Quentin Tarantino Refuses to Watch Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Dune’ Movies Because ‘I Don’t Need to See That Story Again’: It’s One Remake After Another

Quentin Tarantino has not seen Denis Villeneuve‘s “Dune” movies and has no intention of changing that, despite the rave reviews. During an interview on “The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast” (the same interview where Tarantino defended “Joker: Folie à Deux”), the filmmaker was asked about whether or not “Dune: Part Two” was the best movie of the year as many have proclaimed. He didn’t have an answer because he’s not going to watch it.

“I saw [David Lynch’s] ‘Dune’ a couple of times. I don’t need to see that story again,” Tarantino said about his lack of interest in Villeneuve’s adaptations. “I don’t need to see spice worms. I don’t need to see a movie that says the word ‘spice’ so dramatically.”

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Tarantino has nothing against Villeneuve, he’s just not interested in watching a story he’s already familiar with due to have already invested time in the original source material.

“It’s one after another of this remake and that remake,” Tarantino explained. “People ask have you seen ‘Dune’? Have you seen ‘Ripley?’ Have you seen ‘Shōgun’?” And I’m like no, no, no, no. There’s six or seven Ripley books. If you do one again, why are you doing the same one that they’ve done twice already? I’ve seen that story twice before, and I didn’t really like it in either version, so I’m not really interested in seeing it a third time. If you did another story, that would be interesting enough to give it a shot anyway.”

“I saw ‘Shōgun’ in the ‘80s. I watched all 13 hours. I’m good. I don’t need to see that story again, I don’t care how they do it,” he added. “I don’t care if they take me and put me in ancient Japan in a time machine. I don’t care, I’ve seen the story.”

Certainly few would argue with Tarantino’s point that Hollywood is overwhelmed with remakes and reboots, but many would also say he’s missing out on great works of art by not seeing Villeneuve’s “Dune.” The film earned a lot of high-profile admirers when it opened in theaters earlier this year, including Steven Spielberg.

“Let me start by saying there are filmmakers who are the builders of worlds,” Spielberg told Villeneuve during a conversation at the Directors Guild of America in March. “It’s not a long list and we know who a lot of them are. Starting with [Georges] Méliès and Disney and Kubrick, George Lucas. Ray Harryhausen I include in that list. Fellini built his own worlds. Tim Burton. Obviously Wes Anderson, Peter Jackson, James Cameron, Christopher Nolan, Ridley Scott, Guillermo del Toro. The list goes on but it’s not that long of a list, and I deeply, fervently believe that you are one of its newest members.”

Spielberg went on to tell Villeneuve that “you have made one of the most brilliant science-fiction films I’ve ever seen,” monumental praise coming from the director behind “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and other sci-fi touchstones.

Listen to Tarantino’s full discussion on “The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast” here.