Denis Villeneuve names his favourite sci-fi movies of all time
When thinking back to the greatest science fiction directors of all time, you might pick out Steven Spielberg, Stanley Kubrick or Ridley Scott, but bring your mind forward to the present day and the same question isn’t so clear cut. In fact, there are only really two filmmakers trying to drive the genre onwards, with one being the British director Christopher Nolan and the other being the Canadian mastermind Denis Villeneuve.
Responsible for some of the finest sci-fi movies of recent memory, the Canadian filmmaker has brought his unique approach to epic, spectacular cinema with the likes of Arrival, Enemy and Blade Runner 2049, with each film introducing something new to their respective genre. No doubt, his most beloved release is the recent critical and commercial hit, Dune, where he succeeded where the likes of David Lynch and Alejandro Jodorowsky have failed.
Creating a vast science fiction adventure that captures the essence of Frank Herbert’s classic story, the film became an undisputed hit, with considerable thanks to the bulging Hollywood cast that included the likes of Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa and Javier Bardem among many others.
A purveyor of cinema as one of its greatest contemporary minds, Villeneuve always keeps the masters of the art form in the back of his mind whenever he’s creating a new movie, pointing to the likes of Scott, Kubrick and Spielberg as some of his all-time favourites. This becomes clear when looking at his favourite sci-fi movies, too, choosing a range of genre bastions and modern classics.
Each of the aforementioned filmmakers gets a space on Villeneuve’s list of favourites, with the director picking out Blade Runner, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Close Encounters of the Third Kind as three of his six picks.
Elsewhere, Villeneuve praises his fellow contemporaries, giving a shout-out to Alfonso Cuarón’s 2006 film Children of Men, Christopher Nolan’s 2010 epic Inception and Jonathan Glazer’s indie masterpiece Under the Skin. These three films, including Villeneuve’s 2016 movie Arrival, make it onto our list of the ten greatest sci-fi films of the 21st century.
We have a particular fondness for Glazer’s strange sci-fi tale that has quickly become a cornerstone of contemporary cinema. Taking the viewer on a cinematic voyage that merges inconceivable visuals and a masterful score, Glazer tells a human story from the point of view of a curious alien lifeform, played by Scarlett Johansson.
See below the full list of Denis Villeneuve’s favourite sci-fi movies of all time.
Denis Villeneuve’s favourite sci-fi movies of all time
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)
- Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón, 2006)
- Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010)
- Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Steven Spielberg, 1977)
- Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer, 2013)
