Dune: Part Two officially won a few Oscars, and those victories came with direct reminders of Denis Villeneuve’s snub. As the director of the acclaimed and widely successful sci-fi sequel, there was great anticipation that Denis Villeneuve would be among the Best Director nominees at the 2025 Oscars as the film contended in many categories. Hope remained that he would be one of the five nominees even though the movie, with Dune star Josh Brolin even saying he’d retire from acting if Villeneuve was snubbed again at the Oscars 2025.

Ultimately, Dune: Part Two received five nominations for the 97th Academy Awards. The disappointment came when Villeneuve was left off the nomination list for Best Director once more, just as he was for the first movie. The nominees in the category were very deserving and included some bold choices like Coralie Fargeat for The Substance, but that did not stop the outcry of support for Villeneuve, who was noted as the biggest snub of the year. And after Sean Baker’s Best Director win at the 2025 Oscars, it’s still relevant.

Dune 2’s Oscar Acceptance Speeches Helped Honor Denis Villeneuve After Best Director Snub

Although there was no opportunity for the Oscars to directly recognize Villeneuve’s work as a director, the movie’s wins elsewhere managed to do that. This included the Best Sound acceptance speech. The victory allowed Gareth John, Richard King, and Ron Bartlett to take the stage and thank different individuals. John used his time to directly shout out Denis Villeneuve and urge everyone in attendance to do the same. This came as John called the visionary director “the best director you could ever work for.”

\n”‘};

window.arrayOfEmbedScripts[“twitter”] = “”””;

This proved to be a major moment for the Oscars to still honor the work that Denis Villeneuve did in Dune: Part Two. John asked everyone to applaud the director, and they followed suit, allowing the broadcast to cut to the director sitting in the crowd. It might not be an Oscar, but the recognition is meaningful, as this became a chance for Hollywood to celebrate Villeneuve in a public setting. Based on his reaction, its a moment that the filmmaker greatly appreciated, especially because it was unprompted.

The Praise For Denis Villeneuve Proves Why He Should’ve Been A Best Director Nominee For Dune 2

He’s Appreciated By Those Who Work Closest To Him

It’s notable that Gareth John and others would take time out of their Oscars acceptance speeches to specifically call out Denis Villeneuve. Mentioning the director is customary for many Oscar winners, but calling him “the best director you could ever work for” is a step further. It shows that everyone who works with Villeneuve sees the hard work he does and how deserving he is to be recognized at the highest parts of Hollywood, like at the Oscars. Perhaps that will change at some point in the future.