For many film buffs, Denis Villeneuve’s movies rank among the best of the 21st century. While Quentin Tarantino refuses to watch his “Dune” adaptations, the French-Canadian director has garnered plenty of fans who look forward to anything he puts out. From “Sicario” to “Arrival” to “Blade Runner 2049,” Villeneuve has proven that he has a knack for making thought-provoking blockbusters that boast plenty of ambition, style, and great performances from his actors. However, he enforces strict on-set rules to ensure that his performers remain focused on the task at hand.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Villeneuve revealed that he shares a similar mindset as Christopher Nolan, as they both ban cellphones on the set. In his own words:
“Cinema is an act of presence. When a painter paints, he has to be absolutely focused on the color he’s putting on the canvas. It’s the same with the dancer when he does a gesture. With a filmmaker, you have to do that with a crew, and everybody has to focus and be entirely in the present, listening to each other, being in relationship with each other. So cellphones are banned on my set too, since Day 1. It’s forbidden. When you say cut, you don’t want someone going to his phone to look at his Facebook account.”
Many people would argue that’s a fair viewpoint, as cellphones are annoying. The good news, though, is that Villeneuve allows his colleagues to use other objects that Nolan has reportedly banned.
Denis Villeneuve hasn’t banned chairs on his sets (though he personally prefers to avoid them)
Christopher Nolan has banned two things from his film sets, but it might be three if Anne Hathaway is to be believed. The “Dark Knight Returns” star once claimed that he banned chairs, but the director’s spokesperson, Kelly Bush Novak, dismissed the report and confirmed that sitting down is allowed, alhough smoking and cellphones aren’t. Denis Villeneueve also allows chairs on his sets, but he told the Los Angeles Times that he doesn’t use them personally:
“[W]hen I did ‘Blade Runner [2049],’ I had a back problem because I was sitting a lot. So for the ‘Dune’ movies, my cinematographer, Greig Fraser, and I decided to stand, to have minimal footprints so we could be flexible and go fast, to keep the blood flowing, to be awakened. No chairs for us. Maybe for the producers at the video village.”
Overall, more filmmakers should consider banning cellphones. If Nolan and Villeneuve — two of the most acclaimed filmmakers working in Hollywood — think they’re a bad idea, they must be distracting to some degree. Still, it’s good to know that Villeneuve allows his colleagues to sit down during long shooting days.
