Quentin Tarantino is an outspoken guy. He's never been afraid to speak his mind, and it sometimes feels as though he delights in pushing against the general consensus with a controversial take. He's one of the great cinephile conversationalists, which is why his opinion on the Dune films is interesting if not surprising.
Tarantino was asked about Denis Villeneuve's blockbuster franchise during a recent appearance on the Bret Easton Ellis Podcast. He made it clear that he hasn't seen either Dune film, and doesn't have any plans to do so in the near future. Why? Because he's growing increasingly tired of remakes.
Tarantino has grown sick of Hollywood remakes
"I saw David Lynch’s Dune a few times, I don’t need to see that story again," Tarantino asserted. "I don’t need to see spice worms. I don’t need to see a movie that says the word spice so dramatically." The Oscar-winning screenwriter has nothing against the source material, but he's grown frustrated with the trend of Hollywood remaking the same story instead of at least taking on different stories within the same franchise.
Tarantino cited Dune and the recent Netflix series Ripley as examples. The new Dune films adapt the same novel as David Lynch's 1984 version, and Ripley adapts the same Patricia Highsmigh novel as the classic 1999 thriller The Talented Mr. Ripley. Tarantino wants to see a little variety:
"If you do one again, why are you doing the same one that they’ve done twice already? If you did another story, that would be interesting enough to give it a shot anyway."
The director claims the present is the worst time for film
Quentin Tarantino's criticisms of Dune are indicative of a broader issue with Hollywood that he articulated back in 2022. The director discussed the current state of film during an episode of his Video Archives Podcast, and he decreed that this is the worst ever period for the medium.
Tarantino has been hard at work prepping what is rumored to be his final film. He was set to begin filming The Movie Critic, but decided to ditch the story at the last minute and start from scratch. The details surrounding his mysterious tenth film have yet to be revealed.