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

deadline.com:

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.