Denis Villeneuve will most likely be heralded with many Oscar nominations come next year. His “Dune: Part Two” has been a critical and commercial success. There’s no way this film misses the Best Picture lineup, and Villeneuve could very well get his second Best Director nod — he was first-time nominated for 2016’s “Arrival.”
A major fan of ‘Dune 2’ is Steven Spielberg. The legendary filmmaker chatted with Villeneuve during a DGA conversation and had nothing but glowing words for the sequel.
“It’s an honor for me to sit here and talk to you,” Spielberg said. “Let me start by saying there are filmmakers who are the builders of worlds. It’s not a long list and we know who a lot of them are. Starting with [Georges] Méliès and Disney and Kubrick, George Lucas. Ray Harryhausen I include in that list. Fellini built his own worlds. Tim Burton. Obviously Wes Anderson, Peter Jackson, James Cameron, Christopher Nolan, Ridley Scott, Guillermo del Toro. The list goes on but it’s not that long of a list, and I deeply, fervently believe that you are one of its newest members.”
It’s one of the most brilliant science fiction films I’ve ever seen […] That scene surfing the sandworm is one of the greatest things I have ever seen. Ever […] The casting is absolutely remarkable […] This has some of the greatest fighting in it.
Variety previously reported that it took Villeneuve 44 days to shoot the sandworm riding scene. The film’s cinematographer, Greig Fraser, remembered reading the script and thinking: “How the heck are we going to do that?” Well, they pulled it off. It’s nothing short of a stunning sequence.
As if Villeneuve needed more of an Oscar boost. This should do it.
Is ‘Dune 2’ one of the best sci-fi films ever made? My personal list would include “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “Alien,” “Children of Men,” “Metropolis,” “The Matrix,” “The Terminator,” “T2: Judgement Day,” “The Fly,” “Brazil,” and “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.”
“Dune: Part Two” is nearing $240 million at the domestic box office and has surpassed $570 million worldwide. The film is still in theaters and continues to be a very successful venture for Villeneuve and Warner Bros.
A US theatrical rollout is starting Sept. 30 in NYC, will expand to Los Angeles and other markets on Oct. 9 and then roll out nationally via a plan that forgoes selling the film to a studio or independent distributor.