'Dune' Director Denis Villeneuve

This podcast episode explores Denis Villeneuve's lifelong passion for Frank Herbert's novel Dune, which led him to direct the highly anticipated movie adaptations Dune Part 1 and 2. Villeneuve delves into his approach to adapting the novel, focusing on the themes of a boy finding home in a foreign culture and the use of ecology. He also discusses the challenges of filming Dune with natural light, as well as the evolution of the boy from part one to part two and the complexities of the sandworm riding scene. Villeneuve shares his formative experiences that sparked his passion for filmmaking and science fiction, including the influence of his childhood, religion, and exposure to sci-fi magazines. He reflects on the powerful chants he sang as a child and how they inspired him, as well as his early dreams of adulthood and his experiences in Montreal. Villeneuve also discusses the challenges he faced in making his previous movies Prisoners and Sicario, and his transition from small independent films to big-budget Hollywood productions.