Sigh...Dune movie back to square one

Peter Berg who was set to direct the movie has moved on to direct a movie adaptation of the board game battleship. A new director, Pierre Morel, will direct the new Dune movie but he will completely rewrite Berg's script. So we can expect a new Dune movie in...3 years!! ARGG!!!!!! SFF Media

"We're starting from scratch," said Morel. "Peter had an approach which was not mine at all, and we're starting over again. I don't think we're going to keep any elements of the Peter Berg script. It was good, actually. It was interesting. It was just not our vision. I can't tell you right now [who's writing it with me], it's going to be official next week. The deals are not done!"[...]

"Dune is such a huge, huge project," he enthused. "It's big, it's challenging, it's long-term -- we're only starting. We have to rewrite the script; we have to develop a whole universe. It's going to be a long thing, so who knows. But I'm passionate about Dune so I'd love to do it next."[...]

Everybody now who reads Dune reads it with David Lynch's images in mind," he said. "So we have to get away from that. It's not a remake of David Lynch's movie. We're doing a re-reading, a brand new approach on the book, a very true approach to the book, the original material. So we will have to deal with trying to erase the image that David Lynch did so we can propose our image.".

Am I the only person who liked David Lynch's Dune? True it wasn't loyal to plot of the novel but I liked how he fused 18th century decor with future technology and gave us a glimpse into the character's thoughts. Plus when I read the novels I don't have Lynch's images in my mind.

Man I really hope they don't screw the movie up but I have a feeling they will.

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Iron Maiden - To Tame a Land

Iron Maiden's To Tame a Land was inspired by the classic science fiction novel Dune by Frank Herbert. However, when Steve Harris requested permission from the author to name the song "Dune" and to use a spoken quotation as the track's intro, his request was met with a stern reply from Frank Herbert's agent: "No. Because Frank Herbert doesn't like rock bands, particularly heavy rock bands, and especially rock bands like Iron Maiden". This statement was backed up with a legal threat, and eventually the song was renamed "To Tame a Land" and released in 1983.

H/T: Krys

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He who controls the spice, controls the universe

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Peter Berg to direct new Dune movie

Teh awesomeness. Of course I credit Report on Arrakis for the renewed interest in Frank Herbert's Dune.

I'm curious how Peter Berg will deal with the religious fanatic jihadis of the book. Sci Fi Wire

Frank Herbert's sci-fi novel Dune—which spawned five sequels in Herbert's lifetime and prequels after his death—has been problematic for filmmakers, but that's not stopping director Peter Berg from developing a new movie he plans to direct.

Director David Lynch famously had problems adapting the sprawling book in 1984. Syfy's 2000 miniseries adaptation did a bit better in terms of audience and critical reception, but Berg feels there's still room for a new feature film.

"I think I had a much more different experience, I think, with the book than David Lynch did," Berg said in an exclusive interview on last week at the Television Critics Association summer press tour in Pasadena, Calif., where he was promoting his Wayne Gretzky documentary for ESPN. "To me, I think my interpretation will feel significantly different from that and the [Syfy] Channel miniseries that aired. I have a different experience than both of those filmmakers did."

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Researchers look for Arrakis like Sand Worm

Researchers are looking for the famous islamist eating RoA Sandworm. Mercury News

MOSCOW, Idaho — The giant Palouse earthworm has taken on mythic qualities in this vast agricultural region that stretches from eastern Washington into the Idaho panhandle — its very name evoking the fictional sandworms from "Dune" or those vicious creatures from the movie "Tremors."

The worm is said to secrete a lily-like smell when handled, spit at predators, and live in burrows 15 feet deep. There have only been four sightings.

But scientists hope to change that this summer with researchers scouring the Palouse regoin in hopes of finally finding the giant earthworm. Conservationists also want the Obama administration to protect it as an endangered species, even though there is scant scientific information about its existence.

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