MovieChat Forums > Denis Villeneuve Discussion > I told y'all he was a hack. His own word...

I told y'all he was a hack. His own words now confirmed it.

posted 2 months ago by Narwhale37 (714)
9 replies | jump to latest

https://variety.com/2024/film/news/denis-villeneuve-tv-corrupted-movies-defends-dune-2-runtime-1235922513/

“Frankly, I hate dialogue,” the filmmaker told the publication. “Dialogue is for theatre and television. I don’t remember movies because of a good line, I remember movies because of a strong image. I’m not interested in dialogue at all. Pure image and sound, that is the power of cinema, but it is something not obvious when you watch movies today. Movies have been corrupted by television.”

There you have it. He's one of those hacks who think your characters aren't supposed to ever talk. One of those hacks who tell you watch boring "visual masterpieces" like Stalker and Avatar. One of those hacks who stare at random globs of paint on a piece of paper before purchasing it for 2,000 dollars.

From the way Dune 2 is sounding, it's the same ol' gimmick.

[–] UMAD (657) 2 months ago

which is why in dune part 1 all the characters just throw stupid one liners that dont make sense. he claim to be a fan of a book but "hate dialouge" fucking idiot...

[–] PersistentViewer (1809) 2 months ago

Really strange, since dialogue is central to cinema. I guess he prefers silent films then.

[–] Guitar King (4363) 2 months ago

Well obviously, since he's never directed a good movie in his life.

[–] thingmakersback (1188) 2 months ago

I don't think "hack" means what you think it means. This guy has a stupid personal preference for telling his stories purely through visuals... I think it's stupid anyway. But that doesn't make him a hack. It simply makes him a director who will manage to ruin any film that requires the kind of complex information being provided to the audience that Dune certainly is.

I don't even find his Dune to be visually compelling and there's no point to making a version of a story that requires you to read the novel to have any understanding of what's going on.

Oh, and placing Stalker and Avatar in the same sentence is a bit odd. One is a slow but utterly fascinating bit of philosophical film making and the other is a giant amusement park ride with a story pilfered from Edgar Rice Burroughs via Dances With Wolves.

[–] e3e34ifj (1339) 2 months ago

Anyone who's ever made a movie would tell you some fairly similar stuff. Maybe not "hate" dialog, but dialog is either used for filler or to explain the obvious. Films are a visual medium and most compelling filmmakers like telling their stories with images, not dialog. What would you rather watch, a 2 hour movie with no dialog, or a 2 hour movie with no image? The latter would basically be an audiobook, while the former is still a movie.

[–] DavidM (335) 2 months ago

Cinema is a visual art, you Moron.

[–] WhereIsRent (1017) 2 months ago

He's one of the best living directors along with Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese. Polytechnique to Dune: Part Two is one of the best runs a director has had ever with not a dud amongst them.

He didn't even write Prisoners, Enemy, Sicario, Arrival or Blade Runner 2049 and I remember those films for their strong images rather than any line of dialogue. It probably is a bit of an exaggeration of him to say he 'hates' dialogue considering how well written the screenplays are for his films. You can have all the visual wonder but if your writing sucks then you end up with a turkey like Jupiter Ascending rather than a masterpiece like Blade Runner 2049.

[–] samoanjoes (51058) 23 days ago

Let me tell you something about a thing called silent films.