Dune will be an fx heavy, fantasy film. I'm not getting why this guy should be directing it.

I never really got into Dune, besides being a huge sci-fi fan. I think it was just too damn political and wordsy. And this coming from a guy who enjoyed The Phantom Menace.

The Kingdom is the prequel to his remake of Dune.

I wonder if he'll be adapting the book or remaking the Lynch film. Either way, I predict suckiness...

Berg has tackled comedy, adventure action, sports drama and an upcoming superhero flick with good buzz, so I'm pretty confident he can do a fantasy/sci-fi blockbuster.

The only worry is that his films have all flopped I believe. He's developed a style similar to a thinking man's Bruckheimer which modern audiences haven't warmed up to...or a jockier Michael Mann, which is not appealing either, to me at least.

But I really want to see a big budget Dune - gargantuan sandworms jumping into the heavens echoes of 3D Imax badassness to me. It's also quite a different fantasy flick from anything we've gotten in years. Looking forward to it.

No. No no no, this has to be a misprint. They're not REALLY going to make a movie that has been made already as an astounding, though different from the book film, and as an astounding, and incredibly faithful AND high-budget miniseries starring William Hurt among others? Why? There is absolutely no reason. I mean, I love the book, but that source material has been tapped out. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that this guy could show us to make it stand out amidst to classics of their forms. What an exercise in inanity.

The first time they wanted to make it (before David Lynch) Alejandro Jodorowsky had originally planned on filming Dune in the early-'70s, and had enlisted the help of Jean Giraud and H.R. Giger to create the movie's visual style. Salvador Dalí was enlisted to play the part of the Emperor, and Jodorowsky also intended to cast his own son Brontis Jodorowsky as Paul, David Carradine as Duke Leto, Orson Welles as the Baron, and Gloria Swanson as the Benne Geserit Reverend Mother. The soundtrack was to be done by Pink Floyd. According to Jodorowsky, "The project was sabotaged in Hollywood. It was French and not American. Their message was 'not Hollywood enough'. There was intrigue, plunder. The storyboard was circulated among all the big studios. Later, the visual aspect of Star Wars (1977) strangely resembled our style. To make Alien (1979), they called Moebius [Giraud], Foss, Giger, O'Bannon, etc. The project signaled to Americans the possibility of making a big show of science-fiction films, outside of the scientific rigor of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). The project of Dune changed our lives." Jodorowsky also planned on making numerous changes to the source material, including making Duke Leto a eunuch and the spice a blue sponge. Author Frank Herbert openly despised these concepts.

So I say, that version should be made, it would melt minds. Except you'd have to update it some. Riddley Scott, Peter Jackson, or even Sam Raimi could handle something that big. As far a spacey/weird sound track Dewzil & Ahmet Zappa, Les Claypool & Buckethead, or Phillip Glass, Hell all five of them would even make a good soundtrack. As far as art direction Giger or Mobious. Actors, I don't really care, there's not any one fat enough in hollywood to play the Baron any more. Orson Welles would have RAPED the screen though.

@jacobi
Because the studios are out of ideas. And they're trying to regress back to the 1940's, i.e, fucking stupid.

I'm just waiting till the day when trailors consist of spots for remakes of the film you're about to see.

Anybody see that Jodorowsky's El Topo was a friggin' question on Jeopardy! a week ago? I almost did a spit take.

As for this being a "pointless remake" I'd that 90% of the populace has never heard of Dune and it's material worth adapting. Even Lynch wasn't too happy with his version if I'm remembering correctly.

This is a debacle waiting to happen. It won't be as gloriously visual and twisted as Lynch's cult classic, nor as detailed and faithful as the mini-series (since it won't have the same extended runtime). So, this remake will fall in between and suffer by comparison. It's a stupid move, but Hollywood is running out of material to remake.

There are plenty of other SF books worthy of filming. If, after two goes, you can't get an audience, maybe its time to move on.

Even for most people who like David Lynch, Dune is the last film they make sure to watch, if even. As for the series, the viewership is even less. So, while those two versions can be viewed as worthwhile, they didn't exactly hit the nail on the head, and Dune is strong enough to be known at least as well as Tremors is. C'mon.

The Kingdom just died at the boxoffice and now Dune faces a similar fate. Dune fans already have two versions that they are happy with. The only people who haven't seen them are people who aren't Dune fans to begin with. They're not going to suddenly turn into fans now, and if they did, they would (again) have two wonderful versions already. What moron gave the go ahead for this?

i love how people who have no knowledge in directing talk about how bad of an idea this is, it's so great

What about the “forbidden” version by the Spanish group Mediteatro? There go your truly dedicated fans. The lawyers from the Herbert Limited Partnership and the producers certainly don’t want you to know about them.

Reckept do you know if there any copies online of the trailer still? I'd love to see even the trailer.

I'm still blown away by the extreme reaction by the Herbert estate. Just look at how Star Trek and Star Wars take fan films, movies made just for fun for absolutely no profit for fans by fans, In the end, it makes the fans even more enthused for the series. For shame Brian Herbert, for shame.

I know the trailer got removed very quickly from Youtube, several months ago. You could probably get it from someone, but you'd have to make a private request, provided they have it and are willing to share it, of course. At least I know where you can see stills and posters and feedback from cast and crew.

Check at Arrakeen:
http://z10.invisionfree.com/Dune_Forum/index.ph...

I think that you all underestimate the potential for this film. The first dune book is widely regarded as 'the best science fiction novel of all time'. That isn't some quote from a silly wee source. In literary communities this is a generally held opinion. I also think that you underestimate Berg's ability to pull this off. He has, in my mind, the perfect skill set. He is able to shoot an action scene as well as anybody in the business but is also able to inject the subtleties and prudent casting that will be required for a successful remake.

Berg is a huge fan of the books, in the same way Peter Jackson is a massive fan of the Lord of the Rings. His enthusiasm for the story will come through in this new film as it did when Jackson literally brought Middle Earth to life in front of our eyes. I submit that this Dune remake has the potential to surpass the LOTR series and really open up the audience. If you have read even the first book, it's glaringly obvious that if a LOTR scale film were to be made it would be a monumental success.

David Lynch, as experimental and abstract as he may be, was restricted by a modest budget. I understand the point made by Alan that, "It won’t be as gloriously visual and twisted as Lynch’s cult classic..." but I think this is wrong. Berg will be looking at this film as potentially, his greatest work. Visually he will have identified that, despite the poor quality visual effects of the Lynch version, there was indeed a great deal of aesthetic value to the abstract design.

In terms of the soundtrack, BudhaCronX put forward some good suggestions but I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that the best people for the job are Boards of Canada (www.myspace.com/abeautifulplace). I listened to them non stop whilst reading through all the books and I can tell you - IT'S BANG ON THE MONEY. Haunting and piercing electronic desert music. Sinister and harrowing. Abstract, future technology sounds. Orchestral has been done and Phillip Glass is too much. I can see where you're coming from though.

I loved Lynch's version because it was David Lynch but also because it was Dune. That's not to say that I was entirely satisfied. Again with the mini series I was enthused to see the Dune story brought to life again, but it was all CGI. The acting, set design, script, costumes, and soundtrack were all really poor. This means, like Berg has stated, the door is wide open for somebody to come in and REALLY do it. I cannot wait.

i think the same than PeteTheHat but it would be really great to have the same toto soundtrack again in the new film

The true danger in making Dune yet again is not that it would be, as Lynch's version was, a murky, gut-wrenching travesty utterly betraying the blinding vision and power of the Dune literary universe. Rather, the danger is that it would simply be a mediocre, pointless, Cliff's Notes rendition of the novel's events while glossing over or missing entirely the spirit and perspective involved.

With source material as powerful as Dune, anything short of immortal Oscar-caliber genius will, without exception, be doomed to mediocrity, and Berg does not strike me as being in a league with Stanley Kubrick and Orson Wells. But never mind the director for the moment - the screenwriters would also have to achieve godlike genius to produce anything remotely resembling the effect of the novel, and what are the chances of either (let alone both) occurring in a big-budget studio picture?

PeteTheHat mentions Jackson's accomplishment in adapting the Lord of the Rings, and while few likely agree with me, I find that precisely an argument for why this is *unlikely* to work. The LOTR movies, while not horrible, never rose to anything like the level of the source material, replacing its sense of deep mystery and magic with videogame FX and repetitious "domain music" that reminded the viewer in no uncertain terms just how UN-magical it all is. Except in a few brief moments, completely swamped by Playstation aesthetics in the other 9-some hours of the trilogy, Jackson failed to recreate the world of LOTR. If all Berg achieves is what Jackson has - which is far beyond what most are predicting - he would be nowhere near to doing the material justice.

While the SciFi Channel miniseries had some goofy FX elements (e.g., the glowing eyes), it was at least true in spirit to the universe of Dune. What complaints I had about it with respect to acting, special effects, and costume or set design were more than addressed in the Children of Dune sequel, which I saw as being almost perfect (with a few casting, dialog qualms). Especially perfect was the music composed by Brian Tyler, which I've continued to feel embodies the entire world of Dune and the concepts and perceptions it engenders. Lynch's concept of '80s pulsing electronica was extremely wrong and awful, and virtually every decision he made - including those perhaps praiseworthy on their own merits - was completely wrong for Dune. If Berg chooses pulsing, energetic music instead of profound, deep, resounding music he will miss the point entirely. And furthermore, let me say this one thing, based on what I've seen of his work: If he uses the kind of quick-cut editing for Dune that was in Friday Night Lights, I would honest to God walk out of the theater. Dune demands huge, deep-focus panoramas, and long roving shots that put the characters in a larger context.

I'm reading Frank's books again for the third time right now; about a quarter into Heretics of Dune. I protest the claim that any serious Dune fan would be familiar with the previous film attempts. I have intentionally avoided seeing them because of reviews which lead me to believe I would be disappointed.
Having said that, I've long hoped that a big budget, summer-blockbuster series of films would be made a la Star Wars. Don't get me wrong, SW is good in general and great at times, but the Dune chronicles deserve the recognition film can give. Six Frank books--six films. That would be ideal. Unfortunately Dune was not written to be filmed and like many of us agree, would suffer for it. A film three hours long would do it but do you really expect something like that from Hollywood? At least we can hope to expect the backers intentions to really cash in on this if they can--and do a full blown series.

man, the mini series sucked. They actually made the movie look like it did the book justice, though this is far from fact. i hope this version is casted as well as david lynch's 1984 DUNE

i've read all 6 books a lot of times (and alas all the lad brians output) and i've watched the lynch film and both miniseries a bunch of times. i only found out about the plan to do a big budget 'LOTR' style rendition yesterday and i'm pretty excited! i know movies lack the depth and ability to let us into characters thoughts (very imp. for dune i think) but almost always i don't watch movies for political, economic or philosophical insights, i watch to be entertained and read for the other stuff.
the lynch film fabricated a few ideas to avoid going into any depth on things like the landsraad, the guild, technology and how leto had shifted the balance of power. it stuck to the 'boy messiah come good' line (which was fine) and i really liked the visual feel. the 1st miniseries had crappy acting for the most part (ian mcniece did his best with a really bad wardrobe haha) and stupid hats. it didn't invent any tech but some key scenes were badly written to 'explain' the comlicated stuff and when frank basically wrote some dialogue you need a decent scriptwriter for the 'extra' made up bits. the second miniseries was excellent imo apart from a few casting errors (stilgar etc).
in summary: if they make this i will go to the cinema and if its any good (i'm betting it looks stunning although i don't think it could ever do the books true justice, its only a movie after all) i'll probably go back on successive days. i don't normally go to the cinema to watch movies i just download them but dune is probably the most intelligent and influential fiction i've read and anything that will encourage more people to read it is a good thing.

I think if source material is respected and the film done in just the right style, it will be fantastic. unfortunately that has a 1 in 10000 chance of happening id wager. i think id like to see del torres (pans labyrinth) direct, but then again i could think of a few others as well. The worst thing that could happen is that it gets "hollywooded" and ends up a crap CGI fest with the latest hot babe playing chani and aston kutcher playing paul or some crap. I think id vomit.

Dude where's my spice?

...this will be a flop. To do Dune right it has to be done like The Lord Of The Rings. So the bugdet has to be at least 250 Million and the playtime has to be three to four hours per episode. Besides I only think that 1 of the 5 God-Directors are capable of doing this film ( George Lucas, Stephen Spielberg, Peter Jackson, James Cameron und Roland Emmerich - no one else should only dare to think about ) Just my personal opinion. Anyway I hope it won't be trashy/baroque and please, good actors ( for the main characters as well good looking )...

There have been several movie versions of what has become a cult classic. Each of them has disappointed me as to content. The general idea has been expressed. However the depth of the book with the multilayered interactions and the maze of relationships could not be captured. I believe each movie has failed partly due to the playing time frame of two to three hours, the inability to represent the true idea of the varied life changes of the family and the amount of forced time covered without a history update to explain the transitions.
The purpose of the Dune series was to open a window into the complex areas of life generated by generations of experience. The Dune movie’s offered the opportunity to safely watch the transitions of cultural pressures and its resulting effects on a society. Although the movies have tried to explore this area it seems that only in the area of disaster and death could they allow us the audience experience what the movie industry viewed as entertainment.
The areas of the movies I was impressed with encluded the casting of the different actors and there commitment to represent their parts as close to the books representations as possible. The examples of the different Paul Atreides, Duke Leto Atreides, Lady --- , ------ showed a good match to the books representations. Use of special effects continues to improve with the ability of computer enhancement making the worms and other monsters appear more believable and allowing greater depth.
The movie industry has in the past underestimated the audience and their ability to follow complex plots. An example of a complex plot would be the Star Wars books which were set up backwards in sequels because the movie industry felt that the audience had little patience for a plot that spanned years of time. Look at the excitement each installment of the Harry Potter series has generated. Only after the movie industry was forced to see the money that could be generated did they take up the wider expression of history sequels.

Hopefully this remake will be better! Please do this book justice this time.