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Denis Villeneuve and Luca Guadagnino sat down recently for Variety’s Directors on Directors series in a captivating dialogue about their shared love of cinema, the changing artistry of actors Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya, and contemporary filmmaking challenges. Though the two directors had never collaborated on a project, their regard for one another’s work-and a shared connection to both Chalamet and Zendaya-provided a rich ground for this fascinating discussion.
Villeneuve, the visionary behind Dune and its sequel, called Guadagnino’s 2017 masterpiece Call Me by Your Name a defining moment in casting Chalamet as Paul Atreides. “There was something about that intelligence and maturity in his youth,” Villeneuve said, crediting Guadagnino with unveiling Chalamet’s potential. Chalamet’s evolution between Dune: Part One and Part Two deeply moved Villeneuve, who noticed the actor was growing in confidence and leadership. Guadagnino seconded that, adding that the film often becomes some sort of documentation of the growth of an actor when faced with complex characterization.
The directors also showed Zendaya in full range, with Villeneuve pointing out that in Guadagnino’s Challengers she was “incredibly charming and witty navigating this spiky love triangle.” Coming off her brooding Chani in Dune for Villeneuve, he is taken aback by her “old Hollywood” charm in Challengers. “She’s not scared to explore unlikable traits but wins you over completely,” Guadagnino said of the actress. Each director expressed a paternal pride with the actors’ successes, as if watching their kids excel.
But beyond the shared passion for talent, the two filmmakers hunkered in to talk their cinematic approaches: Villeneuve credited finally finding his voice with his fourth feature, Incendies-and breaking with all that frenetic camera motion contemporary filmmaking favours with simple stillness; meanwhile Guadagnino mentioned the purposeful restrictions he laid upon himself in creating Call Me by Your Name with but a single 35mm lens to afford greater license to the muses.
Both filmmakers spoke to the lack of restraint in today’s visual effects, and how both strove to root their fantastical worlds in reality. Villeneuve, for example shot infrared footage of the Harkonnen homeworld for Dune: Part Two to achieve a very specific effect. “The sunlight kills the colors,” Villeneuve described, the result disarmingly alien.
In the end, their talk spoke of a shared vision to innovate in film without losing the human touch. For Villeneuve and Guadagnino, cinema is a privilege and a responsibility; their work with Chalamet and Zendaya are testaments to the magic that still persists in storytelling.
