This year, Denis Villeneuve was part of the awards race once again, this time for “Dune: Part Two,” which almost everyone agreed was a better movie than the first chapter.
Sadly, Villeneuve was once again snubbed in the Best Director category. The Academy just doesn’t like these ‘Dune’ movies well enough. Villeneuve, who was once nominated in the directing category for 2016’s “Arrival,” will get another shot with “Dune: Messiah,” set for 2026 release.
Josh Brolin, who played Gurney Halleck in ‘Dune 2,’ a mentor to Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides, was already pretty vocal about the Oscars blowing it when they failed to nominate Villeneuve in 2022. In November, Brolin yet again campaigned hard for Villeneuve to nab a directing nomination for ‘Dune 2’ and went as far as to tell Variety that if the filmmaker didn’t get recognized again by the Academy then, well, he’d quit acting.
The failure to recognize occurred, and Brolin has now gone on his Instagram to vent about this latest Villeneuve snub. Unsurprisingly, he ain’t happy with the outcome.
Apparently, I am going to quit acting because Denis Villeneuve didn’t get nominated. This is just how this thing works. It makes no sense to me. That’s okay. [Editor] Joe Walker and Denis, you deserve it. It’s an amazing film. It was even better than the first one.
It wasn’t just Brolin either. Other industry figures reacted to Villeneuve’s snubs. “Spider-Verse” producer Chris Miller wrote on X: “There were many films that had great directing this year but what Denis did — in all aspects of the craft — was masterful.”
Villeneuve missing the cut meant that Coralie Fargeat (“The Substance”) snuck into the final five in the directing category. She might have stolen that fifth and final slot from Villeneuve, or Edward Berger (“Conclave”) who was supposed to be a shoo-in for a nom. The Academy seems to also be shrugging at Berger’s directorial talents who had been previously snubbed for directing 2022’s “All Quiet on the Western Front.”
Paul Greengrass’ "The Uprising," starring Andrew Garfield, opened to $3.2M from 2,068 theaters this weekend. Yikes. The budget hasn’t been disclosed, but is said to be in the $20-$30M range.