The people who saw it, loved it. Why? From what they figured out, the landscape, educated people—people from big cities, New York, L.A., Chicago, Boston, Toronto—they went to see the movie. The center of America, no.

Some critics accused the “world” in Blade Runner 2049 of being hostile to women.

I am very sensitive to how I portray women in movies. This is my ninth feature film and six of them have women in the lead role. The first Blade Runner was quite rough on the women; something about the film noir aesthetic. But I tried to bring depth to all the characters. For Joi, the holographic character, you see how she evolves. It’s interesting, I think.

What is cinema? Cinema is a mirror on society. Blade Runner is not about tomorrow; it’s about today. And I’m sorry, but the world is not kind on women.

There’s a sense in American cinema: you want to portray an ideal world. You want to portray a utopia. That’s good—dreams for a better world, to advocate for something better, yes. But if you look at my movies, they are exploring today’s shadows. The first Blade Runner is the biggest dystopian statement of the last half century. I did the follow-up to that, so yes, it’s a dystopian vision of today. Which magnifies all the faults. That’s what I’ll say about that.

Your films are very serious. On the set, do you ever tell jokes, play music?

I can’t work with music. I had the experience one time directing with music, and thinking that what I was doing was so great because the music was so good. Then I saw the dailies and it was shit.

I like silence. I love a quiet, calm environment. And my cinematographer is the same. Roger is like a monk. He doesn’t like to talk.

Jared Leto has a bit of a reputation for getting into character. On this one, his character considers himself to be a god. Did that manifest itself during his preparation?

No, he was very gracious. I worked with a secure, prepared, direct, and friendly artist. He was not an a-hole at all.

I don’t mean an a-hole—I mean wacky. Did he send you a fish in the mail or anything?

No, he did that on the previous movie. On Blade Runner, he was only there for a short period of time. Two or three weeks. I think I was protected. Had it been longer, maybe I would have gotten in the danger zone.

The idea of him being blind was beautiful and created a beautiful atmosphere on set. When he was walking, it was like a priest coming into the church. He had those contact lenses done by hand, done by an artist to imitate the eyes of one of his friends who is blind. He never saw my film crew! He just heard them.

It was really nice, because it created little details, especially with Harrison Ford—moments like, “he can’t do that right now” because he can’t see. I didn’t know he was going to do it this way.

I had designed a set with Dennis Gassner, a set with pools of water. So can you imagine, he was in a little island surrounded by water. I had to direct him like a computer. “You walk nine steps this way, five steps this way, now stop—or else you will fall in the water.”

You work very hard, you make ambitious films, and you are prolific. What do you do for fun?

Someone asked when I was finishing the film, “are you going off to an island?” I said no; I want to go back to Montreal and cook for my kids. I want to wake up in the morning and drink a coffee, and the only thing I have to think about is what I am going to buy at the store to cook for my kids for dinner.

Right now cinema is the only thing in my life. For the past 10 years it has been cinema. It means I read, eat, breathe cinema all the time. Just everything I do is in contact with a project. So what that means is I am a very boring human being. I don’t do tennis; I don’t do chess. It might be a problem. I need to do something else.

Update (Nov. 28, 2017): This post has been amended to clarify Villeneuve’s reaction to Blade Runner*’s critical reception*