Villeneuve explores dark side in ‘Sicario’

Is Denis Villeneuve ready for the big time?

When the French Canadian filmmaker’s work was first was shown in Washington, in 2009, it was in the form of a 12-minute art film at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden called “Next Floor.” Although his work has gotten steadily more mainstream since then, with two of his movies nominated for Oscars (“Incendies” and “Prisoners”), until recently Villeneuve hadn’t seemed ready to entirely leave his arthouse roots behind. Case in point, “Enemy” was a surreal head-scratcher about a man (Jake Gyllenhaal) who encounters his double.

But Villeneuve’s latest film, “Sicario,” is a big-budget action thriller about the U.S. war on Mexican drug cartels, featuring Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin. His next project, due out in 2016, is “Story of Your Life,” a sci-fi drama about a linguist (Amy Adams) enlisted by the government to translate an alien language after ETs land on Earth. After that is a planned sequel to what many consider a sci-fi classic: “Blade Runner.”

We chatted with the director by phone.

The themes of “Sicario” — revenge, sin, secrets — are a refrain that you have explored in earlier works. What interests you about the darkness of the human soul?

In “Incendies,” “Prisoners” and “Sicario,” there’s this idea that revenge is a negative force that brings no peace, that we are enslaved by our pasts. All those movies are extreme metaphors for the dark forces inside us that, if you don’t deal with them, you are not really free. I am amazed by the power of the subconscious. It’s like the soil where I plant the seeds of my movies.

“Sicario” is about the corrupt prosecution of the war on drugs and one particularly questionable protagonist, Alejandro, played by Benicio Del Toro. Are you making a political statement with the film?

The movie, for me, is not about the cartels. It’s not about the drugs. It’s about a fantasme of America — that we can solve problems abroad with force and by going above the law. It’s not a coincidence that there is a need, an appetite for superheroes, in our culture, for people who can go abroad and solve problems with a lot of strength, like half-gods.

It’s a very dark and cynical way to see the world that I don’t necessarily embrace, but it is present. I wanted (“Sicario”) to be raising questions. How can we deal with the drug cartels right now? Do we need to become like them? In the face of ISIS, you need to use strong force. At the same time, you become like them. I’m trying to explore these questions through several movies. A movie is not like a book. Sometimes you need several movies to approach a problem.

Will you continue that exploration in “Story of Your Life”?

The alien movie is less dark. It’s a movie that deals with communication, so it’s more about the … solutions. It takes a more positive approach to the cycle of violence. For me, it’s like a prayer. …I needed to get to a more positive place.

What can you tell us about the “Blade Runner” sequel?

Unfortunately, I can say nothing. That’s part of the game. It’s a bit boring for you. I can say that Harrison Ford is part of it. Ridley Scott and Hampton Fancher, who wrote the first one, did a fantastic screenplay. That’s why I decided to get on board. At the beginning, I was quite skeptical about the idea of making a second part to this masterpiece, but I love what Ridley Scott did. The screenplay is very strong. It’s a massive challenge, the whole project.

When you consider how far you’ve come, do you ever stop and wonder how you got here?

My friend, every morning. “Blade Runner” is by far one of my favorite movies of all time. It’s linked with the moment when I was beginning to fall in love with the idea of making cinema. You know, with every movie, I’m always thinking to myself, “I will believe that I’m making it when I put my eye behind the camera.” It’s so exciting, but I will believe I’m making the movie when I see Harrison Ford in front of the camera.

All of your films have a strong visual aesthetic.

I don’t view the recent films as more commercial but — how can I say? — more generous. I don’t like boxes. I don’t like to say, “I’m going to make an art film,” and “Now I’m going to make something more commercial.” For me, “Seven Samurai” from Kurosawa is a great ride. The main goal, to answer your question, is to make an arthouse commercial movie, to be able to marry everything. “Sicario” is an action movie, but for me it’s not, I hope, just an action film. My goal was to make a movie that’s as poetic as the movies I was doing in my earlier days, when I used to shoot two women drinking tea.

“Next Floor” depicts an overladen banquet table that keep crashing through several floors of an abandoned building. When it played at the Hirshhorn, it was credited to Phoebe Greenberg, although you were listed as the film’s director.

That was a strange project. I received a phone call from Phoebe Greenberg, a woman who owned this Montreal building that she wanted to make into a museum, a building designed for art. She said, “I would like to make a short film out of (the building).” … I was about to tell her: “Don’t put your money in a movie. You’re going to lose a lot of money.”

To be honest, I don’t know the number. I think it was something like $300,000 or $350,000. What I know is that we had a real film crew. For four days we were shooting in 35mm. It was like a real movie. What I was expecting her to say was, “I have $10,000, young man. I’d like you to make a movie.” She had one request: There needs to be a table, and it needs to be theatrical. What I remember is when I talked with the production designer, we talked a lot about “Blade Runner” as we were thinking about some elements of the design. But you know what was great about that project? I was making it for one person. I never thought that … movie would be seen. That’s the best way to work, and that’s what I’m trying to keep alive.

There’s a common joke on set: I talk about my mother. I will say: “My mother needs to understand this. If we don’t do this this way, what the hell will my mother think?” But seriously, at the end of the day you have to make the movie to please yourself.

The action of “Sicario” is initially quite disorienting, even to its main characters, two of whom are at deep odds with each other. When Emily Blunt’s FBI agent asks Alejandro, a secret operative, to explain what’s going on in a complex drug operation, he replies: “You’re asking me how a watch works. Just keep an eye on the time.”

In the movie, there is this idea that you are following the action through the eyes of Emily’s character, who slowly loses power, and who starts to disintegrate in front of the camera, as the character of Alejandro gets stronger and stronger. I felt that this (disorientation) was quite original and fresh and not following the rules.

The screenplay is the debut of Taylor Sheridan, an actor.

Taylor Sheridan was an actor, and he felt at some point that he wanted to change. The thing that appealed to me about “Sicario,” when I read the script, is that he had done his homework about the reality of the cartels, the reality of the CIA, the reality of the Delta Forces. He’s someone who knows a lot about the military, about the politics around the border.

It does feel like he did his homework, but the film is very bleak. I almost don’t want to believe that things are really as bad as “Sicario” portrays them.

They’re worse. Taylor is fascinated by the disintegration of the American dream. That is the point of view that he is exploring in different screenplays. “Sicario” is only the first of several that he is working on.