For Amy Adams and Denis Villeneuve, Making ‘Arrival’ Meant “Flirting With Disaster”

The 2016 film Arrival holds a special place in the hearts of both director Denis Villeneuve and star Amy Adams. “The experience of making it was unlike anything else I’d done,” Adams says while reuniting with Villeneuve for Vanity Fair. “There was something just deeply focused and meditative and vulnerable, and it was one of the first experiences that I truly felt the idea of a communal filmmaking.”

The ambitious sci-fi film, which starred Adams as a linguist who is attempting to communicate with aliens, came to the actor at a time when she was exhausted from an emotionally challenging shoot—but she couldn’t resist the script. It would end up being one of her best performances to date. Arrival was a critical and box office hit that also established Villeneuve as a filmmaker who could take on ambitious sci-fi films—eventually leading him to make his passion project by adapting the beloved novel Dune into multiple films.

This year, the pair have been crossing paths often because they’re both back in the awards race—Villeneuve with the epic Dune: Part Two, and Adams with the bold meditation on motherhood, Nightbitch, which she also produced. Gathered together in Los Angeles in November, the friends looked back at the risks they took for Arrival, while also explaining how they keep their fans in mind and what they’d love to do together in the future.

Vanity Fair: What do you remember about the first time you met?

Denis Villeneuve: The first time I met you, I was really impressed with how thoughtful and present you were—just like right now, looking at me with your eyes. In French we call it force tranquille—it means still power and a very mighty presence. And I was really impressed.

Amy Adams: I had known some of Denis’s previous work, but when I got the script I was actually just getting off of a film. It was a really demanding experience and I was like, “I’m not reading anything. I don’t know if I’m working again.” My very intelligent and thoughtful team said, “you can not read anything, but you have to read this.” And I got to the end of it. I was so moved, and then of course immediately had to read it again. So by the time I met you, I think I’d read it maybe three times. But I think what I remember most about meeting you was you had a very sincere energy, and you were very open and very vulnerable. I felt very safe and sound with you, and I knew to do this, I’d need to take that leap. I always felt it’s either going to be one of the things I’m the most proud of, or we’re going to miss. But it was worth it.

Villeneuve: Flirting with disaster. I remember how grounded you were as we were shooting. I felt you were fearless. I’ll give you an example: We were doing a scene in the hospital with a petite baby—a newborn. He was a couple of days venerable or something, and the baby was a bit, of course, agitated and you took him and you were so peaceful, and the baby became relaxed right away. And I remember you said, “I don’t look real.” You wanted to show your shoulders, add sweat on, mess up your hair, and I was so moved by your appetite, your desire for authenticity.