Oscar winner and recent graduate Patrice Vermette basks in the success of Dune 2

Now that Dune: Part Two is a proven hit with critics and audiences worldwide — released on March 1, it has grossed more than $500 million at the box office — production designer Patrice Vermette, BA 23, can breathe a sigh of relief.

“It’s a tremendous feeling,” admits the three-time Academy Award nominee, who shared the Oscar for Best Production Design for his work on the first Dune film in 2022.

“To see how well it has been received, and how the visual style we created has had an impact, is very gratifying. And it’s all a credit to Denis Villeneuve’s vision — he’s been a fan of these books since childhood.”

From Dune to Sicario and Arrival, the Montreal-born Vermette has enjoyed a long partnership with director and fellow Quebec native Villeneuve.

The collaboration has been incredibly fruitful and yielded a visual aesthetic that has become a bit of a Villeneuve trademark.

“We think similarly, have a lot in common and have developed a kind of shorthand that helps us work very well together,” says Vermette, whose production design on big-budget films like Dune typically begins years before actors like Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya arrive on set.

Villeneuve and Vallée

Vermette’s career has also been marked by his work with another Québécois filmmaker, the late Jean-Marc Vallée, whose death on Christmas Day 2021 was closely preceded by a talk with Concordia students and alumni.

A scholarship fund for Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema students was soon established in Vallée’s name, with notable support from sons Alex Vallée and Émile Vallée, BFA 20, cinematographer Yves Bélanger, BFA 84, and the likes of Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman.

Vermette poignantly paid tribute to Vallée after he was presented with his Oscars statuette in 2022.

“Working with Jean-Marc on his short film Les mots magiques [1998] was pivotal for me,” he says.

“It led to being his production designer on C.R.A.Z.Y., which was so well received internationally, and then to The Young Victoria. Jean-Marc had to persuade me to do that one, because I didn’t think I had the chops to do an English period piece!”

Vermette went on to earn an Academy Award nomination for The Young Victoria, and to work with Vallée on subsequent films.

“When we did Café de Flore, which had a relatively low budget, that was when he really honed his signature style as a director,” observes Vermette.

“His loss was huge for Quebec cinema, obviously, and cinema in general. For me personally though, I lost a good friend.”