{"id":515915,"date":"2026-06-03T04:41:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T04:41:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/515915\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T04:41:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T04:41:18","slug":"dune-oscar-winning-production-designer-on-ai-pushback-time-travel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/515915\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Dune’ Oscar-Winning Production Designer on AI Pushback, Time Travel"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tOscar-winning Dune production designer Patrice Vermette<\/a> and David Grinspoon, an astrobiologist at the Planetary Science Institute, discussed exploring and building worlds and science and science fiction at SXSW London<\/a> on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\n\tTheir dive into the intersection of science and storytelling ranged from imagining alien worlds to visualizing the future of humanity.<\/p>\n

\n\tCanadian Vermette, who won the Academy Award for best production design for Dune: Part One, early on mentioned to the audience that Dune 3<\/a>, starring Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet<\/a>, Zendaya<\/a>,\u00a0Robert Pattinson<\/a>, Javier Bardem and Anya Taylor-Joy, would be hitting cinemas on Dec. 18. But he didn\u2019t provide any spoilers.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut AI does not seem ready to play a major part in his future. \u201cWhen it comes to the push for AI, I push it back,\u201d Vermette shared during Tuesday\u2019s event about his take on using generative artificial intelligence in his work. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m more comfortable\u201d with analyzing storytelling needs and creating or recreating things via problem-solving, he explained. Working with 3D models, for example, allows him to analyze designs and shapes to see \u201chow a model interacts with the space and how I react to it,\u201d opening up a space to build a world through exploration, analysis and understanding. \u201cThat\u2019s just part of my process.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tVermette shared that you could call his approach not method acting but \u201cmethod designing.\u201d In comparison, he summarized the AI process this way: \u201cEnter a prompt and [sound effect].\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe also recalled having extensive \u201cscientific jam sessions\u201d with Stephen Wolfram, a computer scientist and physicist who was a scientific consultant on Villeneuve\u2019s Arrival, to brainstorm possible solutions to storytelling problems the creatives were facing in the cinematic world, including aliens, that they were creating.<\/p>\n

\n\tVermette also shared with the audience what the process of thinking through challenges to find the fitting solution for the world being created for each film has taught him. And this lesson is simple: \u201ctrust your instinct.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tGiven all his sci-fi experience, Vermette also shared a thought on time travel when he discussed music. \u201cIt\u2019s also the only true time-traveling machine, because feelings go back\u201d when you hear music.<\/p>\n

Check out THR\u2018s ongoing coverage of SXSW London here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oscar-winning Dune production designer Patrice Vermette and David Grinspoon, an astrobiologist at the Planetary Science Institute, discussed exploring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515916,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[263],"tags":[67865,18,117,19,1452,17,327,222382,222383],"class_list":["post-515915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-dune-3","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-international","tag-ireland","tag-movies","tag-sxsw-london","tag-sxsw-london-2026"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116684343518045113","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=515915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}