Denis Villeneuve's Dune

Oh, boy

The spice must flow.

Interesting.

I still think a version of Dune by The Wachowskis would be neat.

Cautiously optimistic.

Watched the Sci-Fi miniseries a few weeks ago, enjoyed it quite a bit. Need to finish watching Children of Dune.

Give David Lynch another chance!

-Tom

So it will be turned into anpther $200 million dollar mindless summer spectacle…

Well, Denis Villeneuve was recently on the record that he wants a crack at Dune. Can’t imagine Legendary not approaching him.

Every time someone even hints at disparaging Lynch’s version, I feel obligated to post a link to a cleaned up and re-edited version a fan did a few years ago. It’s so much better than the theatrical version or the Sci-Fi Channel’s extended cut.

If someone wants to make another crack at adapting Dune as a feature film of 2 hours or less, they’re going to have to radically chop away at the adaptation. Maybe make it all from Chani’s or Stilgar’s point of view or something.

I would hope a really good adaptation of the first book could at least cover the following:

  1. the Fremen and what their deal is living in such a water-scarce environment.
  2. the ecological life cycle of the sandworms and their relationship with the spice melange.
  3. sketching out the power struggles between the Great Houses, CHOAM, the Emperor, the Spacing Guild, and the Bene Gesserit, and why the galactic civilization is what it is.
  4. why a Kwisatz Haderach is so dangerous and the pros and cons of precognition.
  5. why computers are totally uncool, guys
  6. the deconstruction of revenge and the hero’s journey, how easy it is to “win” if that means galactic bloodshed and what efforts it would take to avoid it.
  7. Why spice is like and unlike 20th century oil.

None of those seven really have to deal with characters. Characters are what we look for in narratives so…good luck making a property I’d enjoy watching, Dune adapters!

Maybe they’ll do a TV series? It’s the perfect property and the perfect timing for it (just release it as GoT finishes).

I agree. I want a series, not a movie.

I actually enjoyed the tv version SyFy made several years ago:

I liked the Baron Harkonnen better (played by the public announcer guy pre HBOs Rome). They also had really cool costume and set design, it just lacked the special effects budget to really do it justice. They did a good job though.

Hollywood Reporter: Denis Villeneuve in Talks to Direct ‘Dune’ Reboot for Legendary

Weeeeeeeeee!!!

The first book would work as a trilogy-- anything shorter and you’d get a mishmash. First film end with Jessica and Paul being taken In by the Fremen after the Atreides defeat. You might have to invent a dramatic action piece to end the second film, where Paul establishes himself as leader. The third film contains the big battle that establishes Paul as Emperor.

Needs to be an 8 episode or so HBO series. Any single movie could never come close to doing the book justice.

Ya Dune could be Game of Thrones in Space but sadly it won’t happen.

Why not? Either a trilogy or a big budget TV series would make a lot of sense in the current market.

I do not see the depiction of the heroes as Taliban/ISIS going well, though. Might have to change that.

The effects were pretty good (for TV) until they ran out and in episode thrree there were people filming desert scenes against really badly painted on the only cloth we had left over backdrops. Children of Dune was better overall IMO, but then it did get a significantly larger budget.

It’d been rumored for a while that Legendary Pictures had been courting Sicario and Arrival director Denis Villeneuve for their upcoming Dune reboot. Now in under 140 characters, Brian Herbert (son of Dune author Frank Herbert) has confirmed that the contracts have all been signed, and Villeneuve will be directing.