Denis Villeneuve (; born October 3, 1967) is a Canadian filmmaker. He is a four-time recipient of the

Canadian Screen Award The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media ( web series ...

(formerly Genie Award) for

Best Direction The MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction is an award given to the artist, the artist's manager, and the director of the music video. From 1984 to 2006, the full name of the award was Best Direction in a Video, and in 2007, it was briefly rename ...

, winning for '' Maelström'' in 2001, '' Polytechnique'' in 2009, ''

Incendies ''Incendies'' (; "Fires") is a 2010 Canadian drama film directed by Denis Villeneuve, who co-wrote the screenplay with Valérie Beaugrand-Champagne. Adapted from Wajdi Mouawad's play of the same name, ''Incendies'' stars Lubna Azabal, Méli ...

'' in 2010 and '' Enemy'' in 2013. The first three of these films also won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Motion Picture, while the latter was awarded the prize for best Canadian film of the year by the Toronto Film Critics Association. Internationally, he is known for directing several critically acclaimed films, including the thrillers ''

Prisoners A prisoner (also known as an inmate or detainee) is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement, captivity, or forcible restraint. The term applies particularly to serving a prison sentence in a prison. ...

'' (2013) and ''

Sicario Sicario ( es, hired assassin, link=no) may refer to: * ''Sicario'' (1994 film), a Venezuelan drama film by Joseph Novoa * ''Sicario'' (2015 film), an American crime film by Denis Villeneuve ** '' Sicario: Day of the Soldado'' (2018; titled ''Sic ...

'' (2015), as well as the

science fiction film Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial lifeforms, spacecraft, robots, cyborgs, interstel ...

s '' Arrival'' (2016) and '' Blade Runner 2049'' (2017). For his work on ''Arrival'', he received an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

nomination for Best Director. He was awarded the prize of Director of the Decade by the

Hollywood Critics Association The Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) is a film critic organization in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 2016 as the Los Angeles Online Film Critics Society and renamed in 2019. History In 2016, Scott Menzel, Scott Mantz, and Ashle ...

in December 2019. His latest film, ''

Dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...

'' (2021), based on Frank Herbert's novel of the same name, premiered at the 78th Venice International Film Festival; the film received critical acclaim, was a commercial success at the box office internationally, and is his highest grossing film to date, and earned him Academy Award nominations for

Best Adapted Screenplay This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress# ...

and Best Picture, with the film itself winning a leading six Oscars at the

94th Academy Awards The 94th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. The awards were scheduled after its usual late February date ...

Early life

Villeneuve was born on October 3, 1967, in the village of Gentilly in

Bécancour, Quebec Bécancour () is a city in the Centre-du-Québec region of Quebec, Canada; it is the seat of the Bécancour Regional County Municipality. It is located on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River at the confluence of the Bécancour River, ...

, to Nicole Demers, a homemaker, and Jean Villeneuve, a notary. He is the eldest of four siblings. His younger brother,

Martin Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austr ...

, also became a filmmaker. Villeneuve attended the Séminaire Saint-Joseph de Trois-Rivières and later studied science at the Cégep de Trois-Rivières. He studied cinema at the Université du Québec à Montréal.

Career

Villeneuve began his career making short films and won Radio-Canada's youth film competition, ''La Course Europe-Asie'', in 1991. Villeneuve cites

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...

, the Coen Brothers,

Paul Thomas Anderson Paul Thomas Anderson (born June 26, 1970), also known by his initials PTA, is an American filmmaker. He made his feature-film debut with '' Hard Eight'' (1996). He found critical and commercial success with ''Boogie Nights'' (1997) and received ...

and

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Sp ...

as his main cinematic influences. ''

August 32nd on Earth ''August 32nd on Earth'' (french: Un 32 août sur terre, and also known as ''32nd Day of August on Earth'') is a 1998 Canadian drama film directed and written by Denis Villeneuve, in his feature film directorial debut, and produced by Roger Fr ...

'' (1998), Villeneuve's feature film directorial debut, premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. Alexis Martin won the Prix Jutra for Best Actor. The film was selected as the Canadian entry for the

Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

at the 71st Academy Awards, but was not nominated. Denis Villeneuve, 2013

His second film, '' Maelström'' (2000), attracted further attention and screened at festivals worldwide, ultimately winning eight

Jutra Awards The Prix Iris is a Canadian film award, presented annually by Québec Cinéma, which recognizes talent and achievement in the mainly francophone feature film industry in Quebec.award for Best Canadian Film from the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...

. He followed that up with the controversial, but critically acclaimed black and white film '' Polytechnique'' (2009) about the shootings that occurred at the University of Montreal in 1989. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and received numerous honours, including nine Genie Awards, becoming Villeneuve's first film to win the Genie (now known as a

) for Best Motion Picture. Villeneuve's fourth film ''

'' (2010) garnered critical acclaim when it premiered at the

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

and

s in 2010. ''Incendies'' was subsequently chosen to represent Canada at the

83rd Academy Awards The 83rd Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2010 in the United States and took place on February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles b ...

in the category of

and was eventually nominated for the award, though it did not win. The film went on to win eight awards at the 31st Genie Awards, including Best Motion Picture,

, Best Actress ( Lubna Azabal),

Cinematography Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens to focu ...

Editing Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, or ...

, Overall Sound, and Sound Editing. ''Incendies'' was chosen by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' as one of the top 10 best films of that year. In January 2011, he was selected by '' Variety'' as one of the top ten filmmakers to watch. Also in 2011, Villeneuve won the National Arts Centre Award. Villeneuve followed ''Incendies'' with the crime thriller film ''Prisoners'', starring Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal. The film screened at festivals across the globe, won several awards, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography in 2014. Following ''Incendies'' and ''Prisoners'', Villeneuve won Best Director for his sixth film, the psychological thriller '' Enemy'' (2014), at the

2nd Canadian Screen Awards The 2nd Canadian Screen Awards were held on March 9, 2014, to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2013.Toronto Film Critics Association in 2015. Denis Villeneuve Cannes 2015

Later that year, Villeneuve directed the crime thriller film ''

'', scripted by Taylor Sheridan, and starring Emily Blunt,

Benicio del Toro Benicio Monserrate Rafael del Toro Sánchez (born February 19, 1967) is a Puerto Rican actor and producer. He has garnered critical acclaim and numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, two Screen ...

Daniel Kaluuya Daniel Kaluuya (; born 24 February 1989) is a British actor. Prominent both on screen and stage, he has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and nomin ...

, and Josh Brolin. The film competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, though it did not win. It screened at the

in 2015 and went on to gross nearly $80 million worldwide. Villeneuve subsequently directed his eighth film, '' Arrival'' (2016), based on the short story '' Story of Your Life'' by author

Ted Chiang Ted Chiang (born 1967) is an American science fiction writer. His work has won four Nebula awards, four Hugo awards, the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and six Locus awards. His short story "Story of Your Life" was the basis of th ...

, from an adapted script by

Eric Heisserer Eric Andrew Heisserer (born 1970) is an American filmmaker, comic book writer, television writer, and television producer. His screenplay for the film ''Arrival'' earned him a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination at the 89th Academy Awards in 201 ...

, with Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner starring. Principal photography began on June 7, 2015, in Montreal, and the film was released in 2016. ''Arrival'' grossed $203 million worldwide and received critical acclaim, specifically for Adams's performance, Villeneuve's direction, and the film's exploration of communicating with extraterrestrial intelligence. ''Arrival'' appeared on numerous critics' best films of the year lists, and was selected by the

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Lead ...

as one of ten films of the year. It received eight nominations at the 89th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and

, ultimately winning one award for

Best Sound Editing This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

. It was also awarded the

Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation The Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation (formerly the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation) is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) for science fiction or fant ...

and the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation in 2017. In February 2015, it was announced that Villeneuve would direct '' Blade Runner 2049'', the sequel to Ridley Scott's ''

Blade Runner ''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick's ...

'' (1982). Scott served as the film's executive producer on behalf of Warner Bros. It was released on October 6, 2017, to critical acclaim and middling box office returns. David Ehrlich of ''

IndieWire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Holl ...

'' wrote, "Few filmmakers of the 21st century have risen to prominence and prestige with the forcefulness of ''Blade Runner 2049'' director Denis Villeneuve, whose seemingly unstoppable career has been bolstered by a steady balance of critical respect and commercial success. In fact, Christopher Nolan is the only other person who comes to mind, and the similarities between the two of them are hard to ignore." In December 2016, it was announced Villeneuve would direct ''

'', a new adaptation of the 1965 novel for Legendary Pictures with Villeneuve, Eric Roth, and Jon Spaihts writing the screenplay. Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson,

Oscar Isaac Óscar Isaac Hernández Estrada (born March 9, 1979) is a Guatemalan-born American actor. Known for his versatility, he has been credited with breaking stereotypes about Latino characters in Hollywood. He was named the best actor of his gene ...

, Stellan Skarsgård, Jason Momoa and Zendaya starred in the film. The film was released on October 22, 2021, by

Warner Bros. Pictures Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film production and distribution company of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group division of Warner Bros. Entertainment (both ultimately owned by Warner Bros. Discovery). The studio is the flagship producer of li ...

to critical acclaim and has become his highest-grossing film to date. A sequel, '' Dune: Part Two'', was greenlit and scheduled for release on October 20, 2023. Additionally, Villeneuve will serve as an executive producer on '' Dune: The Sisterhood'', a spin-off television series focusing on the female characters in the novel, for

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Ne ...

. Villeneuve is set to direct the adaptation of

Jo Nesbø Jo Nesbø (; born Jon Nesbø; 29 March 1960) is a Norwegian writer, musician, economist, and former football player and reporter. More than 3 million copies of his novels had been sold in Norway as of March 2014; his work has been translated ...

's crime novel '' The Son'', which will star Jake Gyllenhaal and will be an HBO limited series. He is also attached to direct a historical drama about Cleopatra for Sony Pictures and an adaptation of

Arthur C. Clarke Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (16 December 191719 March 2008) was an English science-fiction writer, science writer, futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host. He co-wrote the screenplay for the 1968 film '' 2001: A Spac ...

s science fiction novel '' Rendezvous with Rama'' for Alcon Entertainment.

Personal life

Villeneuve is married to

Tanya Lapointe Tanya Lapointe is a Canadian filmmaker and former journalist, most noted for her 2020 documentary film '' The Paper Man (Lafortune en papier)''. A longtime arts and culture journalist for Ici Radio-Canada, she began dating film director Denis Vill ...

, a journalist and filmmaker, and he has three children from a previous relationship. His younger brother,

Martin Villeneuve Martin Villeneuve () is a Canadian screenwriter, producer, director, actor, and art director. He was nominated at the Canadian Screen Award (formerly Genie Awards, Genie Award) in 2013 for Best Adapted Screenplay, for ''Mars et Avril'', his featur ...

, is also a filmmaker. Previously, Villeneuve had a relationship with

Macha Grenon Macha Grenon (born June 7, 1968) is a Canadian film and television actress.

Reception

Accolades

Honours

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Villeneuve, Denis 1967 births Best Director AACTA International Award winners Best Director Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners Best Director Jutra and Iris Award winners Best Screenplay Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners Directors of Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners for Best Live Action Short Drama Canadian screenwriters in French Film directors from Quebec French-language film directors French Quebecers Hugo Award-winning writers Knights of the National Order of Quebec Living people Nebula Award winners Officers of the Order of Canada People from Centre-du-Québec Science fiction fans Science fiction film directors Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts