“I had to make this film with people who shared my vision, who wouldn’t short-circuit,” said Denis Villeneuve.
The Quebec director is operating in a different cinematic universe with Dune, his most ambitious production yet, in theatres Oct. 22. The first of a two-part adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 sci-fi classic — a project on which directors Alejandro Jodorowsky and David Lynch have crashed and burned in decades past — the US$165-million opus is the culmination of a decade spent rising through the ranks of Hollywood, during which Villeneuve has gone from indie auteur to industry heavyweight.