From KCRW, I'm Kim Masters, and this is the business.

Bringing Frank Herbert's sci-fi novel, Dune, to the big screen, was considered a daunting proposition.

But Mary Parent, a top executive at legendary entertainment, gave filmmaker

DeNiv Villeneuve the biggest budget of his career to realize his vision.

Still, it wasn't a marble-sized budget, and Villeneuve says he's actually grateful for that. It's good to have restrictions.

It's good to have. It brings discipline. And I needed that discipline. I'm not, I'm serious about that.

It's like, I don't think I would be comfortable to make a movie without limits.

We talked to Denis Villeneuve and producer Mary Parent on the making of Dune, now up for 10 Oscars, including Best Picture.

But first we banter. Stick around. It's the business from KCRW.

I am joined by my companion in banter.

Matt Bellney.

Hello, Matt.

Hi there.

So the Amazon MGM deal has closed.

Amazon has bought MGM for $8.5 billion, rich price.

They get 4,000 movie titles, 17,000 TV episodes.

That's a lot of content. And so much for MGM,

you know, the lion may still exist as a label at Amazon, but it is no longer a thing in Hollywood.

Yeah. And, you know, this company has been distressed and has been depleted for many years now.

It's a shell of what it once was, which was one of the major studios in Hollywood.

But this is a great result for MGM.

I mean, this is a, I mean, I think it's going to ultimately be a good thing to have the power of

...