Denis Villeneuve needed to overcome fear of failure to make Dune

Denis Villeneuve had to overcome his fear of failure to make 'Dune'.

The 54-year-old director has helmed the first of a planned two-part adaptation of Frank Herbert's 1965 novel of the same name and revealed that he felt trepidation about adapting the story that he first read as a teenager.

Denis told Variety: "I was afraid of not being able to be good enough. That I will not be able to please that teenager that was dreaming 35 years ago about this movie."

'Dune' stars Timothee Chalamet in the lead role of Paul Atreides and Denis explained how his faith in the 'Little Women' actor was validated early on during filming.

The 'Blade Runner 2049' director said: "To go through that process of having Timothee diving into that zone of pain and starting to transform himself in front of the camera, it was so impressive for me, and I knew.

"I was dreaming to work with Timothee on this, but when I saw this transformation, I was like, 'Whoa, we've got a movie.'"

Timothee explained that he learned that it is a "marathon" to make a blockbuster during the making of 'Dune', which also stars Zendaya and Oscar Isaac.

Asked what he had discovered about filmmaking on the picture, he said: "That it's a marathon, not a sprint. Which is something I thought I knew, but I really discovered on this."

Timothee continued: "Because of the sensibility that Denis has on set, and also that his collaborators on set are from many of the films he's done prior, whether it's a huge film like 'Blade Runner' or a smaller film like 'Polytechnique' that makes you feel like you're stepping into a machine, like a carnival that's already in motion.

"So, it's more your responsibility to just not mess up the turning of the wheel."