Director Denis Villeneuve was snubbed for the Best Director at the 2025 Golden Globe Awards for his work on the massively successful movie Dune: Part Two. While Denis Villeneuve’s excellent movie was nominated for Best Drama, his talents as a filmmaker have yet to be recognized with a Best Director award at the Golden Globes. Villeneuve is no stranger to controversial awards snubs, and those he has received for his work on the Dune franchise have been especially divisive.
The odds are especially stacked against him this awards season, given the Academy’s history with science fiction movies. Despite this, Villeneuve not receiving a Golden Globe nomination for Best Director may actually benefit him in the near future. Considering the praise and support he has received for his latest film, this snub could pave the way for Villeneuve to be nominated in the same category at the Academy Awards for Dune: Part Two.
Denis Villeneuve Was An Oscars Snub For Dune After A Golden Globe Nomination
Big-Budget Movies Still Too Often Get Overlooked In The Director Category
Villeneuve was nominated for Best Director at the 2022 Golden Globes for helming the first Dune film. However, the director was subsequently snubbed at the Oscars in the same year for his work on the film. The original movie did receive nominations for a staggering ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture. However, Villeneuve wasn’t nominated for Best Director, and the movie only received awards for technical achievements like cinematography and film editing.
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Villeneuve’s lack of a nomination for Best Director in 2022 remains controversial, with Variety calling this commission one of the “biggest Oscar nomination snubs of the year.” Nevertheless, the director told Variety that he was still pleased with the movie’s ten nominations:
“Frankly, if you had told me… that we’d be in the Oscar race, that we’d have that kind of recognition, I would have not believed you. It’s really moving. If you’re nominated, it’s a beautiful thing… I don’t take things for granted, and I was deeply pleased with what we got.”
Villeneuve was humble and honorably thankful for the nominations his film received, but there is still a chance that his hard work will pay off and that Dune: Part Two will get him Best Director at the Oscars.
Denis Villeneuve’s Golden Globes Snub Might Help Him Get A Best Director Oscar Nomination
The Academy May Want Denis Villeneuve To Have At Least One Best Director Nomination
Though Villeneuve deserved to be nominated for Best Director at the Golden Globes, this could be the price he has to pay to receive a nomination at the Academy Awards instead. The fact he was snubbed by the Globes has reignited discussions of how he needs greater recognition for his work after making Dune: Part Two. Now that the Academy’s voters know that Villeneuve wasn’t a shoo-in for Best Director at the Golden Globes, they may now be more inclined to properly reevaluate his work and nominate him at the Oscars and give him the recognition he deserves.
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In 14 out of the last 15 years, the Oscars have at least one nominee for Best Director who is not in the Golden Globes’ list of nominees for the same category. If history follows this trend once more, Villeneuve could receive an Oscar nomination for directing Dune: Part Two after being snubbed at the Golden Globes.
Will Denis Villeneuve Actually Get The Best Director Oscar Nomination For Dune 2 Now?
Sci-Fi Films Have Long Struggled At The Oscars
Despite the significant praise that Dune: Part Two has received, science fiction films have long been overlooked by the Academy, typically winning awards only for technical categories like visual effects, sound, or editing. Even bonafide genre classics like Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and 2001: A Space Odyssey have only gone as far as to be nominated for Best Director. Only two sci-fi films have ever won the Oscar for Best Director: Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity and The Daniels’ Everything Everywhere All At Once.
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However, given the amount of prestige that Dune‘s source material has garnered over the past 60 years, it is possible for the Academy to give Villeneuve’s adaptation the kind of attention they gave to Peter Jackson for adapting J.R.R. Tolkien’s illustrious Lord of the Rings trilogy. Villeneuve has also been nominated once for a Best Director Oscar for his 2016 sci-fi film Arrival, so it’s clear the Academy has recognized his award-worthy talents.
Dune: Part Two has already proven itself a high contender this awards season. However, the chances of it winning every major category at the Golden Globes and the Oscars were always going to be astronomically low, especially as a sci-fi film. Ultimately, Denis Villeneuve has proved that he deserves to be at least nominated for Best Director for Dune: Part Two. While he may not have received this honor at the Globes, history could see him win the nomination at the Oscars, further cementing his status as one of the best sci-fi movie directors of all time.
Source: Variety
Dune: Part Two
- Release Date
- February 27, 2024
- Runtime
- 167 minutes
- Cast
- Timothée Chalamet , Zendaya , Rebecca Ferguson , Javier Bardem , Josh Brolin , Austin Butler , Florence Pugh , Dave Bautista , Christopher Walken , Lea Seydoux , Stellan Skarsgård , Charlotte Rampling , Souheila Yacoub , Roger Yuan , Babs Olusanmokun , Giusi Merli , Kait Tenison , Tara Breathnach , Akiko Hitomi , Imola Gáspár , Elbooz Omar Ahmed Fathie , Abdelkarim Hussein Seli Mohamed Hassanin , Joseph Beddelem , Xavier Alba Royo , Rachid Abbad
- Character(s)
- Paul Atreides , Chani , Jessica , Stilgar , Gurney Halleck , Feyd-Rautha , Princess Irulan , Beast Rabban , Emperor , Lady Margot Fenring , Baron Harkonnen , Reverend Mother Mohiam , Shishakli , Lanville , Jamis , Reverend Mother Ramallo , Bene Gesserit Sister , Watermaster , Young Fremen Patrol , Fedaykin Leader , Fedaykin
- Budget
- $122 Million
- Studio(s)
- Legendary Pictures
- Distributor(s)
- Warner Bros. Pictures