Denis Villeneuve is gracious about Best Director snub for Dune

The Oscars are this weekend, and you know what that means: Hollywood’s best and brightest will get together to hand each other little golden statues while we complain about our favorite movies, actors and directors getting snubbed. It’s a tradition nearly 100 years in the making.

This year, the big snub is Dune director Denis Villeneuve, who found himself in the position of having his movie up for 10 awards, including Best Picture, but personally being left off the Best Director list. Those nominated over him include Steven Spielberg (West Side Story), Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza), Kenneth Branagh (Belfast), Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car) and Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog).

Speaking on the Variety Awards Circuit podcast, Villeneuve put a good face on things. “If you had told me a year ago that we would get 10 nominations including Best Picture, I would laugh and say, ‘Are you out of your mind?'” he said. “To have 10 nominations, all I can say is thank you to the gods of cinema and thank you to the Academy and to drink a glass of champagne to celebrate.”

As for not being nominated for Best Director, there are worse things. “It’s better to be in that position than the opposite,” Villeneuve said. “I prefer people say ‘You should have been’ instead of ‘What the hell are you doing there?'”

"I’m not making movies to get awards recognition, that’s not the goal. If you do it for that goal you’re not walking the right in my humble opinion. I make cinema because I deeply love the art form of cinema, I love making movies. When there’s recognition after, of course it’s a blessing and a plus. There’s a voice inside me saying that it’s good to stay hungry, and as a film director I think I will be able to direct movies as long as I feel I can be better."

There, he could always snag it for Dune: Part II, which is due out in October of next year.

Fandango users want Dune to win Best Picture

For the record, it looks like movie fans want Dune to win Best Picture; at least then Villeneuve would go home with an Oscar this weekend. Per GoldDerby, Fandango conducted a survey of its users, and here’s how things broke down:

• Dune – 27%
• West Side Story – 13%
• The Power of the Dog  – 11%
• Belfast  – 10%
• King Richard – 10%
• Nightmare Alley – 8%
• Don’t Look Up – 6%
• CODA – 6%
• Licorice Pizza – 5%
• Drive My Car – 4%

Although personally I’m team West Side Story. Don’t judge me.

The 94th Academy Awards air this Sunday on ABC.

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h/t CBR