Sci-Fi Film and Television Developments

Dune

2/11/10 - Director of Dune, Pierre Morel, hired a new writer, Chase Palmer, to draft the script and required to stay close to the original material, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  Morel came aboard the project at the beginning of the year, and Palmer will work Morel's ideas into original scribe Josh Zetumer's screenplay.

2/5/10 - In an interview with IGN, Dune director Pierre Morel talked about how he was intimidated by the project, and that he had to "erase the image that David Lynch did" in order to proceed. He said, "I'd love it to be 3D, of course. It's the kind of movie that has the scope to be 3D. Will they do it in 3D? I'd push for that, but I don't know. As a viewer, I've just been watching Avatar with my kids twice in the theater already and had a blast. It's an amazing experience."

1/29/10 - French action director Pierre Morel, who is taking over a new film version of Frank Herbert's sci-fi classic Dune, is talking for the first time about his take, and says he wants to remain faithful to the book.  “I'm preparing for a long trek in the dunes...We're going to start writing in a couple weeks. It's very early in the process,” Morel said.

1/5/10 - SCI FI Wire reported that Kick-Ass director Pierre Morel is taking over Dune, the troublesome adaptation of Frank Herbert's classic sci-fi novel from Paramount. Producer Kevin Misher originally spent a year securing the rights from Herbert's estate before taking it to Paramount in 2008. The project still does not have a script or a writer attached. Herbert's Dune, a Hugo and Nebula award-winning novel, is an epic tale of political intrigue and survival involving the struggle to control Melange, a spice that exists only on the desert planet Arrakis. Melange can increase psychic powers and longevity and is used for interstellar travel. The adventure follows young Paul Atreides, who just may be the messiah the people of Arrakis have been waiting for.

8/6/09 - SCI FI Wire reported that director Peter Berg is developing a new movie. "I think I had a much more different experience, I think, with the book than David Lynch did," Berg said. "To me, I think my interpretation will feel significantly different from that and the Channel miniseries that aired. I have a different experience than both of those filmmakers did." Lynch's film focused in part on the politics of the feuding houses of Herbert's novel, who contend while trying to control the flow of melange, the spice that facilitates space travel, which is found only on the desert planet of Arrakis. Berg sees the story more as an epic adventure. "The book was much more muscular and adventurous, more violent and possibly even a little bit more fun," Berg said. "I think those are all elements of my experience of the book that can be brought in without offending the die-hard fans of the Bene Gesserit and Kwisatz Haderach. There's a more dynamic film to be made."

06/06/08 - Josh Zetumer is in negotiations to write the latest movie incarnation of Dune, Frank Herbert's sprawling SF epic, for Paramount Pictures.  The award-winning 1965 novel--the first in a series of six books about a futuristic struggle for control of a precious spice called Melange on the desert planet Arrakis.  Kevin Misher is producing the new version through his Paramount-based Misher Films. Herbert's son, Brian, and Kevin J. Anderson, who have co-written several additional Dune novels, will co-produce. Peter Berg is attached to direct.

03/18/08 - Peter Berg is attached to direct another big-screen adaptation of Frank Herbert's classic SF novel Dune for Paramount Pictures.  Kevin Misher will produce.  Herbert's 1965 novel is a sweeping, futuristic tale set on the remote desert planet Arrakis, which is the interstellar empire's sole source of the spice Melange, which causes immortality and facilitates space travel.

12/27/07 - Peter Berg will direct a new version of Frank Herbert's classic SF novel Dune.  Once the writer’s strike ends, Berg will work with specified writers to develop the script.

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