Canada has produced some of the biggest names in pop music with Justin Bieber and The Weeknd hailing from there, and now Canada can claim domination in the sphere of science fiction films.
James Cameron, director of sci-fi classics such as 'Aliens', 'Avatar' and 'Terminator 2' was full of praise for his compatriot Denis Villeneuve for his recent hit film 'Dune'.
Villeneuve has become one of the biggest directors working in the genre following the success of 'Arrival' and 'Blade Runner 2049', and 'Dune' has cemented him as one of the industry's best directors.
In an interview for Variety, Cameron praised Villeneuve for his "triumphant" work on 'Dune',
"Just to say up front, before I start hectoring you with questions, how much I love the film. At the end of two and a half hours, I didn’t want it to end. I wanted more," the 'Titanic' director said.
Cameron, who is hard at work on 'Avatar 2' said "The one thing that strikes me about “Dune” is that it’s truly epic. When I use the word “epic,” I’m using it in a very specific way, meaning like a David Lean film, or to a very large extent like the “Lord of the Rings” films.
"When I think of films that have epic events in them, like let’s say a Marvel Universe film where whole cities get destroyed and so on, they don’t feel epic to me. You seem to have the discipline, the vocabulary, of actual epic filmmaking, that kind of grand proscenium frame that’s just presented and takes its time with the music and so on."
Over the course of the interview, Cameron identifies a shot in 'Dune' that is a direct homage to 'Black Hawk Down'.
A scene of three ornithopters is framed and shot in such a way that it was a direct reference to the Ridley Scott film.
Villeneuve confirms the shot was a "homage to Ridley Scott", adding "I wanted to have exactly that subconscious response in the audience’s mind, thinking those machines could be real."
Villeneuve was nominated for an Oscar for his work on the 2016 film 'Arrival' starring Amy Adams and by all accounts, the director is set to secure his second nomination for his work on 'Dune', which we named as our favourite film of 2021.
Speaking to us prior to the film's release, Villeneuve said he put women at the heart of 'Dune', similar to how James Cameron's films put women at the forefront of his films.
"The key to unlocking 'Dune', for me, was women. We put the emphasis on the Bene Gesserit and try to bring Lady Jessica into it more fully. She is the epicentre of the story. She's not an extra, waving in the background. I focused this adaptation on the relationship between Paul and his mother."
With 'Dune Part 2' officially a go, Villeneuve has found time in his schedule for a new adaptation, this time adapting Arthur C Clarke's novel 'Rendezvous With Rama', a project that has had significant difficulty getting made into a film.
David Fincher was attached to direct over a decade ago but the project fell apart.
'Rendezvous With Rama' will be the next Villeneuve film after completing work on 'Dune Part Two', which is due in cinemas in 2023.
