'Taken' Director Pierre Morel Now Tackling 'Dune'

Dune will now be directed by Pierre Morel, a huge shot in the arm for the French filmmaker, whose Taken was a big hit last year and whose From Paris With Love opens around the same time this year. The project was originally being steered by Peter Berg of Hancock and The Kingdom, but he bailed to direct Battleship. At the time, that didn't sound too bad, but with what we've heard about Battleship (aliens? WTF?), I'm not too sure anymore. Of course, as part of the deal, Berg will also get to make Lone Survivor, a drama about the Afghan war, so that probably influenced his decision. But Variety says Paramount has big plans for Dune, and apparently, executives were thrilled to meet with Morel, who impressed them with his knowledge of the sci-fi classic. Heck, he even brought his own "well-worn copy" of the book, and you can't get old books just anywhere. But is he the right guy? Dune is a little more epic (and dense) than a lot of sci-fi and may not ever work correctly in two-hour or 150-minute window. I liked Taken quite a bit, but that had very little story to stretch out to two hours rather than the other way around. Maybe he can pull it off...maybe nobody can. Big gamble, that's for sure.

Comments

[J.Bradley]

It's been done twice. As much as I love it, I feel like it's been covered. Sure, you could say it deserves a "Lord of the Rings" treatment, but who could pull that off, (and what would that be)? I'd feel more confident if they were making the "prequel" novels that have come out here in the last several years. They would seem like a very dense space opera all on their own and then ultimately connect to the original trilogy. Berg was talking like he was making a standalone, survival type story out of it, which might have been interesting. I'm sad Neil Marshall's out. I would like to have seen what he could do with a really big project. Maybe this guy will blow us away like Peter Jackson.

[Ramsay]

Okay, as much as I love Dune, I completely agree that there are other classic sci-fi novels that could be made, or remade. I know its way too soon, but I would really like an ACCURATE remake of I, Robot because the Will Smith version was complete poppycock. Actually, any of the Robot series movies.

But, if we are talking classic sci fi, the Foundation series from Assimov could make for a nice LOTR type trilogy. It probably wouldn't compare to LOTR visually because of the lack of epic battles, but to me, the story is way more compelling. That is, of course, unless Hollywood decides to fuck it up again. Last I heard, Roland Emmerich was directing the first adaptation, which could obviously turn out to be a disaster, pardon the pun. Seriously, Foundation isn't really a "disaster" story, not like 2012, Godzilla, or Independence day. So...who knows.

[Mick]

NEEDS MOAR DUNE

Seriously I am fine with them remaking Dune as many times as they need to to get it right.