Denis Villeneuve’s unusual on-set ritual: “It’s an embarrassing thing”
With huge films under his belt such as Dune and Prisoners, Denis Villeneuve is no stranger to the idea, of creating rituals and routines to make the process of creating a movie feel a little easier. He’s also no stranger to sharing his own tricks to get into the right mindset needed to direct a film.
There are many creatives who have formed strange rituals as a way of tapping into the right mindset needed to survive in this insidious industry, with many directors sharing the habits they have found to sustain their craft and maintain a semblance of sanity. Whether it be the routine of only writing in the morning or watching a specific television show during a shoot, many people have found their own unique coping mechanisms to deal with the stress of bringing their vision to life, seeking solace in the familiarity of strange habits and behaviours.
Villeneuve is one of the most influential filmmakers working today, with an incisive approach towards his craft that has led to immense projects that have captivated global audiences. His directorial debut, Earth, premiered at Cannes in 1998, eventually leading to Incendies in 2010, which earned him an Oscar nomination for ‘Best International Feature Film’. Since then, he developed a gritty yet deeply humanistic style through films such as Arrival, Prisoners and Blade Runner 2049, leading him to his lifelong dream of adapting Dune for the big screen.
While this had previously been tackled by the late David Lynch, Villeneuve had apparently set his sights on the story as a teenager, with the director even signing his high-school yearbook as Paul Atreides. The pressure to develop this beloved story was immense, and the director exceeded all expectations by creating a cinematic spectacle that has stolen the attention of all film lovers.
It’s hard to fathom the scale of such a production, with the cast shooting on location and filming the sand sequences in the desert, with extensive planning and preparation needed to coordinate such an expansive story and make it feel authentic. When describing his preparation process for each shoot, Villeneuve shared one trick that helps him stay focused, saying, “It’s an embarrassing thing, but I love to listen to François Truffaut’s music of La Nuit Américaine. It’s an old ritual”.
Truffaut is the director behind timeless classics such as Jules et Jim, The 400 Blows, and Shoot the Piano Player and is remembered for his development of French New Wave cinema as a whole. After working for the infamous Cahiers du Cinema, the filmmaker had an extensive understanding of the medium, something that was channeled into his experimental approach towards his craft.
La Nuit Américaine, which translates to Day Into Night, is one of his most well-known films, with a score by George Delerue, who was known for his work with filmmakers such as Jean-Luc Godard and Bernardo Bertolucci. There are some pieces of music that we find indescribably comforting, with the familiar sound of one song luring us into a specific state that helps temper our mood or create a specific state of mind that is most conducive to a particular task. While it may be niche, it certainly works for Villeneuve.
