Dune Director Denis Villeneuve Reacts to Oscar Snub

The Academy Award nominations were announced earlier this week and Dune managed to score ten. The movie is up for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Sound, and Best Visual Effects. However, the movie was snubbed for one big award and that’s Best Director. Denis Villeneuve has been nominated for Best Director in the past for Arrival, but this year he was edged out by Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog), Kenneth Brannagh (Belfast), Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car), Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza), and Steven Spielberg (West Side Story). During a recent chat with Movie Maker, Villeneuve addressed the snub.

“Frankly, if you had told me a few months ago that we’d be in the Oscar race, that we’d have that kind of recognition, I would have not believed you. It’s really moving,” the director shared. When asked about not reciveving a Best Director nom, he added, “If you’re nominated, it’s a beautiful thing… I don’t take things for granted, and I was deeply pleased with what we got.”

One person who was openly displeased about Villeneuve’s snub was Dune‘s Josh Brolin, who took to Instagram to express his disappointment. 

“Hey, I just want to say congratulations to Legendary and Warner Bros., everybody who got nominated for ‘Dune’: editing, cinematography, score, music, writing, pretty much everything,” Brolin said in a video posted to Instagram. “And the unbelievable, almost numbing, flummoxing I feel for Denis Villeneuve not being nominated for best director. It’s just one of those things where you go, ‘Huh? What?!’” The actor added that the outcome was “f***inkg totally dumb.” 

As for the future of Dune, Villeneuve recently told Entertainment Weekly that he wants to make a trilogy. 

“I always envisioned three movies,” Villeneuve shared. “It’s not that I want to do a franchise, but this is Dune, and Dune is a huge story. In order to honor it, I think you would need at least three movies. That would be the dream. To follow Paul Atreides and his full arc would be nice.” He added, “[Frank] Herbert wrote six books, and the more he was writing, the more it was getting psychedelic, so I don’t know how some of them could be adapted. One thing at a time. If I ever have the chance to do Dune: Part Two and Dune Messiah, I’m blessed.”

Do you think Villeneuve should have gotten a Best Director nom? Tell us in the comments!