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Dune: Part Two – Denis Villeneuve's Complex Relationship With Phones

Dune: Part Two director Denis Villeneuve explains his complex relationship with cell phones and why they are banned on his sets.

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Article Summary

  • Denis Villeneuve discusses his strict no-phone policy on the Dune: Part Two set.
  • The director compares human behavior to AI circuits in a thought-provoking way.
  • Villeneuve admits the allure of phones and his desire to disconnect while working.
  • Villeneuve emphasizes focus and presence, banning distractions from his filmmaking process.

 

To say that we all have complicated relationships with our phones would be the understatement of the century. Every day, it feels like we're having some new debate concerning phones or AI. Threads were going around on social media in the last couple of weeks about students freaking out that ChatGPT was down and they couldn't use it to do their assignments or how other students were getting papers they wholely wrote themselves getting flagged as AI by AI and having to defend themselves against that allegation. Wicked and its release has somehow made the conversations about phones in movie theaters even worse as more and more people take pictures of screens like it's no big deal. We're all grappling with it, and when you're adapting some of the most influential science fiction of all time, there is no avoiding talking about AI and robot overlords. Dune: Part Two director Denis Villeneuve was asked by the LA Times about his thoughts on the idea of AI taking over, and he replied that he believes we're already at that point. "I feel that human beings are ruled by algorithms right now," he explained. "We behave like AI circuits. The ways we see the world are narrow-minded binaries. We're disconnecting from each other, and society is crumbling in some ways. It's frightening."

When asked about his relationship with his phone, Villeneuve admitted that he "absolutely" puts the phone away while writing but that he's "like anybody." He explained, "There's something addictive about the fact that you can access any information, any song, any book. It's compulsive. It's like a drug. I'm very tempted to disconnect myself. It would be fresh air."

While we're all told to put our phones away during movie theater screenings, it's not an unheard of thing that a director would want that same sort of idea on their set. The director of Dune: Part Two does not like phones on sets because it distracts everyone from what they are trying to accomplish. "Cinema is an act of presence," Villeneuve explained. "When a painter paints, he has to be absolutely focused on the color he's putting on the canvas. It's the same with the dancer when he does a gesture. With a filmmaker, you have to do that with a crew, and everybody has to focus and be entirely in the present, listening to each other, being in relationship with each other. So cellphones are banned on my set too, since Day 1. It's forbidden. When you say cut, you don't want someone going to his phone to look at his Facebook account."

There are going to be some people who are likely going to think that is entirely ridiculous, but it's no different than being on the floor of any other 9-5 job and. not having your phone on you. Sometimes, people forget that while people like Villeneuve and his team are creating art, they are also working, which is a job. Someone like Villeneuve asking the people on the set of Dune: Part Two not to use their cell phones is just a boss telling his subordinate the company cell phone policy. It's not extreme, even if some people think it is.

Dune: Part Two – Summary, Cast List, Release Date

The saga continues as award-winning filmmaker Denis Villeneuve embarks on Dune: Part Two, the next chapter of Frank Herbert's celebrated novel Dune, with an expanded all-star international ensemble cast. The film, from Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures, is the highly anticipated follow-up to 2021's six-time Academy Award-winning Dune.

The big-screen epic continues the adaptation of Frank Herbert's acclaimed bestseller Dune with returning and new stars, including Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet (Wonka, Call Me by Your Name), Zendaya (Spider-Man: No Way Home, Malcolm & Marie, Euphoria), Rebecca Ferguson (Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning), Oscar nominee Josh Brolin (Avengers: End Game, Milk), Oscar nominee Austin Butler (Elvis, Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood), Oscar nominee Florence Pugh (Black Widow, Little Women), Dave Bautista (the Guardians of the Galaxy films, Thor: Love and Thunder), Oscar winner Christopher Walken (The Deer Hunter, Hairspray), Stephen McKinley Henderson (Fences, Lady Bird), Léa Seydoux (the James Bond franchise and Crimes of the Future), with Stellan Skarsgård (the Mamma Mia! films, Avengers: Age of Ultron), with Oscar nominee Charlotte Rampling (45 Years, Assassin's Creed), and Oscar winner Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men, Being the Ricardos).

Dune: Part Two will explore the mythic journey of Paul Atreides as he unites with Chani and the Fremen while on a warpath of revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the known universe, he endeavors to prevent a terrible future only he can foresee. Dune: Part Two was released on March 1, 2024, worldwide release from Warner Bros. Pictures.

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Kaitlyn BoothAbout Kaitlyn Booth

Kaitlyn is the Editor-in-Chief at Bleeding Cool. Film critic and pop culture writer since 2013. Ace. Leftist. Nerd. Feminist. Writer. Replicant Translator. Cinephillic Virtue Signaler. She/Her. UFCA/GALECA Member. 🍅 Approved. Follow her Threads, Instagram, and Twitter @katiesmovies.
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