Denis Villeneuve recently told
The Times of London that “movies have been corrupted by television.” His opinion comes from his growing desire to make a movie without any dialogue.
“Frankly, I hate dialogue,” the filmmaker told the publication. “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. Movies have been corrupted by television.”
“Because TV had that golden age and execs thought films should copy its success?” The Times asked Villeneuve, to which he answered: “Exactly.”
“In a perfect world, I’d make a compelling movie that doesn’t feel like an experiment but does not have a single word in it either,” he continued. “People would leave the cinema and say, ‘Wait, there was no dialogue?’ But they won’t feel the lack.”
Villeneuve flirted with making an HBO limited series adaptation of Norwegian author Jo Nesbo’s novel “The Son,” and even recruited Jake Gyllenhaal to star in the project. But
he said earlier this year he was no longer planning the TV series because it’s just not the medium for him.