With Dune Part Three set to break records: Six lessons in leadership from its director
The epic trailer for Dune Part Three was released this week, and it’s already breaking records. It surpassed 10 million views in the first 14 hours of release. But could the secret of the franchise’s success come down to the leadership style of its director?
Dune Part Two was the seventh highest grossing film of 2024, at $714mn, with industry analysts expecting Dune Part Three to surpass that.
But here’s where it gets interesting. Previous attempts to commit Frank Herbert’s sci-fi world to celluloid have had chequered results to say the least. The first attempt in the 1970s, by Director Alejandro Jodorowsky, was never actually made, despite roping in talents such as Salvador Dali, Orson Welles and Pink Floyd.
The 1984 movie was made for a budget of $42mn (huge for the time.) But it was a critical and commercial flop, leading many to conclude that Herbert’s dense and mercurial novels were unfilmable.
So, what’s made the difference? Well, the choice of director is not the only variable, but it’s close to the top. And the success of Dune has made Villeneuve the most sought-after director in the industry. It is no coincidence that Amazon have hired him to breathe life into its newly acquired Bond franchise.
Industry insiders suggest that it is not just Villeneuve’s creativity that makes the difference. Those who work with him often talk about his exceptional leadership style. Villeneuve appears to engender an extraordinary sense of loyalty among the elite actors who regularly choose to work with him.
Actress Ida Brooke, who plays Princess Ghanima, is a newcomer to the Hollywood Blockbuster. She talks of how daunted she felt when first about to meet Villeneuve along with childhood hero, Zendaya.
‘The first thing Denis said was “Welcome to the Dune family” – and he makes us feel like just that, a family. The first table-read soon just felt like good friends chatting something through.’
The evidence backs this up. Top-tier actors return, accept smaller roles, and commit across multiple years. And we can learn from the way Villeneuve operates.
- Treat everyone equally: It may sound like motherhood and apple pie. But it’s not. Workplaces that are stratified by status – and most are – underperform their potential. Villeneuve makes a point of knowing everyone’s name. And treating even the most junior staff with respect. It’s not just talk. Small actions back this up. And people see it. Ida talks of Villeneuve going to get a chair for an assistant when he realised there was no place for him to sit. It’s hard to overstate how rare this is, in an industry known for jostling ego
- Listen generously: Villeneuve is known for having uncompromising creative vision, but he listens generously to those he works with. If an actor feels something might work better in a different way, they know that they can say this to him. He may not always agree, but he does listen. And if he does agree, he changes his mind. And people see this.
- Combine warmth with competence: Villeneuve laughs and smiles a lot. Smiling is associated with a type of leadership body language known as ‘prestige.’ A team led by Zachary Witkower and Jessica Tracy at the University of British Columbia, looked at the way in which we differentiate the body language that we observe among our leaders. The researchers observed that people tended to categorise leaders as either “dominance” (my authority comes from where I sit in the hierarchy); or “prestige” (my authority comes from knowing what I’m doing.) Prestige leaders smile more. They are also more effective at influencing others. Research from Princeton psychologist Professor Susan Fiske identifies warmth and competence as the two traits that most determine the extent to which we buy in to a leader.
- Think things through out loud: Villeneuve frequently talks through his thinking out loud. People like this in a leader because it shows humility and it contributes to a climate of psychological safety. This was the finding from research by Rachel Pack from the University of Western Ontario, and Lauren Columbus, from McMaster University, and their exquisitely titled paper. “Maybe I’m not that approachable.” The research team observed 13 different scenarios involving 39 participants in the field of obstetrics. They then delved more deeply, into the patterns of behaviours of leaders whose people are more likely to speak up, and those who are not. Speaking up is a key measure of psychological safety. And the leadership behaviour that makes the greatest difference? Be prepared to show you’re not always certain by sharing your thinking and thinking aloud.
- Be kind not nice: When he sees underperformance, Villeneuve acts decisively. All great leaders need that shard of ice in the heart. This allows them to deal with situations swiftly. Without it, everyone suffers, and outcomes are compromised. Failure to address underperformance honestly allows you to stay nice but it’s not kind. Analysis of 20 years of employee surveys highlights “failure to deal with underperformance” as one of the factors that most saps the motivation of colleagues.
- Praise generously: Even after a long and tiring day, Villeneuve takes the time to give praise where he feels it’s earned. This praise is specific, it’s not vague or generic. “You made that line feel very human.” Or “You clearly put a lot of preparation into this.” Performers talk of receiving handwritten notes.
Does Villeneuve ever lose his temper? By all accounts, sometimes he does. But he has the self-awareness to ensure those moments are short lived.
So, the takeout is that Villeneuve is a nice guy? Wrong. The traits above lead to better performance. They are traits that all of us are free to choose.
Big-budget films often suffer ego clashes—Apocalypse Now, Heaven’s Gate, Cleopatra—where director–actor conflict disrupts production, inflates costs, wastes time, and ultimately damages the quality of the final film. We still see this scenario so often in the workplace.
The myth of the shouty boss who gets things done persists. But hard evidence shows that it’s false. Research by Cameron Anderson and Lorraine Tyson Mitchell (UC Berkeley) tracked participants over 14 years. They found aggressive, dominant individuals were no more likely to gain power. Lasting influence came from combining competence with a communal, collaborative style.
So, what of the idea that: “To make an omelette, you have to break a few eggs”?
In the words of Harvard Psychology Professor and author, Steven Pinker, “People are not eggs, and you almost never end up with an omelette anyway.”
[Disclosure: Ida Brooke is related to the author, and he was the chairless assistant, who nonetheless had the opportunity to observe Villeneuve close up.]
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