Denis Villeneuve defends ‘Dune: Part Two”s running time: “I trust the audience”
Dune: Part Two director Denis Villeneuve has defended the film’s lengthy running time amid debates about whether or not films are getting too long.
The sci-fi epic has clocked up a running time of 2 hours and 46 minutes, just slightly longer than the first instalment of the adaptation of Frank Herbert’s novel, which was 2 hours and 35 minutes long.
It’s been noted that films have gradually been getting longer in the last decade, sparking a debate about how necessary that is. It picked up pace in particular last year with the release of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and Martin Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon, which were three hours and three and a half hours long respectively.
Now, Villeneuve has had his say on the matter. When asked about the runtime in a new interview with The Times, Villeneuve revealed that the film’s distributor, Warner Bros Pictures, didn’t tell him to cut the film down, saying “it was almost the opposite”.
“I trust the audience,” he said, adding that the film’s length was a necessity because the story was “too dense” to tell in a more condensed way.
“This was the only way I could succeed,” he continued. “Also, think of Oppenheimer. It is a three-hour, rated-R movie about nuclear physics that is mostly talking. But the public was young – that was the movie of the year by far for my kids.
“There is a trend. The youth love to watch long movies because if they pay, they want to see something substantial. They are craving meaningful content.”
In a four-star review of the film, NME wrote: “As with the first movie, Part Two proves a pulse-poundingly immersive experience, courtesy of cinematographer Greig Fraser’s stunning visuals, production designer Patrice Vermette’s wildly imaginative sets and some inspired sound design work. This is particularly evident during the film’s exciting central set piece, when Paul has to prove himself by riding a giant sandworm, a punch-the-air moment that was teased in the first part and pays off wonderfully here.
Despite the film’s potentially punishing 166 minute running time, Villeneuve ensures that it never drags, striking a note-perfect balance between compelling character interaction and blisteringly inventive fight scenes.”
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Emma Wilkes
NME
