“Dune” director Denis Villeneuve (“Arrival,” “Blade Runner 2049”) hasn’t shied away from giving his opinions on superhero projects with both dinging Marvel Studios films for “cutting and pasting” while also completing them by calling their hiring of Chloé Zhao for “Eternals,” a brilliant move.
During his chat on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the French-Canadian director was asked about superhero movies, of course. Villeneuve said he wasn’t really into comic books, superheroes, or superhero movies; it just wasn’t his “education,” not something he grew up with. The “Dune” director also said that filmmakers who love those kinds of movies should be directing them. And while he refuted a rumor that said Warner Bros. offered him a “Batman” movie before Matt Reeves, Villeneuve did say the Caped Crusader would be the one superhero character he’d be interested in.
“Batman would be probably the only character that I could relate to,” he said. “From what I read, like ‘Arkham Asylum,’ a book like that, I got in contact with when I was an adult. It’s for me, the character that I could connect to.”
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Other characters are not for him, the filmmaker said. But don’t get your hopes up that Villeuenve could take the reins on that character one day. “I don’t know if I would dare to approach Batman after what [Christopher] Nolan and now what Matt Reeves ,” he explained. “I can’t wait to see his movie; I’m a big fan of his work, and from what I’ve seen so far, [it looks] super exciting. Everything that will have need to said about Batman probably will have been done [by then]. No, I don’t think I would… put it this way, there are so many directors that love Marvel and DC… it’s part of their DNA, they have the reverence, and I don’t. It’s their space and their toys.”
READ MORE: Denis Villeneuve Teases A ‘Dune’ Trilogy & Potentially Adapting ‘Dune Messiah’
There you have it. File under interesting, but unlikely. Villeneuve is busy with the idea of moving forward with “Dune: Part Two” in late 2022 and has teased the idea of adapting “Dune Messiah” to round out a trilogy. He briefly revealed that a search for actors to play the new “Dune: Part Two” roles of Paul’s rival Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV, and the Emperor’s daughter, Princess Irulan Corrino, hasn’t exactly started but gives the impression he might have some ideas.
He added that “Dune: The Sisterhood,” the HBO Max series, is chugging along, but he isn’t as involved as the films. “Dune” will release domestically on October 22. Take a listen below.