Bringing Frank Herbert’s Dune to the big screen has proved consistently problematic, not least how to condense the epic spice swiping saga into an audience friendly running time but finding the right creative team is always a challenge – if David Lynch can’t do it then I don’t know who can…
Paramount Pictures think they have found their man though, according to Variety, as Peter Berg, who had been developing Dune for a while, has left the project to film his war drama Lone Survivor (as well as the bizarre adaptation of the board game Battleship – with aliens…) with Universal and to fill the hole Paramount have elected Taken director Pierre Morel to bring the world of Arrakis to life.
Josh Zetumer’s script will be given a fresh coat of paint to bring it in line with Morel’s vision, but given the weight of expectation and sheer density of Herbert’s world it will take a screenwriter of considerable talent to make it work. Morel’s latest, From Paris with Love, is turning heads with its new trailer, and should build on his reputation for fast moving action thrillers – hardly the same as a swirling space saga, but Morel is a big Dune fan which is an absolute necessity for any adaptation of this seminal work.
