Editor’s Note: Dune and Arrival spoilers are discussed in the interview.
While 2021 featured some amazing movies that we’ll all be watching for many years to come, for me there was one film that stood above everything, and that wasDenis Villeneuve’sDune. While Villeneuve has shown his gift behind the camera on his previous films likeArrival,Sicario, andBlade Runner 2049(just to name a few), what he did onDunewas astounding. Each time I’ve seen the film I’ve felt like I was transported to the other side of the galaxy, getting to witness Paul Atreides journey as a silent observer. I cannot recommend this film enough.
WithDunearriving on 4K Blu-ray and DVD January 11th and currently available On Demand and digitally, I recently got to speak with editorJoe Walkerabout his incredible work. This is Walker’s fourth collaboration with Villeneuve, after working onArrival,Sicario, andBlade Runner 2049.
During the extended and wide-ranging interview, Walker shared numerous behind-the-scenes stories about working with Villeneuve and their work onDune, such as how they figured out the way Paul’s visions would look, which sequence they kept going back to, how they collaborate in the editing room, whose idea was the voice and words before the Warner Bros. logo, what happens when they have two takes that are both fantastic, if they saved anything from the first film for the sequel, and more. In addition, he talks about how he figures out when to use a close-up or a wide angle, if he keeps any cool deleted scenes, how long to stay on an establishing shot, why the intimate moments take the most time, the last thing they cut before picture locking, and how COVID impacted the test screening process. Finally, we also talked about the ending ofArrivaland why it was such a challenge to get it right, editingBlade Runner 2049, the technology he uses to edit, and more.
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If you’re curious howDunewas put together in the editing room, you’re going to learn a lot watching this conversation. Check it out in the player above. As usually I’ve listed everything we talked about below and included the time indexes in case you only want to watch a section section.
