene is like is a conveying a very ...
it's a simple story but with a complex character development in the story's relationship with his
mother it's like there's I needed a very very very strong actor with a very strong charisma
and someone that Timothée if I may is a very it's a brilliant young man I mean
it's a very intelligent high intelligence in the eyes and a lot of wisdom for his age I was
always impressed by his intelligence and in the same time he looks tremendously young
so so young on camera so that was a good combination for but he is Paul Atreides for me
no Plan B I had Timothée in mind and I'm so grateful that today we're here. Thank you thank you .
What was it like to act on such a huge scope movie with special effects after making smaller
movies such as the Woody Allen one or Call Me By Your Name so completely different set I assume?
I must say special effects on this I think I shot two scenes with a green screen in total
on this these sets were practical the ornithopter was practical when we shot in exteriors we were
out there in Jordan or Abu Dhabi in the desert so from that perspective no difference from the
perspective of the amount of crew that were there sometimes numbering the hundreds sometimes there
splinter crews that becomes like a whole ship and also the relationship with the director
and I after everything that Denis just said in addition to the experience I had of course my
gratitude is in the ten thousand percent to him and yet I did have this awareness on set where
I thought man Denis is the chief of like a huge warship right now and he's
not here to worry about me or not even all the actors it's also his job but it's it's everything
so I had a huge respect for you know working with a director for the first time that wasn't you know
in respect to Polytechnique and Incendies movies that like the ones you alluded to that are smaller
in size this is a whole different thing and without talking too much I'm sorry I gotta say
on the on the flip of that if the first couple days felt like that or if some days on set were
you the fans and the machines feel enormous Denis's creative team is a lot from these other films so
it just felt like stepping into a family into a carnival and as Javier said in a different
interview today it felt like an indie film with a big budget you know indie film on steroids!
Yes yes yes I tried to preserve the intimacy with the camera at the beginning yeah so yeah.
The whole time I felt like all the time.
And it shows, thank you very much, see you again for Dune Part Two.
Oh yeah good good oh yeah sure great.
Thank you.