Director Denis Villeneuve has been comfortably positioned in the sci-fi genre in recent years, dating back to 2016’s “Arrival.” And even when you compare that film to his more recent “Blade Runner 2049” and “Dune,” it’s clear the filmmaker is working with much bigger budgets and massive sets and crews. His recent features dwarf the size of films like “Sicario” and “Prisoners,” making them feel, in retrospect, like scrappy indie features. And it appears that Villeneuve is ready to take a break from tentpoles and focus on “smaller” films.
Speaking to Roger Deakins (often a collaborator with Villeneuve) on the cinematographer’s Team Deakins podcast (via IndieWire), the director talked about the scale of films like “Blade Runner 2049” and “Dune” and why he’s craving the old days where he could make more mid-range budgeted films.
“It would be healthy for me to do something small,” the director said. “It will be good to go back to the size of something like ‘Sicario’ where I am not having to dream about the design of a car or the design of a wallet or gun for months before. I can just embrace the scale for what it is. It will be nice to go there.”
Of course, this desire to go back to something more small-scale doesn’t really jive with the idea that he’s set to follow-up the massive “Dune” with an immediate sequel (the first film only tells half of Frank Herbert’s epic story). Maybe Villeneuve will take a year or two to make a “Sicaro”-esque film (we’d love to see him go back to something like “Enemy”) before tackling the desert planet of Arrakis one more time. Though obviously, if the box office is terrible, maybe there won’t be a demand for “Dune 2” at all.
That worst-case scenario seems to have happened with “Blade Runner 2049.” Though acclaimed by critics and fans, the sequel to Ridley Scott’s classic film was unable to connect with ticket buyers and didn’t come close to turning a profit during its theatrical run. But regardless, the film is held in high esteem by many film fans. That being said, Villeneuve still hasn’t revisited the 2018 feature.
“It’s a movie that I was not able to watch again,” Villeneuve explained. “It takes time to be able to digest and make peace with [your own movies]. For me, when I make a movie, there’s a lot of deep joy and pain and anger linked with the process. When it’s done, it takes me years until I am able to watch it again and see the movie for what it is. I am not there with ‘Blade Runner.’”
Perhaps, once Villeneuve rewatches ‘2049,’ we can get a new cut of the film, considering it’s widely known that the feature was originally envisioned as much longer? Or maybe he’ll never watch it again? Either way, we’re here for whatever the filmmaker has up his sleeve next, be that a “Dune” sequel, an indie drama, mind-bending thriller, or anything else. In Villeneuve we trust.