The two modern movie trends that Denis Villeneuve hates most
Whilst the man brought us the bleakly epic drama Prisoners in 2013, with its depictions of kidnapping and torture, and the harrowing yet exquisitely shot Sicario two years later, which showed us corpses in walls, shooting massacres, and Benicio Del Toro’s character murdering children, director Denis Villeneuve is not a stickler for gratuitous violence.
Speaking on the perspective he wishes to focus on as director, Villeneuve explained: “I try to stay on one side of the gun as much as possible. Because I hate violence, and I think that violence is impactful if you see the impact of violence on victims.” Reiterating his disdain for violence, he stated why it was so important for him to depict it in a certain manner.
“I’m interested in the impact, I’m not interested in the show,” he said. “I don’t want to make a show of violence. I’ve been in contact with people who suffered from the trauma of war. When I use violence in a movie it’s just to express the power, the impact of it.”
Speaking with The Huffington Post after the Toronto International Film Festival screening, Villeneuve clarified how he approached making a film that featured so many violent moments: “The idea is always to, when you show it, not being afraid to go all the way to feel the impact,” he said. “But those moments are very small. The rest is trying to show as little as possible. Suggestion is always more powerful.”
As it turns out, senseless violence isn’t the only thing that the multi-BAFTA/Academy Award-nominated director dislikes in cinema. When prompted by NME on the cliffhanger ending to the 2021 epic Dune – which, admittedly, will be followed by Part Two later this year – Villeneuve made it categorically clear that he has no love for post-credits scenes.
“I don’t like post-credit scenes,” the director said. Emphasising the importance of the lasting image of his movies, he continued: “There is a very specific final emotion that I was looking for with the final frame [of ‘Dune’] and I don’t want to mess with that. So no, I don’t use post-credits scenes. I’ve never done that and I would never.”
Post-credit scenes, most famously made mainstream by the playful final sequence in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, became part and parcel of Disney/Marvel Studios’ MCU films. They kept audiences by the millions glued to their theatre seats well after the credits had started rolling. Warner Bros’ DC films decided to follow suit, but there are some non-superhero-based post-credits scenes out there too.
Although we have Villeneuve’s word for it, we’ll have to wait for Dune: Part Two to find out if he truly means it or not. Watch the trailer for the upcoming second instalment in the epic science fiction series below:
