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Dune remake needs new director

By Simon Brew
Nov 4, 2009 | 6 Comments


Peter Berg departs the new version of Dune – so is Neil Marshall next in line to direct?

The planned big screen remake of Dune has hit a bit of a bump, with the news that director Peter Berg has left the project. Berg, responsible for the superb Friday Night Lights as well as the Will Smith hit Hancock, is currently attached to a big screen movie of the game Battleship, which is due for release in the summer of 2011. It's unclear whether Berg dropped out for scheduling reasons, or whether there were other problems.

So where does this leave Dune? The project is still very much going ahead, and there's a $175m budget attached to it too. However, finding someone to steer the ship isn't the easiest of jobs.

Over at Pajiba, the site has revealed - with the help of an inside source - that the search for a new director is centering in on Neill Bloomkamp and Neil Marshall. The former gave Sony a hit out of nowhere last summer with District 9, while the latter has The Descent under his belt.

Pajiba reports that Marshall is the reported frontrunner for the job, but there's some reticence on the part of Paramount to hand over the keys to the franchise to someone without a sizeable hit on his CV. As good as The Descent was, a money-making-machine it wasn't. Either he or Bloomkamp sounds like a good choice to us, mind.

The script for the project is in place, and reportedly has been since earlier this year. So it's down to Paramount now to find a director with a love for the source material, who can maximise the film's budget, and who wants to make the film. We'll keep you posted...

Of all the movies he could've moved on to direct, he quit for BATTLESHIP?! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I guess we'll see what sinks faster: the battleships or Berg's credibility.

othaderak wrote:Of all the movies he could've moved on to direct, he quit for BATTLESHIP?! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I guess we'll see what sinks faster: the battleships or Berg's credibility.

Minesweeper The Movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHY8NKj3RKs

Oh? Thanks for the news.

cmsahe wrote:Minesweeper The Movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHY8NKj3RKs

Seen it, not as good as Tetris:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE_1KlWFJyA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

cmsahe wrote:the superb Friday Night Lights as well as the Will Smith hit Hancock

Haven't seen FNL, but was Hancock a hit or shit?

(I'm asking your-all's opinion, since I thought it was shit.)

It's unclear whether Berg dropped out for scheduling reasons, or whether there were other problems.

"And tell that weird guy, yeah, the one with no hair and the IC recorder around his neck—what was his name again? You can't remember, either?—yeah, well tell him there wasn't any way in hell I was going to include that midget goddess shit he kept going on about at the meetings. Loser!"

[N]Either he [n]or Bloomkamp sounds like a good choice

Loved District 9, but I'm not sure about him doing Dune....

So it's down to Paramount now to find a director with a love for the source material, who can maximise the film's budget, and who wants to make the film.

Fuck, it's not like they really bothered finding one with a love=understanding of the source material or who really wanted to make the film when they chose Berg, so why should we think those are considerations in searching for a new director?

It's all about the money.

it's about the money in the short term.

Y'all thought I was crazy or on drugs when I told you about this months ago, didn't you!

... well, maybe I was. But it's still true!

2010 = no chance;

2011 = 10-percent chance;

2012 = 30-percent chance.

I love it! I hope to never see this "muscular" version of Dune, although I think the odds above are fair. Plus, knowing that this hurts the HLP and Anderjacket — who are clearly counting on a new movie for a financial windfall — makes me giddy with happiness.

I'm filled with a sudden urge to watch the SciFi mini-series. Say what you will about them, but at least they wrote some scripts, hired some professionals, and got the work done.

TheDukester wrote:2010 = no chance;
I love it! I hope to never see this "muscular" version of Dune, although I think the odds above are fair.

when I first glanced at this I thought you had written musical version. that would be friggin' hilarious! Broadway musical smash hit... DUNE!

and then maybe Dune on Ice.

Harq al Ada wrote:...and then maybe Dune on Ice.

That's just so wrong.

Remember how psyched up Byron was about that "big name" director who "really, really" wanted to remake Dune. Heh. Have fun directing Marky-Mark or Ice Cube to say "you sank my battleship!" in a surly-faced close-up.

Harq al Ada wrote:when I first glanced at this I thought you had written musical version. that would be friggin' hilarious! Broadway musical smash hit... DUNE!

"Songs of Semuta", perhaps.

I'm beginning to doubt that Dune will happen, now. Or if it does, it will crash and burn. Trying to find a director who will want to take this on? Good luck.

HBJ

I think the guy from District 9 would rock doing Dune.

A Thing of Eternity wrote:I think the guy from District 9 would rock doing Dune.

That's a lotta movie for a newbie.

Omphalos wrote:

A Thing of Eternity wrote:I think the guy from District 9 would rock doing Dune.

That's a lotta movie for a newbie.

I don't know if that makes a difference really. Maybe I'm not totally informed on what all a director does in a film, but we've seen that he can get good acting out of people, and I don't know how much input he had on the CGI and cinamatography but District 9 was pretty fantastic in those regards. What else is there really? Scene choice and maybe a little influence on script?

I'd take a newbie who's done good work thus far, and most importantly has an obvious respect for the genre as serious fiction (not muscular adventure pulp) over a seasoned idiot any day of the week!

EDIT: Of course, he'll need a good script to start with. Dune has so much internal dialogue that if the script is weak the whole thing is toast right out the gates.

It'll require multiple locations, multiple story lines, and a close attention to detail to a book that a dead guy wrote, and where his harpy heirs are barking down your back. That requires a lot of patience, experience, and some man-sized stones. He did a good job with his first movie, but he was in an off-the-beaten-path location where all the normal Hollywood pressures probably didnt exist. Its a lot of work.

Then again, maybe they'll just film it in Prague with D level British, German and Polish actors.

TheDukester wrote:Plus, knowing that this hurts the HLP and Anderjacket — who are clearly counting on a new movie for a financial windfall — makes me giddy with happiness.

Me, too.

And if and when it does happen, I hope they find it a two-edged sword having more people aware of Dune again and reading both the new and the REAL novels.

hope that HLP and KJA have ten years to wait for this movie to come out. i wasnt crazy about peter berg but i dont think this movie is really going to be directed by the director, anyway. there are going to be some corporate consultants who will want to direct the movie from the background since they are "the biggest fans of dune".

Is that based wholly on your impressions and observations, like ours, of the progress of the thing thus far and what's been in the news ... or does it rely on additional input of some sort?

SandChigger wrote:Is that based wholly on your impressions and observations, like ours, of the progress of the thing thus far and what's been in the news ... or does it rely on additional input of some sort?

im much better at regurgitating information than forming my own opinion, actually.

its a combination--wait--there's been progress?

actually, i was just hoping to sneak in a wise crack so that people like me. im very insecure.

insidiom wrote:actually, i was just hoping to sneak in a wise crack so that people like me. im very insecure.

Iä! Iä! Insidiom fhtagn!

insidiom wrote:actually, i was just hoping to sneak in a wise crack so that people like me.

Ya seem to be doing OK so far.

(And, no, I don't know what othaderak meant by that. I assumed you would....)

Hancock was trash, it was a decent idea executed by mental midgets and ruined by one of the worse endings ever. That being said, if Berg is gone I imagine the project is dying and he was just the first able to jump ship. They should just hire McG or Michael Bay and whip out some CGI worms to insert into reworked clips of Transforminators because thats all this movie will ever be.