I get the feeling Berg is trying to outdo Peter Jackson with this one. Dune is the SF equivalent of Lord of the Rings after all and Berg's backlog of movies is considerably less impressive than PJ's was when he took on LOTR. I think a lot of us were surprised that PJ got the go ahead for LOTR (thank god he did though) - so maybe Berg can pull this off. Still, we don't need another half-baked Dune movie so it would have been reassuring if someone with a more impressive list of movies to their credit was directing this.

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Votes: +26

...that they get the look and feel right. I'm a BIG fan of the Lynch movie. I think the look and feel captured the DUNE universe just right even if the plot was mangled. Anyone else feel the same? I felt the SF channel's version while more true to the storey was kind of shoddy when it came to depicting this epic storey.

K

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Votes: +6

Couldn't agree with you more K. Adams. I enjoy both Lynch's version and the SciFi channel miniseries for the reasons you give: Lynch captures the feel of the Dune universe perfectly and the miniseries tells the story better (though that is a relative statement and here's hoping the new movie gets it perfectly right).

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K. Adams and Gerard: (both) SF channel miniseries were low-budget. And even so the look and feel as well as story were better captured by SF then Lynch for me (and I do love the Dune movie, it was the main thing that made me read all the books). Lynch view was too dark... even the movie itself is too dark. Sure, they traveled mainly during the night, but Arrakis was a no cloud (except for the coriolis, sand storms), full of sun desert for most part (except the poles). The housing, navigators, bene gesserit, kaitan, giedi prime... The only two things I see more "arrakian" to me in Lynch movie is the palace and the water deposits. All I hope is that the story is followed (and that they even use, if not all, many of the lines in the book), and since they have a nice budget (compared to SF channel miniseries), they can make a good representation of duniverse

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Votes: +2

Three things.
#1. Ornithopters have flapping wings!
#2. THERE ARE NO WEIRDING MODULES!
#3. Sardaukar are humans and breathe normal air, thus they do not need spacesuits with easily broken faceplates!

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Votes: +8

I pray to the gods of dune that they get some of it right. Being a HUGE fan of the entire series (ive read it so many times), ive come to expect a LOT from any movie that attempts to do justice to the series.
i felt that Lynch movie got the "atmosphere" right, but butchered the story as much as the SCIFI series did. SO many unecessary changes to characters and ideas were changed.

ANd to Gregg E, #1, Hell yeah! i dont know why they can never get the ornithopters right. IF they had read the books Herbert does more than enough descrpition to make them look right.

I feel that the best book in the series was God Emporer, followed by children. IF they ever attempted God Emporer, i hope to god they do Leto right. He gives a complete description of his proportions and how he moves himself, but knowing modern hollywood, theyll give some guy a big snake suit with a hole cut out for the face.

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Votes: +3

The real problem I had with the Lynch version is Paul seems to accept his godhead where in the books he's trying in vain not to.

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First of all- I liked some aspects of the David Lynch film, but was bothered by quite a bit- aside from the obvious plot problems. One of the biggest liberties he took is with those nonsensical "weirding" weapons. This time around, let's hope they stick to the original concept. It seems pretty natural, since the ultra-fast Bene Gesserit fighting style will lend itself to some pretty killer "bullet-time" action sequences. I also hope the casting is better this time around. All in all, there's just way too much information in each of the Dune books to make movies from them- let's hope they edit carefully and add nothing that wasn't there to begin with. I really hope they go in depth into some of the philosophical and spiritual aspects of Herbert's work- and please o please don't let them downplay the psychedelic nature of The Water of Life. It's always tricky business trying to put the experience of using psychedelics onto film since such drugs effect your thinking even more than they do what you see and here- but when done right such scenes can be mindblowing. If this first movie is good, I do hope they manage to make the whole series. In the end, no matter how good the movie or movies turn out, nothing will compare with the books. I'm half way through re-reading the entire series right now and I'm even more blown away this time than I was the first.

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Votes: +2

One thing I'd really like to know is where to send submissions. I'm a huge fan of the series, and have been unsatisfied with the offerings in bringing Dune to screen, so far. My heart about skipped 2 beats and then kicked into overdrive upon seeing not only that there's a new movie coming, but that Berg is striving to be true to the original book - and especially that they're looking for a script!

I hope they're soliciting scripts somewhere. I have wanted to actually produce some sort of screen adaptation - webisodes, perhaps - in CG since I have no budget, but doing so would clearly be a tremendous undertaking. It is better yet to jump on the bandwagon of something that could clearly be headed for greatness.

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Votes: -2

I have been a Dune fan since I was 15 years old, (nearly 40 years ago!) and am still fascinated by Frank Herbert's first four novels in the series (thought he lost the plot a bit for 5 and 6, but that's just me and I never took an interest in Brian and Kevin's books). I will also take a very great interest in the new movie as I thought Lynch's effort in 1984 was simply dreadful, an absolute travesty - one of the great disappointments of my movie-watching life! The TV mini-series' were much better efforts but not without their problems. Herbert's original books were complex and brilliantly melded religious and ecological concepts to create a truely incredible universe. The only way that justice could possibly be done to the story are for a series of movies as with LOTR. In fact, the first novel alone should take two movies to cover properly. I've been waiting for many years to see a faithful adaptation to Frank's amazing story and my fingers are firmly crossed!

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Votes: +2

I've been waiting a great dune adaptation for many years too. I don't know but the best thing of Lynch s movie was Toto and Eno music. For the next movie the soundtracks must be something even better (if that is possible)or perhaps the same but improved.

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Votes: +1

I'm glad to here that DUNE is being re-made....again.
Whilst I do hold some reservations concerning the choice of a little known director, who I've never heard of(at least I'd been into early Peter Jackson films)...I still think that it's good someone decided to give this a go.

Yeah I agree totally in the idea that the timing couldn't be more perfect in terms of Global Warming and the renewed public interest in ecological study.
Besides........

The memory of Frank Herbert deserves to be strengthened and honored by a decent string of impressive films.

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Votes: +0

In the previous two attempts, the characters were either wooden and 1 dimensional, or bizarrely altered so as to 'modernize' them, or something atrocious. Please keep in mind that these characters in the original vision were very nuanced. As an example, Paul was not a whimsical, moody kid (oh please), but rather a well-trained, aristocrat's son, with poise, grace, manners, knowledge, and insight; he lacked (and gained) wisdom and experience.

Plot. Please don't re-arrange events, or people, or whole events. This is important for everything. Also, do not introduce soap-opera elements to 'tweak' the story. Don't put romance where it does not belong. Don't make people petulant or irrational when they never were.

Intent: Dune was NOT fantasy! The abilities and capabilities were achieved through breeding, training, society; SHOW this. It was not technology (weirding modules? huh?) It was sheer force of will and ability.

Jesus, I could go on forever...

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Votes: +5

In the previous two attempts, the characters were either wooden and 1 dimensional, or bizarrely altered so as to 'modernize' them, or something atrocious. Please keep in mind that these characters in the original vision were very nuanced. As an example, Paul was not a whimsical, moody kid (oh please), but rather a well-trained, aristocrat's son, with poise, grace, manners, knowledge, and insight; he lacked (and gained) wisdom and experience.

Plot. Please don't re-arrange events, or people, or whole events. This is important for everything. Also, do not introduce soap-opera elements to 'tweak' the story. Don't put romance where it does not belong. Don't make people petulant or irrational when they never were.

Intent: Dune was NOT fantasy! The abilities and capabilities were achieved through breeding, training, society; SHOW this. It was not technology (weirding modules? huh?) It was sheer force of will and ability.

Jesus, I could go on forever...

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Votes: +2

It's really amazing to hear that a new Dune movie is coming The main idea of Dune is really amazing. Respect for the Dune I can't wait!

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Being a fan of the books I think Lynch's version was right on in terms of atmosphere and looks (eg the contrasts between the palaces on Caladan and Arrakeen). The miniseries had the luxury to go into more detail with the plot, but totally messed up with casting and visuals. Next to being true to the plot and philosophy, I think, esthetics and atmosphere count a lot in Dune. I always hoped someone like Bertolucci would direct Dune, as he is expert in encompassing both the grandiose and the very intimate, with a uncanny feel for esthetism (The Last Emperor is a perfect example). Looking at Berg's filming pedigree, I am not totally reassured for the final result...

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Votes: +1

I can't wait to read sandworms of Dune, I was completly blown away by the worms swimming in the ocean , with buoy like thumpers, just can't afford to drop $30 but the paperback comes out July 1st

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Votes: -3

David Lynch's DUNE movie was very important for me. I had seen it in a cinema when it came out in '84 and I was too young to understand the plot (I went with my dad), and the imagery gave me nightmares! Back then I didn't know how strongly this would influence me... on the creative side, at least.

In 1989, a teacher made me a copy of a very worn-out VHS tape with DUNE on it. I had to watch it again a couple of times and still found the plot confusing. It took quite a while until I grasped all of it. I read the first DUNE novel a bit later, it took me a year. I'm not a fast reader, and the books have their lengths -- they go into a lot of detail.

I don't think I would've picked up the books if it had not been for the Lynch movie. Even before I understood the story, I was completely fascinated with the atmosphere the movie created. There is a lot of strangeness that's gripped me in ways I cannot really describe. I can understand the people for whom the movie was a failure, but for me, it is a masterpiece. As are the books, of course.

I don't think you can compare the DUNE series with LOTR. Much of DUNE is an intricate description of the DUNE universe with a lot of focus on philosophy and the characters' thoughts. This is hard to transfer onto the screen – in contrast to LOTR which has a lot of action going on, which lends itself well to a movie adaption. It's much easier to find an audience for LOTR than for DUNE. DUNE is much more demanding, for everybody, including the audience. It needs much more sensitiveness and much greater attention to detail to be really appreciated. I don't think it's possible to make a series of movies out of DUNE as has been done with LOTR. Also, the LOTR fanbase appears to be some orders of magnitude larger than that for DUNE. I'd expect the producers to take that into consideration.

There is a lot at stake. AFAIK, DUNE was not a great financial success, and a second movie that was in planning was never completed because of that. A new DUNE movie must not be a box-office failure, no matter how well it will be received artistically.

So, all in all, this will be a very demanding project. I'm hoping for the best.

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Votes: +1

It is my fervent wish that Lynch's hopeless mess of Frank Herbert's brilliant story is eventually forgotten about and ends up on the scrapheap of movie history. Surely one of the worst movies ever made. The Scifi Channel's efforts were vastly more faithful to both the story and the overall feel of the books. As for the prequels? Forget them! We can only keep our fingers crossed that any new movie keeps faith with Frank's original vision.

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Some of you have commented on miscasting in the Dune miniseries--I have to say tho' that James McAvoy as Leto II was a good cast, and would make a fine worm. As for the original film, Francesca Annis was great as the Lady Jessica, and Jurgen Prochnow as the Duke. They were good. Maybe they will find actors like them. I'm looking forward to a new Dune rendering. I liked all the pre-quels too.

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Votes: +0

Please please make this work Dune is got to be the best science fiction of all time!!

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I'm quite suprised at a few of the comments on here, personally I thought Lynch's Dune was wonderful. The atmosphere was perfect, and the darkness has allowed it to age beautifully.

The TV series I found to look cheap and... well... like a TV series. Just personal taste I guess.

The books are fantastic and I felt Lynch captured Dune perfectly, I know there were changes, but nothing that hindered the overall plot and I understand the limits of condensing it down. Overall I don't think a better job could have been done!

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