“The movie that thrilled Spielberg“ is a classic headline to say that a film has sublime quality. This phrase has ended up becoming more of a meme than anything else, but every now and then Steven Spielberg himself gives it a chance to be repeated. The latest one he has done it with is a space epic that has recently become a hit: Dune: part 2.
The feature film by Denis Villeneuve has managed to sweep at the box office and receive practically perfect reviews. Pending its success at next year’s Oscars, where it will surely take home more than one statuette, Spielberg wanted to dedicate a few words to it on the podcast Director’s Cut, where they have talked about it.
When Spielberg met Villeneuve
“It is an honor for me to sit here and talk to you“, Spielberg began. “Let me start by saying that there are filmmakers who are world builders. It’s not a long list and we know who many of them are. Starting with Georges Méliès, Disney, Kubrick, George Lucas. I include Ray Harryhausen 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, and I deeply and fervently believe that you are one of its most recent members”.
Undoubtedly, these words excited Villeneuve at the time they were spoken. But it has gone further during the conversation, talking exclusively about Dune: part 2.
“It’s a story of deserts, but for being such a desertic movie, there is so much thirst for water in this film. Despite all the sand in this movie, it’s actually about water. The sacred waters that long for green meadows and the blue water of life. The desert is filmed to look like an ocean, a sea. The sandworms were like sea serpents. And that scene of surfing the sandworms is one of the best things I’ve ever seen. In my whole life! But you made the desert look like a liquid”.
