
Denis Villenueveās latest film, Blade Runner 2049 was a mixed success; critically praised, the film failed to do much at all at the U.S. box office. (European audiences were more kind.) Just in case you needed a reminder that, in Hollywood, youāre only as good as your last picture, though, Villeneuveāwhose previous elegiac sci-fi film, Arrival, was an Oscar-winning box-office hitāhas pledged that his next picture wonāt be āan art house filmā like his last effort.
āLetās just say it would not be a good idea for me to make a movie like that twice,ā Villeneuve told The Telegraph this week, dubbing the 164-minute movie āa monster.ā (Ridley Scott, the director of the original Blade Runner, was supposedly even more blunt, calling it āway too fucking long.ā) 2049 was nominated for five Oscars this year, but it also ended up putting production company Alcon Entertainment a reported $80 million in the hole.
Villeneuveās next project is an adaptation of Frank Herbertās Dune, a project that feelsāwhat with all its spice dreams, noble, piss-drinking desert warriors, and giant Freudian mouth-wormsāalmost inherently art-house from the jump, so itāll be interesting to see how well that pledge goes. Villeneuve is still working for the script for the project; all that heās said so far is that he intends for it to be like āStar Wars for adults.ā