Dune isn’t the first iconic sci-fi property that director Denis Villeneuve has tackled. In 2015, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker actually accepted the unenviable task of directing a sequel to one of the most beloved sci-fi movies of all time, Ridley Scott‘s 1982 classic Blade Runner. The resulting film, 2017’s Blade Runner 2049, was a hit with critics, but infamously underperformed at the box office. Despite that fact, Villeneuve received praise at the time of the sequel’s release for even having the guts to take on a project as daunting as a Blade Runner sequel.
It was a choice even Villeneuve sees as one of the “most risky” he’s made throughout his career. The filmmaker revealed as much during a recent career retrospective conversation at this year’s London Film Festival. While speaking with the panel’s moderator, Ted Lasso star Brett Goldstein, Villeneuve further reflected on Blade Runner 2049 and his decision to direct it.
“Doing the sequel of one of the great Ridley Scott masterpieces was probably the worst idea I’ve had,” Villeneuve jokingly noted. The director went on to remark that he thought Blade Runner 2049 had the potential to bring his career to a swift close, but he didn’t let that stop him from trying to follow in Scott’s footsteps. Ultimately, Villeneuve says he figured “to make a sequel to my favorite film is a beautiful way to end my career,” adding, “I thought it was very romantic.”
Blade Runner 2049 did not, of course, end Villeneuve’s career. On the contrary, his two most recent films, 2021’s Dune: Part One and this year’s Dune: Part Two, have made him one of the most celebrated directors working today. They’ve greatly elevated his profile within Hollywood and have brought more attention to his increasingly impressive filmography. By comparison, Blade Runner 2049 didn’t receive nearly as much mainstream success as Villeneuve’s Dune films. It has maintained its own, passionate fanbase over the years, though, and respect for it has only grown in the time since its 2017 release.
In that sense, the Blade Runner sequel isn’t all that dissimilar from Dune: Part One or Part Two. Much like he did with those two movies, Villeneuve proved with 2049 that he was capable of not just taking on immensely daunting blockbuster projects but also handling them better than most of his contemporaries could. Four years later, he proved that again — and to even greater success — when he released the first half of his now-acclaimed Dune adaptation.