‘Dune’ Continues Below-The-Line Dominance At Oscars With Visual Effects Win

After already taking home Oscars on the night, Denis Villeneuve’s epic adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune continued its below-the-line domination at Sunday’s Academy Awards as it took home the Best Visual Effects Oscar. The film looked to be the favorite in the category after taking home the top honor at this year’s VES Awards gala.

Accepting the award from presenters Rachel Zegler and Jacob Elordi was Dune‘s VFX team which included Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor and Gerd Nefzer. The film had already taken home best Sound, Score, Editing and Production Design, and would later add Cinematography to its win total.

Dune was a favorite to dominate the below-the-line categories going into the ceremony. Lambert and Nefzer had previously won Oscars for their work on Villeneuve’s 2018 Blade Runner: 2049.

Lambert started it off by thanking several people including the director, who wasn’t nominated for Best Director, as well as the VFX companies involved.

“None of this would’ve been possible without the visionary Villeneuve,” said Myles. “VFX is a team effort of hundreds of people around world, so huge congratulations to all the artists and production.”

Other films vying for the VFX award included two Marvel pics, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Spider-Man: No Way Home, as well as Free Guy and No Time to Die.

It wouldn’t be the Oscars without someone being played off, and Nefzer was the first victim of the night. But he took it in stride as he danced to the music before saying “Danke, thank you very much” to loud applause.

You can watch the speech above and their backstage comments below.