Dune finds a new director

Frank Herbert’s Dune takes a big step towards a big screen return, as Paramount hires a new director...

The proposed remake of Dune, which had stalled when director Peter Berg left the project last year to go and make Battleship for Universal instead (which is still the most bizarre looking choice for a blockbuster movie in recent times), has found itself back on track. Entertainment Weekly reported recently that Paramount Pictures is keen to fast track the project, and as such it's hired a new director to take the reins. That man is Pierre Morel, who helmed the Liam Neeson-starring surprise smash hit Taken.

The project is going to head back to the writing stage, to allow Morel to get his fingerprints on the film, and the director is believed to be keen to stay as faithful to the Frank Herbert book. Thus far, the screenplay has been penned by Josh Zetumer, but Paramount will be bringing a new writer on board.

We'd wager we're looking at a 2011 release at the earliest here, but we shall keep you posted...

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5 Comments

tantryl Jan 14, 2010 11:30 AM	I liked Peter Berg. He's directing freakin' Battleship now? I guess he's got a decent sense of humour, so that might work. Morrel's a great action cinematographer and Taken was a great flick... but it makes it seem like they'll be turning Dune into a non-stop action flick, 'cause that's really all he's ever done. Almost all efforts at making Dune so far have been pretty dismal (I liked the Lynch one, but it didn't go down well with critics or the box office). Partly because it's a long fuggen book with a lot of detail. I'd like to see a more faithful portrayal of the Fremen and Atomics, and Morrel seems like the kind of director that could do that. But probably at the expense of the rest of the story. I think I'll enjoy seeing where it goes though.
Rage09 Jan 14, 2010 1:52 PM	Some books just cannot be made into main stream movies. LoTR opened up a whole new epic book to movie genre which imo is very hard to realise. Everyone reads the books differently and has different images of what the world is like in thier mind. I have not read the Dune series but what little I know of it major subplots would have to be cut to make it into a movie.
fr3nzystrikesback Jan 14, 2010 5:44 PM	Here's a start to consider how to stay faithful to the book - ATTENTION MOVIE PEOPLES: Paul Atreides begins in the book as a 15 year old teenage boy, not a ruggedly hansom early 30s goon. Kthx.
Claprica Jan 20, 2010 2:10 PM	IMO best Sci-Fi book ever. God I hope Morel can do the books justice. I don't see that happening though unless they do what they did with LOTR and split the movies up into a trilogy or something similar. The books were so cool because they didn't rely on scifi tech to make them believable, and its very much about realising humans potential once they use more than 10% of their brains. If it does do well though, there is a massive universe of information to draw from and create spin offs etc...almost comparable in size to StarWars universe.
Nich... Jan 22, 2010 8:39 PM	Dear God, if they use any material from the faux dune books from Herbert Jnr, I'll boycott it out of spite.

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