The musician Denis Villeneuve calls a “genius”
With movies such as Arrival, Blade Runner 2049 and Dune to his name, Denis Villeneuve has quickly proved himself to be one of the most successful filmmakers of the 21st century.
From the moment Villeneuve released his debut feature, August 32nd on Earth, in 1998, it was clear that he was going to be a name to remember. The movie was up for consideration to become a ‘Best Foreign Language Film’ nomination at the Oscars, although it was not chosen. However, the director needn’t have worried – to date, his films have earned nine Oscar wins, with all of his work receiving high critical praise.
Villeneuve often works within the science fiction genre, creating epic blockbusters that equally provide plenty of nuance and complex storytelling. His work is not merely expensive spectacles, which makes his contribution to the blockbuster realm highly welcome. Alongside impressive visual effects and stunning cinematography, Villeneuve also uses breathtaking scores to emphasise the scope of his work.
The soundtrack to Dune, created by legendary composer Hans Zimmer, won an Oscar for ‘Best Original Score’. The dramatic soundtrack added even more suspense and tension to the film, elevating it to an even higher level of excellence. According to Zimmer, he wanted to forget everything he knew about making scores when working on Dune and go in with a different approach.
He explained to Vanity Fair, “My challenge was not being a grownup, not trying to be the man who’s done a lot of movies, but to regress in a way and become the reckless 13-year-old teenager. And write as a 13-year-old teenager.”
Zimmer also worked with Villeneuve on Blade Runner 2049, although the director has also collaborated with Jóhann Jóhannsson on several movies, such as Arrival. Yet, Villeneuve has previously discussed his love for a composer he has not yet worked with – Jonny Greenwood – revealing that he would “love” to have him on board for a future project.
Greenwood rose to prominence in the 1990s as the guitarist of Radiohead, eventually branching out into film scores as a solo project. He has frequently scored movies for Paul Thomas Anderson, most notably There Will Be Blood and Phantom Thread, as well as Pablo Larraín’s Spencer.
Villeneuve discussed the composer and multi-instrumentalist with NME, calling Greenwood a “genius”, as well as citing Radiohead as “by far my favourite band.”
He revealed, “They have a profound melancholia that deeply touches me.”
The director used two Radiohead songs in Incendies – ‘You and Whose Army?’ and ‘Like Spinning Plates’. He explained: “I’m not someone that tends to put music that I love in my movies. I hate that, but I made an exception with Radiohead. I wrote Incendies listening to Radiohead non-stop, and their songs were embedded in the screenplay itself.”
“I never had the chance to meet or to work with any of them, or compose a score, but that would be a crazy exciting thing. I would love to have the chance to work with them,” Villeneuve revealed. We can only hope that Villeneuve and Greenwood work together soon – there is no doubt that the result would be anything less than spectacular.
