Denis Villeneuve's Oscars snub shows the Academy still doesn't take sci-fi seriously

Sure, Dune: Part Two is on the list for Best Picture, but considering there are 10 whole slots up for grabs there, its inclusion feels like a way of satiating wider audiences without ever really giving it a shot in the most prominent categories on the night. (Cough, Black Panther, cough.)

And, when scanning over those who did make the Best Director cut, there’s a strong argument to suggest that the Oscars still treats particular genres as lesser, while overlooking the vital role certain directors play in putting together what are ultimately impressive feats of filmmaking, despite what their tags on IMDb might say.

In truth, it’s a welcome surprise to see Coralie Fargeat receiving a nod, considering horror is so often grouped alongside sci-fi in the 'not really very serious films' category (the fact The Substance is the only 'horror' anywhere in sight is proof of that in itself), but outside of the French auteur, the rest of the list is rather predictable.

Drama, drama, drama based on real life, drama with a bit of singing. So often, it’s only filmmakers who make serious movies, real art, that get their due for putting those movies together.

Villeneuve is the prime example. Despite consistently producing top-level sci-fis that blend stunning visuals with gripping storytelling – from Blade Runner 2049 to the Dunes – the Canadian has only ever received a nod for 2017’s Arrival, a film that, while based around extraterrestrial elements, plays more as a psychological drama than it does a hard 'space-battles-and-planet-hopping' sci-fi.

It’s no surprise, then, that his work on Dune: Part Two – and Part One before it – has been overlooked. Instead of solely having people in rooms talking, there are space battles, there is planet-hopping, there are Fremen riding sandworms and there is a ghostly Austin Butler wishing for his enemy’s knife to chip and shatter. But does that make it unworthy of praise?

In fact, isn’t what Villeneuve achieved in those two films – taking what many believed to be a dense piece of unadaptable fiction, which some of the finest directors in history struggled to make work, and wowing not only critics but paying audiences – arguably even more impressive than some of the straight dramas on the list?

There’s no doubting that A Complete Unknown is a solid film, for instance, from a solid filmmaker – director James Mangold himself received little formal praise for his own work on superhero story Logan – but it’s hard to argue that what is a largely by-the-numbers biopic really warrants such a high-profile shouting-out of the person behind the camera.

Compare that to Dune: Part Two, and the difference in achievement is clear. The sequel brings to a close (for now) a stunning tale of revenge, one drenched in the sort of emotion and tension that you’d expect to find in a hard-hitting drama, all while combining it with the kinds of jaw-dropping visuals that the big screen is ultimately made for.

Across almost three hours, the audience is quite literally taken to new worlds which feel lived-in despite the scale of the production.

Shot in real deserts, with real costumes and real sandworms (that might need fact-checking), Villeneuve crafted a work of art that very few – if any – could manage. That he will not receive a nod for this, never mind a little golden statuette of his own, is baffling.

Now, of course, the director isn’t the only person responsible for making a film, and Dune: Part Two has received plenty of nominations in plenty of areas.

Yet, ultimately, this has been Villeneuve’s passion project, a dream that he set out to realise from the start of his career and has used his growing reputation to make happen.

It is his vision of Frank Herbert’s work that has been brought to the big screen, and it’s a vision that combines the stylistic and storytelling quirks that have earned him that much-coveted ‘auteur’ tag with fist-pumping moments that helped it to make over $700m worldwide.

Just because it also has ornithopters and the Bene Gesserit, doesn’t make that null and void.

Yet, it appears that’s something the Academy continues to disagree with. After all, the Best Director prize has only ever gone to sci-fi filmmakers once, and that was for Everything Everywhere All at Once, which was hardly your traditional entry into the genre.

Dune: Part Two was the chance for the organisation to finally give hard sci-fi filmmakers their due.

Sadly, they went and Harkonnened it.

Dune: Part Two is now available to buy or rent from Prime Video, iTunes, Microsoft Store.

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