Dune director Denis Villeneuve wants to make a silent movie one day: “I love dialogue, but not always in cinema”

Dune director Denis Villeneuve is interested in making a silent film someday. 

“I love dialogue, but not [always] in cinema,” Villeneuve said at a BFI London Film Festival talk attended by GamesRadar+.

“I hope one day I will be able to make a film that will not use spoken language,” he added. “I try as much as possible to use the power of images.”

This isn’t the first time Villeneuve has shared his thoughts on dialogue in film, either. “Frankly, I hate dialogue,” he told The Times. “Dialogue is for theatre and television. I don’t remember movies because of a good line, I remember movies because of a strong image. I’m not interested in dialogue at all. Pure image and sound, that is the power of cinema, but it is something not obvious when you watch movies today.”

Both Dune movies favor striking visuals over lengthy dialogue, so it’s no surprise that Villeneuve might not be the biggest fan of the spoken word. 

The director is also set to helm the third and final installment in his Dune trilogy, though there’s no update yet on when it will arrive. “First, it’s important that people understand that for me, it was really a diptych,” Villeneuve has said of the threequel. “It was really a pair of movies that will be the adaptation of the first book. That’s done and that’s finished. If I do a third one, which is in the writing process, it’s not like a trilogy. It’s strange to say that, but if I go back there, it’s to do something that feels different and has its own identity.”

While you wait for Dune: Messiah, check out our guide to all the upcoming major movie release dates of 2024 and beyond.