Denis Villeneuve Explains Why Phones Are “Forbidden” On His Sets

Don’t expect Denis Villeneuve to take a call while making Dune Messiah, and not because the signal is weak on Arrakis.

The 3x Oscar nominee recently revealed that phones are “absolutely” banned from his sets as they’re “addictive,” noting that he’s “very tempted to disconnect myself” from screens altogether as well.

“Cinema is an act of presence. When a painter paints, he has to be absolutely focused on the color he’s putting on the canvas. It’s the same with the dancer when he does a gesture,” he explained to the Los Angeles Times. “With a filmmaker, you have to do that with a crew, and everybody has to focus and be entirely in the present, listening to each other, being in relationship with each other. So cellphones are banned on my set too, since Day 1. It’s forbidden. When you say cut, you don’t want someone going to his phone to look at his Facebook account.”

Explaining his own relationship to technology, Villeneuve said, “I’m like anybody. There’s something addictive about the fact that you can access any information, any song, any book. It’s compulsive. It’s like a drug. I’m very tempted to disconnect myself. It would be fresh air.”

After David Lynch adapted Frank Herbert’s Dune for his 1984 space opera, Villeneuve returned to the source material for his adaptation Dune (2021) and this year’s Dune: Part Two. The first film took home six Oscars, with both movies earning a combined $1.12 billion globally.

The franchise has spawned the prequel series Dune: Prophecy, which recently debuted, with new episodes airing Sundays at 9pm ET/PT on HBO and streaming on Max.

Villeneuve told Deadline last month that he plans to start filming the film franchise’s third installment, based on Herbert’s ’69 novel Dune Messiah, in late 2025 or 2026.