Aug 2009 – Brian Herbert: The Chronicler Heir of Dune (The Trades)

[Brian Herbert (Frank's son and co-author of the new-dune books):] “Now we have a deal with Paramount Pictures. Kevin and I had pitched various movie studios Dune: House Atreides, which was our first novel. We thought that would be a good movie. Paramount ultimately has decided to do a classic interpretation of the novel Dune. It’s in the script writing phase right now, and we’re very hopeful that it will go to the next stage. They’re putting a lot of time and effort into this project right now.

Are you providing any input on the script?

I met with the script writer and the director, Peter Berg. Kevin and I met with them, and gave them a lot of detailed advice about the Dune universe, and they listened very carefully. We’re sure that it’s going to be a good screenplay. Right now it’s going through the writing process, and we’re looking forward to seeing it go further.”

http://www.the-trades.com/article.php?id=11291

It will be interesting to see how closely this “interpretation” of classic-Dune follows the new-Dune framework. As it stands Dune is so complex and multifaceted it would virtually unfilmable, especially as a single-part film, so a bit of selective ‘dumbing-down’ could result in a much more entertaining adaptation. But how much would survive?