Denis Villeneuve wants to make a film without dialogue at the BFI London Film Festival, praises Zendaya and talks about the goals of “Dune”.

Denis Villeneuve hopes to make a dialogue-free feature film that focuses on “the power of images.”

Speaking at a BFI London Film Festival Screen Talk hosted by Brett Goldstein, Villeneuve said: “I love dialogue, but not [always] in the cinema,” adding that it is sometimes better suited to theater or television. “I hope that one day I can make a film that doesn’t use spoken language,” Villeneuve added. “I try to use the power of images as much as possible.”

The topic of silence and listening came up several times during the 75-minute session, which covered all of the Canadian director’s 11 feature films to date. According to a clip of the climax scene towards the end of 2024 Dune: Part TwoVilleneuve said: “Zendaya gave an incredible performance, with mostly no dialogue, just reactions – and we understand the tragedy.”

This scene features most of the film’s key characters, including Zendaya’s Chani and Timothee Chalamet’s Paul Atreides. “Worm riding, big special effects are one thing; But that was a challenge for me,” said Villeneuve. “I had 12, 15 big actors in one room at a time [of whom] could direct her own movie, and all that extra stuff. Maintaining the atmosphere and the specific energy that I was looking for – that was a nice challenge.”

The talk was briefly interrupted a few times by the sounds of a baby in the audience, including during Villeneuve’s response to a question from Goldstein about “stillness and stillness.”

“I love babies!” smiled Villeneuve after one such interruption. “I love it when kids come on set.”

Villeneuve also described how writer Eric Roth was the first to “put his fingers on the keyboard.” dune Remake script. Roth asked Villeneuve for “a word that was the key to opening the book,” to which the director replied, “Women,” and Roth said, “We need to do an adaptation that focuses on the Bene Gesserit.” [a quasi-religious sisterhood in the Dune story].

Focusing on the female characters allowed Villeneuve to get closer to Frank Herbert’s novel, the director said. “The character of Chani became more prominent [in his adaptation]”Villeneuve said. “This gave us distance from Paul Atreides and brought us closer to Frank Herbert’s idea of ​​a cautionary tale.”

Favorite movie

Villeneuve also spoke about his 2017 blockbuster Blade Runner 2049which he took on because the original Ridley Scott film from 1982 was one of his top films. “Making a sequel to my favorite film is a nice ending to my career,” quipped Villeneuve, who also detailed the secrecy required when Scott asked him to read the project, including that Villeneuve had to find the most remote meeting possible Place he was able to reach while filming in Mexico Sicario.

“You know, Ridley is the most prolific and busiest director,” Villeneuve explains why Scott decided not to make the sequel himself. “If I make one film, he makes three. Plus, I think Harrison Ford got tired of waiting.”

After moving on from his smaller early films such as So-called And PolytechnicWhen it comes to major blockbusters, Villeneuve identified endurance as the biggest challenge in the latter.

“World building is very demanding – you have to create everything,” Villeneuve said. “The hardest thing about these films is endurance. Sicario was 35, 40 days [shoot]; duneit is 120.

“The hardest thing about all the films I have done is that there is always a morning when I feel bad. It’s like trying to play an instrument and you’re out of tune. Cinema is an act of presence, I have to be there 100%. This is the worst day of my life.

“But I learned that you can always reshoot,” the director added to laughter from the LFF audience.

The BFI London Film Festival’s Screen Talk program continues today with talks from Anora Director Sean Baker and Emilia Perez Star Zoe Saldana. LFF runs until Sunday, October 20th.