Amy Adams loved working with director Denis Villeneuve, and she now recalls a key moment in their partnership that stood out to her. Adams is an actor who has been celebrated for her work since early on in her career. She had her debut on-screen role in 1999 with Drop Dead Gorgeous and was nominated for an Oscar for Best ing Actress just seven years later, for the 2005 movie Junebug. The actor has gone on to be nominated for five more Oscars. This year, she took on the comedy horror film Nightbitch, and she has been receiving good reviews for her role.
Villeneuve, on the other hand, has been considered somewhat underappreciated throughout his career. Though he has directed several key sci-fi features of the 21st century, including Blade Runner: 2049 and two Dune movies, he has only been nominated for Best Director one time. Many feel the director was slighted for his work helming Dune's first installment in 2021, and are hopeful that the director will get a Best Director nomination for Dune: Part Two. Adams and Villeneuve worked on Arrival together, which earned them both copious praise.
Amy Adams Loved Working With Villeneuve On Arrival
She Appreciates Villeneuve's Respect For Actors
Adams explains why she trusted Villeneuve so much while working on Villeneuve's best movies and was the first science fiction film that he directed. After being released in 2016, Arrival has an impressive Rotten Tomatoes score of 94%. In addition to Adams, the cast includes Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, and Michael Stuhlbarg.
Arrival is one of Denis Villeneuve's best movies and was the first science fiction movie that the filmmaker directed.
Reuniting with Villeneuve eight years after the release of Arrival in a video for Vanity Fair, Adams explained why she knew she could trust him while filming the sci-fi movie. Adams talked about how respectful Villeneuve is to actors while also being completely honest with them. She recalled a funny story of her rambling to him about a problem on the set of Arrival, after which Villeneuve itted that he didn't understand a word she had said. Ultimately, it was this moment that made something very clear to the actor. Read Adams' full quote below:
This is why everybody loves working with you, because you have so much reverence and respect for actors and it's just lovely to work with, you really do. You are very honest. That's one of the things I talked about when I first met you that struck me. I tell this story on set because it's when I knew I trusted you. I was having trouble with a moment in a scene and I came up to you with all of my angst, and I'm in the little orange suit with my hood off walking next to you, talking at what must have been a mile a minute, 'cause, like, I had a problem and a question. I was working it out in my head and I was talking, and I was doing this and this, but then this and this. And I stopped and I looked at you and you go, 'To be honest, I don't understand anything you've said.' And I said, 'That's okay, 'cause I think I've just worked it out in my own head.' And really I think I just needed a sounding board, but the fact that you were just like, 'I don't know what she said,' because I was mumbling and talking so fast. And once you told me that you must have known it's not what I wanted to hear, but it was what I needed to hear. And it made me also realize, 'Oh, actually, I already figured it out.' But I trusted you 'cause I knew you would always tell me the truth, you know?
Amy Adams & Denis Villeneuve Have Only Worked Together On Arrival
Arrival Is One Of Adams' Best Movies
Before Arrival, Villeneuve was already an accomplished filmmaker, having directed movies like Prisoners and Sicario. However, the quality of the cerebral film was still shocking upon its release. It earned incredible acclaim and a nomination for Best Picture at the Oscars, as well as seven other nominations. The 2016 sci-fi movie is still one of Adams' best movies, and her character in the film is one of her most interesting roles. While the movie is sci-fi, it is actually a deeply personal story about motherhood, which Adams has also noted that she appreciated so much about the movie.
Many fans believe that Amy Adams was deserving of an Academy Award for Best Actress for her work in Arrival. However, she was not even nominated.
Adams is completely right in saying that actors love working with Villeneuve, as he has worked with some of the best actors in the world. Villeneuve has remained in the science fiction genre, directing films such as Blade Runner 2049, Dune: Part One, and this year's Dune: Part Two, which was one of the most successful movies of the year. Even though he hasn't reunited with Adams after Arrival, Villeneuve has worked with actors like Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, and Josh Brolin. He has cultivated an impressive reputation that makes him someone people are eager to work with.
Our Take On Amy Adams' Comments About Working With Denis Villeneuve On Arrival
Amy Adams & Denis Villeneuve Should Work Together Again
Not only has Villeneuve worked with some of the best actors around, but he has gotten great performances out of them. Audiences loved Chalamet in Dune and its sequel, for example, and the ability to prop up this former indie drama actor as a sci-fi film lead is a testament to the close relationship that Villeneuve forges with his cast . Even ing cast such as Florence Pugh fit seamlessly into the world of Arrakis, making for a great ensemble feel overall. Adams' performance in Arrival fits in as one of these great Villeneuve movie roles.
It is clear that Villeneuve puts immense care into every one of his movies, so it is great to hear how much Adams enjoyed working with him. Arrival truly is a standout movie in both of their careers, and even the director has recently expressed that Adams was snubbed for an Oscar nomination for her performance. By the end of Arrival, viewers were shocked by the story that Villeneuve and his team managed to tell. Therefore, it would be great to see Villeneuve work with Adams again in a future movie after the success of Arrival.
Source: Vanity Fair

Arrival
- Release Date
- November 10, 2016
- Runtime
- 116 Minutes
- Director
- Denis Villeneuve
Cast
- Forest Whitaker
Based on Ted Chiang's short story "Story of Your Life", Denis Villeneuve's Arrival follows Louise Banks (Amy Adams), a linguist brought in to establish a line of communication with an alien species that have recently landed on Earth. With the help of physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner), Banks begins to understand more of the aliens' communications, and it alters her perception of life forevermore.
- Writers
- Eric Heisserer, Ted Chiang
- Budget
- $47 million
- Studio(s)
- FilmNation Entertainment, 21 Laps Entertainment, Lava Bear Films
- Distributor(s)
- Paramount Pictures
Your comment has not been saved