Though the idea of tackling Frank Herbert's imposing Dune books might send a shiver down the spine of many filmmakers, Arrival's Denis Villeneuve is ready to give it a shot. And now he has Oscar-winning scriptwriter Eric Roth providing the screenplay.
Legendary Pictures made a deal to grab the rights from the Frank Herbert estate late last year and now the job has been to find a new team to make a movie about the struggle for the planet Arrakis and its valuable spice, which allows for space travel.
Much like the rise of the Atreides in the book, Dune’s cinematic history is legendarily chaotic. It languished in development hell for most of the 1970s. Alejandro Jodorowsky tried and failed to produce it (with some insane names attached – Orson Welles! Mick Jagger! Salvador Dali!), though his aborted efforts became a superb documentary in its own right. David Lynch eventually directed – and quickly disowned – the first completed adaptation in 1984, which starred Kyle MacLachlan, Max Von Sydow and Sting.
Roth, who has written the likes of Forrest Gump, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button and The Good Shepherd will be trying his hand at science fiction for the first time. The man clearly loves a challenge...
The same can be said of Villeneuve, who this year has sci-fi sequel Blade Runner 2049 headed our way on 6 October.