Culture news “A big slap in the face for me” Dune 2 director reveals his favorite Steven Spielberg film. Denis Villeneuve does nothing like everyone else
Christopher Nolan is not the only one to have made a name for himself in Hollywood during the 21st century. One director even distinguished himself in less than ten years on several science fiction projects to the point of becoming one of the main representatives of the genre. Denis Villeneuve, who is preparing to release Dune, Part Two in the cinema, is a fan of Steven Spielberg. Unlike many others, his favorite film by the American filmmaker is not Jurassic Park or ET
The influence of Steven Spielberg
After trying his hand at an action thriller with Sicario in 2015, Denis Villeneuve quickly turned to another genre that has been particularly popular since the start of the 2010s… science fiction. And this passion for SF comes in part from a director who has visited this movement many times, born on paper and then brought to the big screen. If the majority of spectators mainly remember ET, the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) and Jurassic Park (1993), it is another Steven Spielberg film released five years previously which had a lasting impact on Denis Villeneuve.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind is clearly one of the science fiction feature films that most influenced the director of Dune (2021), Blade Runner 2049 (2017) and First Contact (2016). Arrival (original title) is as reminiscent in its themes as in its “general public” approach to SF “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” of its original title. Denis Villeneuve is full of praise for Steven Spielberg’s cinematic work screened at the cinema in 1977:
A big, big, big slap for me. My love of cinema was born with Close Encounters of the Third Kind and 2001: A Space Odyssey… science fiction films that I saw when I was little. -Denis Villeneuve
Denis Villeneuve’s favorite films
During an interview with Letterboxd (the social network for movie buffs), Denis Villeneuve answered the eternal question: “What are your favorite films?” Unsurprisingly, the great directors are jostling in its TOP while science fiction occupies a pride of place.
To be honest, the list of my four favorite films can change every morning. One film has remained at the top for many years: 2001, A Space Odyssey. For me, it’s the perfect film for so many reasons. Next, Apocalypse Now by Francis Ford Coppola, which is perhaps the film I have seen the most in my life. I absolutely adore it. Afterwards, it becomes difficult… I would say, a Bergman, because when I discovered him when I was in my twenties, it was an earthquake in my life. I have to put a Bergman film here, and it will be Persona. For its psychological exploration of a relationship between two women, it is still one of my favorite films of all time. And the fourth, I’m going to cheat and put Blade Runner and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. -Denis Villeneuve
Another interview was an opportunity for the Quebec filmmaker to reveal his TOP of the best science fiction films. There is no Star Wars, no Star Trek, no Dune.
The best sci-fi films according to Denis Villeneuve:
- 2001, A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)
- The Sons of Man (Alfonso Cuarón, 2006)
- Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010)
- Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Steven Spielberg, 1977)
- Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer, 2013)