Canadian “Dune” writer and director Denis Villeneuve says that despite his talk about his love for the big screen, he enjoys watching movies at home.
The Montreal filmmaker has made headlines lately for touting the importance of the movie experience and saying he hopes audiences will see his sci-fi epic “Dune” in theaters.
He has also criticized Warner Bros. decision to put “Dune” on the HBO Max streaming service in the United States on the same day it hits theaters on October 22, noting that it filmed it specifically for the IMAX format so that it could. be seen on the largest possible screens. In Canada, audiences will only be able to see “Dune” in theaters when it hits the country on October 22.
But at a press conference for the Toronto International Film Festival’s upcoming TIFF Tribute Awards, which will honor Villeneuve and others, he said that doesn’t mean he’s turning down streaming services.
“I also love streaming. That’s the truth. I use it. It saved my life during the pandemic, ”Villeneuve said during Saturday’s event at Roy Thomson Hall, noting that he recommends streamers Criterion and Mubi, who cater to moviegoers.
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“To have the opportunity to immerse yourself in cinema, history and revisit great classics, it is absolutely beautiful. Streaming is very powerful for memory and for revisiting movies. “
Villeneuve’s comments were part of a larger conversation among TIFF Tribute Awards honorees about films they have discovered or rediscovered during pandemic isolation.
Jessica Chastain, who stars in “The Forgiven” and “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” at the festival, said she saw the 1987 romantic comedy “Moonstruck” “about four times” during the pandemic.
“That movie is so good and Cher is amazing in this movie,” he said. “It’s a great movie and it always makes you smile. So it was on my replay. “
Benedict Cumberbatch, star of the TIFF films “The Power of the Dog” and “The Electric Life of Louis Wain,” said he rediscovered Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 thriller “The Rear Window.”
“I saw a lot of Hitchcock, actually. And I loved ‘Jojo Rabbit,’ ” he said of Taika Waititi’s 2019 comedy-drama about a boy in Hitler’s army who discovers his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in her home.
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“I was like, ‘Okay, that’s a really interesting view of a world gone terribly wrong, but there is this sea of hope to see something good…. It was a satire at a horrible time, but it also made you feel hopeful. “
Singer Dionne Warwick, the subject of the TIFF documentary “Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over,” said she choked on two series during the pandemic: Netflix’s “Lucifer” and the BBC’s “Sherlock,” starring Cumberbatch. like Sherlock Holmes.
“I stayed up very, very late at night. Too late, ”he said with laughter from the audience. I started watching ‘Sherlock Holmes’ around six in the afternoon, and by six the next morning I was getting ready for bed. “
Cumberbatch joked, “That makes me so happy.”
The Toronto International Film Festival runs through September 18. The TIFF Tribute Awards airs that night on CTV in Canada and is broadcast to a global audience on Variety.
© 2021 The Canadian Press
Reference-globalnews.ca