Rise to Fame
He didn't break into Hollywood by making the kind of film Hollywood greenlit. Incendies (2010) was a French-language Quebec film about a Middle Eastern civil war, partly shot in Jordan. It earned Canada an Oscar nomination for Best International Feature Film and got studios paying attention. Prisoners and Sicario proved he could work in English without losing his nerve. Arrival (2016) made the case: $203 million worldwide, eight Oscar nominations including Best Director, and a reputation as the director Hollywood calls when it needs a blockbuster that doesn't insult the audience.
In the Spotlight
Blade Runner 2049 (2017) lost an estimated $80 million at the box office, which would have ended most Hollywood careers. Dune (2021) became his highest-grossing film, and Dune: Part Two (2024) went further. Dune: Part Three wrapped production in November 2025 with a December 2026 release scheduled. Amazon MGM then hired him to direct the next James Bond film (he'd turned down No Time to Die for Dune back in 2017). Hollywood has decided he's the director you trust with the things you can't afford to get wrong.
Side Notes
He called himself 'one of the 10 worst hockey players of all time in Canada.' So he spent his teenage years drawing storyboards for Dune instead, decades before anyone would fund the film. He's the only Quebecois filmmaker to receive a Best Director Oscar nomination. His younger brother Martin is also a filmmaker and TED speaker. Their parents reportedly weren't particularly interested in cinema. Two directors out of Gentilly, Quebec anyway.