Denis Villeneuve may have made his fair share of sci-fi movies, but that doesn’t mean he’s comfortable with the state of modern technology. In a recent interview with The Los Angeles Times, Villeneuve explained that he doesn’t allow cell phones on his sets at all.
“Cinema is an act of presence,” Villeneuve said. “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. 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.”
He explained, additionally, that he felt that many modern people have lives controlled by algorithms. “We behave like AI circuits,” he said. “The ways we see the world are narrow-minded binaries. We’re disconnecting from each other, and society is crumbling in some ways. It’s frightening.”
With specific reference to cell phones, which Villeneuve was checking even during this interview, the director said that there was something corrosive and addictive about the easy access they provide. “There’s something addictive about the fact that you can access any information, any song, any book” from your phone. “It’s compulsive. It’s like a drug. I’m very tempted to disconnect myself. It would be fresh air.”
