DISINFO: Filmmaker Denis Villeneuve’s house infected with French bedbugs
SUMMARY
Filmmaker Denis Villeneuve said that the premiere of his movie Dune 2 in Paris was great but he brought 'living memories' from France: bedbugs that easily reproduced in the climate of California, so he had to move to a hotel for 15 days while a special service eradicated the bedbugs from his house.
RESPONSE
The claim is false. No serious media or source has reported on this incident, and the images used to illustrate this allegation, taken from the website of the outlet The Hollywood Reporter, do not show Denis Villleneuve stating what this disinformation story claims.
In early March 2024, French authorities formally accused Russia of intentionally stoking panic about an alleged bedbug infestation in France ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, confirming previous suspicions about Russian involvement in this fear campaign. Multiple disinformation stories and posts over the last months prove that, at the very least, Russia tried to amplify and exploit this fear about bedbugs, including the falsification of legitimate French outlets as part of Russia’s so-called Doppelganger Operation.
Similar allegations have already been debunked in our database such as the claim that anti-Russia sanctions resulted in massive bedbug infestations in France.