What's happening with the new Dune movie?
- 20 May 2009
- John Howell
There's been little new information since we originally reported that a new Dune movie was being developed with Peter Berg directing, but io9 has picked up a few scraps from producer Kevin Misher, and Reelzchannel has a casting rumour. Fortunately it appears Peter Berg’s new Dune movie could be with us sooner than expected.
“We're working on the script right now,” Kevin Misher told io9. “We're going to turn it in shortly. The script is coming in, we're hoping to get a green light shortly.”
When asked why he got involved with the adaptation, Misher said that Dune “is one of my favourite books of all time, and I made a movie with Pete called The Rundown, which people seemed to like a little bit, so we decided to get back together. Pete had loved the book as well. It's a great opportunity for us.”
He called the new movie a “reboot” rather than a remake. Given the flaws in David Lynch’s 1984 movie version of Dune I’m glad to hear it. A movie closer to Frank Herbert’s excellent novel is what I’d like to see on screen, much closer than Lynch’s mangled version.
When asked if the Fremen were still going to have bright blue eyes, the result of their addiction to the life giving spice, Misher said, “Yes, of course. Spice is part of the book”.
There has also been news on the casting front, with Robert Pattinson, the star of the recent hit vampire movie Twilight, tipped to play the lead role of Paul Atreides. Reelzchannel reports that Robert Pattinson sparked the rumours after he was spotted leaving director Peter Berg's Beverly Hills pad. Having watched Twilight recently, Pattinson seems like a good choice for a young Paul Atreides. It would certainly make sense to give the role to an actor whose star is rapidly rising. Pattinson is now filming the Twilight sequel, The Twilight Saga: New Moon.
I’m glad to hear something from the new Dune production. A lot of the big budget science fiction book to movie adaptations lately seem to get announced and are then never heard of again. What happening with Asimov’s Foundation movies for example, or the adaptation of his novel, The End of Eternity? The movie adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s novel Ubik and Ridley Scott’s movie version of Aldus Huxley’s Brave New World are another two seemingly missing in action.
Let’s hope this new movie is an epic Dune production worthy of Frank Herbert’s masterpiece. It won’t be long before sand worms are roaming across the dunes of Arrakis once more.
Watch a TV interview with author Frank Herbert discussing Dune below.
{qtube vid:=BEWM7zIIF9c}
Paramount Pictures has abandoned its attempt to create a new...
It looks like Paramount's new Dune movie adaptation could be...
Production of the new Dune movie is becoming as epic as Fran...
The upcoming Dune remake is still moving along, but with Pie...
Peter Berg recently talked about his upcoming adaptation of ...
Although there were doubts about whether Paramount would obt...
Featured articles
30 Jan 2012
If you own an iPhone 4S you may have impressed your friends (or perhaps not) with the built in, voice-driven personal assistant called Siri. You can ask it to book appointments, call people, search nearby restaurants, make calculations, and a great deal more. Most of the time it gets it right too. Now Siri has an Android rival called Evi, and if first impressions are anything to go by, it's an impressive... Read more
07 Jun 2010
Finally having had the opportunity to watch Nicholas Winding Refn’s Valhalla Rising, I now appreciate why it was received so well at film festivals and yet failed to get a wide theatrical release. It’s hard going. On one hand it’s almost unbearably brutal and on the other it is layered with the sort of mind-bending symbolic meaning that leads the viewer to the brink of utter confusion and leaves... Read more
19 Oct 2011
After watching the pilot to Fox’s ambitious TV time travelling dinosaur fest called Terra Nova, I am praying that when I watch the next episode the entire cast gets eaten by dinosaurs (in fact, that hope is the only reason I’ll be able to sit through another one). The entire cast’s gruesome deaths at the hands of a frenzied T-Rex or a velociraptor having a bad day can’t come soon enough.... Read more
09 Dec 2007
After 25 years since its original release, a definitive version of Ridley Scott's science fiction masterwork Blade Runner, Blade Runner: The Final Cut, has arrived. So what exactly has changed? And is it worth all the fuss? After attending a recent screening I can report that there are significant differences, mainly improvements, between this new version and Ridley's first Director's Cut released... Read more
16 Oct 2007
Daren Aronofsky’s The Fountain is a movie that divides opinion. During its press screening at the 63rd Venice International Film Festival in September 2006 it was booed; at the public screening the following evening it received a 10 minute standing ovation. To get an idea of just how divided opinion is, take a look at Rotten Tomatoes, a website that rates movies based on published reviews. Of 181... Read more
25 Mar 2012
No movie release in 2011 was more misunderstood and unfairly maligned as a result of misunderstanding than Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch. Odds are you’ll disagree with that statement. An indication of the movie’s reception by “audiences” (non-professional reviewers) and the critics can be found on Rotten Tomatoes, where audience approval is calculated to be 47%, and of the 196 critical reviews... Read more
10 Mar 2012
I have a confession to make. I'm not proud of it, but there's no use trying to hide it any longer, the damage has already been done. I was an Apple fanatic. Hard core. Completely obsessed. I'm not proud of my behaviour. I have no real excuses. All I can say in my defense is that I have always been a gadget fan, so naturally I was ripe for the plucking. My psyche was compromised, wide open to the fruit... Read more
02 Aug 2011
Dan Simmons’ latest novel, Flashback (July 2011), is “[a] provocative novel set in a future that seems scarily possible,” proving “why Dan Simmons is one of our most exciting and versatile writers." So says the publicist anyway. Dan Simmons is one of our most exciting and versatile writers, but sadly Flashback doesn’t prove that. And yes, Flashback is a provocative novel, but it doesn’t... Read more
05 Oct 2009
Science fiction authors have long been outcasts from the literary world, in some cases critics using the worst examples of the genre as ammunition against it. Unfortunately though, at times even science fiction authors themselves can turn on their own kind: "Science fiction is rockets, chemicals and talking squids in outer space,” mocked Margaret Atwood (The Guardian, 28 January 2009), one of her... Read more
08 Jul 2010
Almost any time we write anything about Neil Gaiman, you can be sure that someone will feel the need to post a comment “outing” the man as a Scientologist. While we have a fairly relaxed attitude to comments and will publish almost anything that contributes to an article, you won’t find many comments about Neil Gaiman’s alleged ties to the Church of Scientology published on this site. We simply... Read more
Latest videos
 |  |
![Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues [Official Teaser] HD (Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/I0t1Ys3DfBE/0.jpg)
![Men In Black 3 Trailer 2 Official 2012 [1080 HD] - Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Y2r9AIfYcV8/0.jpg)
![Looper - Official Trailer [HD]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/UZyZWFYyxcU/0.jpg)
Re: Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell to cameo in Quantum Leap movie
Some remakes are ok becausecof improvements in special...
Re: Chronicles of Riddick 3: Dead Man Stalking - Science Fiction World
What, Riddick became Lord Marshall and now hes...
Re: Rotten Apple: the war on Google's Android - Science Fiction World
That will be the legacy of Steve "Palpatine"...
Re: GodMachine
Strange...but cool. Definitely not EFC related in any...