website tracking
Search The Big Picture


« Box Office - 'This Is It' Isn't Exactly It | Main | Third Trailer for Scorsese's Delayed 'Shutter Island' »
Wednesday
28Oct2009

Peter Berg No Longer Directing 'Dune'

DateWednesday, October 28, 2009 at 3:49PM
There is a great movie to be made from Dune. Some say the mini-series from several years ago got pretty close. One thing's for sure: David Lynch shouldn't direct it. And now one other thing is for sure: Peter Berg won't be directing it.

Berg, one of the busiest director-producers in Hollywood right now, has walked away from the remake of Frank Herbert's epochal science fiction novel, according to Pajiba (and then confirmed by CHUD). Herbert, it turns out, kind of liked the 1984 Lynch film, which was tough sledding for just about everyone else. It's a daunting task to whittle it down to two hours (or even three) because unlike most novels, there's not a great deal of waste in Dune that you can easily discard.

Where does the project go next? Pajiba says Paramount has reached out to Neil Marshall and Neill Blomkamp. Personally, I believe the studio would be wise to put this back on the shelf for five years or so. There's no need to rush what would have to be an enormously expensive project like this to hit some imaginary dream release date.

Paramount is probably fortunate Berg has backed out, because I don't think he brings the right stuff to the film. Get an undeniably good script in place first, be diligent about finding the perfect director - instead of having a reactionary outburst and grabbing the hottest name you can find - and do the goddamn book some justice.

Believe me, if people want to see another Dune movie, they'd rather wait until 2015 and get it right instead of some compromised thing scheduled for 2011 that already has marketing agreements with Burger King and Verizon. Universal would do nobody any favors by playing whack-a-mole with this project.

AuthorColin Boyd | | in , , , | Print ArticlePrint Article | | Comment2 Comments |

Reader Comments (2)

Dune is a massive undertaking, and like you said, the mini series almost got it right (which I still watch from time to time). Just make it more than one movie, so you can do this right... They are making The Hobbit more than one movie, so why not Dune?

Thursday, October 29, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterJosh

I have to agree here too. Dune is a large under taking. I'm kinda glad that Berg is not directing. I don't think he's the right guy for this movie. You need a director who can bring a lot of depth to this story. What Peter Jackson did with "Lord of the Rings". And not worry about trying to sell the merchandise rights to "Burger King" , or give bullshit lip service on "E News" about how hot this movie is going to be, because Berg is going to direct it.

Thursday, November 5, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterAdam

PostPost a New Comment

Enter your information below to add a new comment.

My response is on my own website »
Author Email (optional):
Author URL (optional):
Post:
 
Some HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>