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Denis Villeneuve ( vill-NOOV; French: [dəni vilnœv]; born October 3, 1967) is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. He has received seven Canadian Screen Awards as well as nominations for four Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards. Villeneuve's films have grossed more than $1.8 billion worldwide.
Villeneuve began his filmmaking career in Quebec cinema, directing four French-language dramas: August 32nd on Earth (1998), Maelström (2000), Polytechnique (2009), and Incendies (2010), with the latter garnering him international prominence and an Academy Award for Best International Feature Film nomination. He subsequently expanded into English-language films, directing the thrillers Prisoners (2013), Enemy (2013), and Sicario (2015). Like Incendies, each of these was critically acclaimed.
Villeneuve has since gained further recognition for directing science fiction films. His work on Arrival (2016) earned an Academy Award for Best Director nomination. This was followed by Blade Runner 2049 (2017), which was also critically lauded. His next projects were Dune (2021) and Dune: Part Two (2024), a two-part adaptation of Frank Herbert's novel of the same name that grossed a combined $1.15 billion globally. Both films were critically and commercially successful, earning him two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Picture in addition to a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for Dune.
Backstage
- Doesn't use any music when he's editing, especially during the first edit of his films.
- Denis Villeneuve was disappointed with his first two movies, August 32nd on Earth (1998) and Maelström (2000), so he took a nine-year sabbatical as a stay-at-home dad. He vowed to return "when I was ready to make a film I could be proud of", which was Polytechnique (2009).
- He is a big fan of Christopher Nolan, and the admiration is mutual.
- All-time favorite film is Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).
- Abandoned an interest in science in college to pursue his love of filmmaking. Then studied film at Université du Québec à Montréal.
- His other favorite films include: Seven Samurai (1954), Vertigo (1958), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Dead Ringers (1988), Amores Perros (2000), Children of Men (2006), There Will Be Blood (2007), Inception (2010), Dunkirk (2017) and Mother! (2017).
- Was on the shortlist to direct The Batman (2022).
- His influences include Steven Spielberg, François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Stanley Kubrick, Ingmar Bergman, Ridley Scott, Jacques Audiard, Yorgos Lanthimos, Pierre Perrault and Michel Brault.
- He is a huge James Bond fan, with his favorite movies being Casino Royale (2006), and Skyfall (2012). He has also expressed hopes of one day directing a film in the franchise.
- Mulholland Drive (2001) is one of his favorite movies.
