Dune star slams ‘f*****g dumb’ Oscars over ‘flummoxing’ snub

For many years Dune was known as the movie that would be “impossible to film”. Based on the 1965 Frank Herbert novel of the same name, the franchise has been adapted for the big screen a few times unsuccessfully. Director Denis Villeneuve is the latest person to take on the franchise, and has been hugely successful with it, gaining five stars from a number of critics (including me), as well as endless audience praise.

Things have turned a little sour for the Canadian director, however, and a member of his cast isn’t happy about it.

Dune received a staggering 10 nominations at this year’s Academy Awards. The science-fiction epic has received nominations for Best Picture, Best Cinematography, Costume Design, Film Editing, Makeup and Hairstyling, Music (Original Score), Production Design, Sound, Visual Effects and Writing (Adapted Screenplay).

You may have noticed, however, Villeneuve himself has not been nominated for Best Director.

This adaptation of Dune has long been a passion project for the Arrival director, who has previously said that he has longed to create his vision of the book for decades. And now, the actor behind Gurney Halleck, Josh Brolin, has ranted about the Academy missing out Villeneuve.

Brolin raged on his Instagram, saying: “Hey, I just want to say congratulations to Legendary, Warner Bros, everybody who got nominated for Dune: editing, cinematography, score, music, writing, pretty much everything. And the unbelievable, almost numbing, flummoxing, I feel, for Denis Villeneuve not being nominated for Best Director. It’s just one of those things that you just go: ‘Huh? What?!'”

Brolin, who is best known for playing Thanos in Avengers Infinity War, Avengers Endgame, and other Marvel movies, then let loose on the awards company.

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On the day the Oscars nominations were announced, Villeneuve released the statement.

In it, he praised his team, saying: “I can say two things: First, I could not be more proud of my whole team who got 10 nominations. Massive congratulations to Mary Parent and Cale Boyter for our Best Picture nomination, to Jon Spaihts and Eric Roth for our Best Adapted Screenplay nomination, and to Hans Zimmer, Joe Walker, Greig Fraser, Patrice Vermette, Zsuzsanna Sipos, Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor, Gerd Nefzer, Jacqueline West, Bob Morgan, Donald Mowat, Love Larson, Eva von Bahr, Mac Ruth, Mark Mangini, Theo Green, Doug Hemphill and Ron Bartlett on their much-deserved recognition. Thank you to the Academy!”

He also gave great thanks to his cast, who have been the face of the franchise for the past year.

Villeneuve continued: “We had an amazing morning. None of which would have been possible without our incredible cast—on behalf of the entire producing team, we thank you for your hard work in making my old dream a reality. And finally, thank you to the Legendary and Warner Bros. teams! Second, make sure you put enough eggs in the preparation, our pancakes were a disaster.”

Dune is out on digital, DVD and Blu-ray now.