Peter Berg has finally been confirmed – signed on the dotted line, in triplicate, etc. etc. – as the director of a new movie version of Frank Herbert’s epic sci-fi saga, Dune.
The project, which has been set up at Paramount with Kevin Misher – who produced Berg’s Welcome To The Jungle – on board as producer, has now been sent out to writers, so we’re a while away yet from seeing if Berg can succeed where David Lynch failed back in 1984. (Arguably; some people love his Dune.)
But the word is that Misher and Berg want the lucky writer who bags this daunting but exciting gig to remain faithful to Herbert’s 1965 novel, which spawned a literary franchise of Tolkien-esque proportions.
The duo, and fellow producers Richard Rubinstein (who produced two Dune mini-series for the Sci-Fi Channel a few years back), and Sarah Aubrey, consider the environmental issues addressed in the book, which takes place on the desert planet of Arrakis, the sole location of the spice Melange, so vital to space travel that it’s sparked an empirewide power struggle for control of the resource, as particularly timely.
Most people, though, will be excited by the prospect of a Dune film made with a proper kick-ass budget. We’re also interested to see Berg – a director we rate very highly – will handle what is set to be his biggest movie yet. Berg has handled his career very carefully so far, moving from low-budget indie black comedy Very Bad Things to the aforementioned and hugely entertaining action comedy Welcome To The Jungle, before proving with Friday Night Lights that he could handle drama with aplomb.
Then, last year, came The Kingdom, which allied smart politics to thumping action setpieces, and of course this summer sees the Will Smith alcoholic superhero comedy, Hancock, which looks pretty damned good. So he’s certainly one to watch, and we keenly await his take on Dune. But if he doesn’t find some way to crowbar Kyle MacLachlan – who played the hero Paul Atreides in Lynch’s version – into the new version, then we’ll never forgive him.