Dune director Denis Villeneuve recalls the moment he fell out of love with Star Wars

Star Wars is enjoying another burst of goodwill thanks to the new show Skeleton Crew on Disney+. I’m glad fans are enjoying that series, but historically the franchise has a habit of dividing and disappointing people. Newer Star Wars fans who came on board with the 2015 film The Force Awakens got a taste of it when follow-up films The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker resulted in online firestorms. Before then, fans of the original trilogy were upset by the 1999 release of The Phantom Menace. And before that, fans of the original movie were upset by the 1983 release of Return of the Jedi. It’s a tale as old as time at this point.

Denis Villenueve, the director of the hugely successful Dune films, was one of the fans in the latter camp, as he explained on The Town podcast. He was 10 years old when the original Star Wars movie…