DUNE Director Says TV ‘Corrupted’ Movies: ‘Creativity is Restricted’

Published: February 28, 2024

DUNE Director Says TV ‘Corrupted’ Movies: ‘Creativity is Restricted’

By Movieguide® Contributor

Though it is yet to be released to theaters, critics are calling DUNE: PART TWO one of the most visually stunning blockbusters of all time, a distinction that stems from director Denis Villeneuve’s annoyance with how TV has bled into movies.

“Frankly, I hate dialogue,” Villeneuve told The Times of London. “Dialogue is for theater and television. I don’t remember movies because of a good line, I remember movies because of a strong image.”

“I’m not interested in dialogue at all. Pure image and sound, that is the power of cinema, but it is something not obvious when you watch movies today,” he continued. “Movies have been corrupted by television.”

Villeneuve longs for a world where he can work on the projects he wants to without having to think about the opinions of executives. However, Hollywood is beholden to its investors, which he believes is restricting the industry.

“We’re in a very conservative time; creativity is restricted,” Villeneuve told Time last month. “Everything’s about Wall Street. What will save cinema is freedom and taking risks. And you feel the audience is excited when they see something they haven’t seen before.”

An innovation the director would love to bring to life is a movie with no dialogue. However, he is not sure if the opportunity to create something that ambitious will ever come his way.

“In a perfect world, I’d make a compelling movie that doesn’t feel like an experiment but does not have a single word in it either,” he said. “People would leave the cinema and say, ‘Wait, there was no dialogue?’ But they won’t feel the lack.”

Until then, Villeneuve is pushing the boundaries where he can, such as with the length of his movies. DUNE ran just under the two-and-a-half-hour mark, while DUNE: PART TWO runs for two hours and forty-five minutes. He is unabashed about the length, saying the story could not have been told in a shorter time.

“I trust the audience. The story’s too dense. I would never make DUNE as one movie. This was the only way I could succeed,” he said.

Villeneuve continued, “There is a trend. The youth love to watch long movies because if they pay, they want to see something substantial. They are craving meaningful content.”

In his quest to create worthwhile movies, Villeneuve is also making movies with worthwhile plots. DUNE was nominated for a Movieguide® Award under the Best Movie for Mature Audiences when it was released. A portion of Movieguide®’s review reads:

DUNE is a powerful, exciting, satisfying epic. It’s worth seeing on a big screen. Even better, the movie has strong Christological themes, excellent dialogue and conservative statements about freedom and individualism. It affirms a father’s love and the importance of motherhood. DUNE has very little foul language, and no explicit crude content. MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for older children and young teenagers because of intense action violence and references to the hallucinogenic properties of the natural resource called spice.

The breathtaking DUNE: PART TWO hits theaters on March 1.

A portion of our review for PART TWO reads:

DUNE: PART TWO tells the second half of science fiction writer Frank Herbert’s epic tale of political power, love and desert heroism. After his father was murdered by the evil Baron Harkonnen’s men, Paul and his mother learn the ways of the Fremen the indigenous people on the desert planet of Arrakis. Paul falls in love with a young Fremen women, Chani. Paul helps the Fremen fight for freedom against the Baron. However, he sees a terrible future of a galactic holy war, but can he prevent it while seeking justice for his father?

DUNE: PART TWO is visually stunning. This doesn’t take away from the movie’s epic, dramatic storytelling. In one sense, PART TWO is a love story between Paul and Chani, set against the backdrop of a struggle for freedom. However, DUNE: PART TWO is also a story about good and evil, political power, religion, justice, revenge, and the consequences of wielding power on a worldwide, galactic scale. That said, the movie has some politically correct, direct attacks on religious “fundamentalism” that can be used to attack all religion, but especially Christians and Muslims.