The director Denis Villeneuve called “the greatest filmmaker of our time”
An undoubted virtuoso of the cinematic medium, well-regarded across the wide sea of cinephiles for his unique visual storytelling, detailed direction and sheer dedication to his profession, Denis Villeneuve has emerged as one of contemporary film’s great artists, a consideration that continues to grow.
Whether in his early work like Incendies or the movies that garnered international recognition like Prisoners, Sicario, Arrival, Blade Runner 2049, and Dune, the Canadian director has consistently delivered narratives of a genuinely remarkable nature. They are accompanied by a visual style that is utterly captivating and entirely recognisable as both his and frequent collaborator Roger Deakins’.
But like any director worth their salt, Villeneuve always has his finger on the pulse of what his contemporary directors are making. In terms of his highest admiration, there are few auteurs who have garnered as much of Villeneuve’s love and respect as Christopher Nolan.
At a screening of Nolan’s 2020 science fiction action thriller Tenet, Villeneuve expressed his profound regard for Nolan in a Q&A session after the movie. Introducing Nolan, Villeneuve said, “It’s my honour to introduce one of the very best – in my humble opinion, I should say the best – and definitely the most important filmmaker of our time: Christopher Nolan.”
As Villeneuve states, Nolan has established himself as one of the greats of modern cinema. He has released several widely-considered masterpieces throughout his career, including The Dark Knight trilogy and Interstellar, a testament to his ability to make transcendent cinema regardless of genre.
Villeneuve has previously expressed his love for Nolan on a number of occasions. In an interview with IndieWire, he noted, “[He] is a very impressive filmmaker because he is able to keep his identity and create his own universe in that large scope. To bring intellectual concepts and to bring them in that scope to the screen right now — it’s very rare. Every movie that he comes out with, I have more admiration for his work.”
Indeed, Nolan has the ability to bring difficult, high-concept, and philosophical ideas into his works and yet make them applicable to a blockbuster style. He never assumes that his audience won’t understand the concept of space and time travel or scientific ideas but allows their facets to work on them regardless of their background or knowledge.
On the ReelBlend podcast, Villeneuve further gushed about Nolan’s impact on the big screen, saying, “You can’t watch a Nolan movie at home; that’s like, that makes absolutely no sense… You have to, at first, receive the full impact of a Nolan movie in a theatre.”
He added, “It’s really fascinating to see him evolving from one movie to another and always pushing the envelope, technically, narratively, and always reinventing himself… for me, it’s deeply inspiring to see that master at work.”
