“That removed all the air out of my lungs.” Despite the fact that this Star Wars movie has traumatized Denis Villeneuve, the director has watched it 12 times
Denis Villeneuve was “obsessed” with Star Wars, which influenced him artistically. At the same time, one film in the series also traumatized him.
Star Wars is a unique sci-fi series that has charmed both younger and older movie fans. And Denis Villeneuve, the director of Dune and Blade Runner 2049, also counts among this group. When the first installments of the series began to appear in theaters, as the filmmaker admitted, he was the target audience and the space opera appealed to him almost immediately, causing him to develop an “obsession” with it, as he confessed during an interview for BAFTA.
I mean, The Empire Strikes Back is the movie that I anticipated the most in my life. I saw the movie a billion times onscreen. I was traumatized by The Empire Strikes Back. I adore Star Wars.
Star Wars were films that significantly influenced the way he views cinema, as they were the first to show him the power they have as a storytelling medium. Villeneuve spoke with real passion about George Lucas' greatest works, admitting that even though The Empire Strikes Back traumatized him as a child, he still decided to watch the film as many as 12 times, riding on a bike back and forth to the cinema.
He was allowing us to watch the movie twice in a row. So I watched The Empire Strikes Back like that maybe 12 times in the theater with a bicycle going back and forth! When I saw The Empire Strikes Back the first time in theater, I remember it still today. First of all, the trauma of Luke losing his hand was an image that I was not prepared to see. And that was extremely violent for a kid. After that, after the physical torture, having the psychological torture to understand that the evil was his father and that removed all the air out of my lungs. I mean, I was like... floored. I was obsessed by the design and the visual approach, the drama of it. That I think was one of the moment that the birth of the idea that cinema is the most powerful way to tell a story.
Star Wars made a huge impression on the future filmmaker, who now often works on sci-fi spectacles. The Empire Strikes Back, meanwhile, remains one of the stronger elements of the Star Wars universe, so it's no surprise how strongly this film influenced the young Villeneuve. It's clear that this movie influenced how he was shaped artistically.
And Star Wars influenced not only Villeneuve himself, but also in many ways cinematography, especially the sci-fi genre. It is one of those series that will leave its mark on history.