It goes without saying that Dune was one of last year’s biggest movies from a critical, commercial, and now awards season standpoint, shrugging off the effects of the pandemic to go down a storm with critics, audiences, and fans of the source material alike.
A box office haul of $399 million made it Warner Bros.’ second highest-grossing hybrid release of 2021 behind only Godzilla vs. Kong, racking up an 83% Rotten Tomatoes score and 90% user rating in the process. On top of that, the blockbuster sci-fi landed ten Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, but there was one notable snub that generated plenty of controversy.
Denis Villenueve was ignored when it came to the Best Director shortlist, but in a recent interview with MovieMaker, the filmmaker refused to show any signs of sour grapes.
“Frankly, if you had told me a few months ago that we’d be in the Oscar race, that we’d have that kind of recognition, I would have not believed you. It’s really moving. If you’re nominated, it’s a beautiful thing… I don’t take things for granted, and I was deeply pleased with what we got.”
Star Josh Brolin went on an Instagram tirade after discovering Villenueve was overlooked, going so far as to call the decision “f*cking totally dumb”. There’s a lot of people who agree with him, but the director doesn’t appear to be one of them, at least not publicly.
On the plus side, the cast and crew will be gathering together in the summer to shoot Part Two, and if the sequel manages to deliver when it arrives in October 2023, Villenueve might get a second bite at the cherry.
