A Dune Fan Had A Dying Wish - What Director Denis Villeneuve Did Will Make You Cry
"Dune: Part Two" is blowing everyone away at the box office, but one superfan saw the sci-fi epic before the rest of the world did. Unfortunately, the screening was organized in January due to tragic circumstances, as the man in question was nearing the end of his life. The individual communicated his wish to see "Dune: Part Two" to Josée Gagnon, a care worker from Quebec, who then contacted director Denis Villeneuve's representatives to try and organize a screening. They agreed, leading to a race against time to make it happen.
While speaking to Global News, Gagnon revealed that Villeneuve's assistant brought the director's laptop to a care center after learning that the fan was too sick to travel, allowing him to see the movie. "She took everyone's phones away and played the movie on the laptop for just the two of them in his room," she said. "Neither she nor I watched it. It was this really big deal. I was told even the President of the United States wasn't able to see it before its release."
Sadly, the fan died only a few days after the screening, but the visit meant the world to him. Furthermore, the experience profoundly affected Villeneuve's reps, who didn't take the visit for granted.
The Dune: Part Two screening went down well
While "Dune: Part Two" doesn't honor every detail of the book it was based on, the superfan supported Denis Villeneuve's cinematic vision for the saga. Josée Gagnon told Global News that the man loved the first film and enjoyed what he saw of the sequel, but was too sick to sit through the entire movie.
Gagnon noted that screening was an emotional experience for everyone involved, especially Villeneuve's assistant. "It's not every day you face someone's death, or someone at end-of-life like that," she explained. Afterward, the director's team contacted the care worker and told her this is why they make movies. "It's for him, it's for that man that we make films," the statement read.
Fans of the "Dune" franchise had high hopes for the sequel from the get-go, and the director took his responsibility seriously. Villeneuve said he cut a specific word from "Dune: Part Two" as he didn't want to upset Canadian fans by having an American actor mispronounce it. However, the positive response to the movie thus far suggests that it lived up to fans' lofty expectations.