Denis Villeneuve picked to do a Dune film (series?)

[Cikomyr]

I am not sure if its a Dune film, or a Dune film SERIES. The Quebec article i am reading is mentioning a series of films.

Still. Villeneuve is a fantastic movie director. Cant wait to see if his Blade Runner movie meets the promises. If it does, i have high hopes he can achieve one of the most difficult adaptation project that currently exists.

Luckily for him, the times have changed a lot for films and series. Nowadays, studios are much happier at letting you extend a book's content into many features, whereas David Lynch's version had to cram everything into one single feature.

[DanyBallon]

The article I read this morning in LaPresse (http://www.lapresse.ca/cinema/201702/01/01-5065137-denis-villeneuve-realisera-la-nouvelle-adaptation-de-dune.php?utm_categorieinterne=trafficdrivers&utm_contenuinterne=cyberpresse_cinemaStandard_nouv elles_1961356_section_POS5) (sorry, it' in french), mention that Legendary Pictures selected Denis Villeneuve for filming a remake of Dune, and that Brian Herbert, son of Frank Herbert, is really excited about it and is suggesting that it won't end after a single movie.

[Rodin]

Oh, he did Arrival?

...You have my attention.

Part of the trouble Dune has when making a film is that there's so much stuff that has to be covered. Paul has to go through his entire journey and wind up as Emperor by the end of the film. You've got to cover why the Bene Gesserit think he's important. You've got to fit in all the lore about the spice and where all the politics are coming from. The book is built on oodles of backstory that are hard to translate. It'll be interesting to see if they can pull it off. The mini-series did a decent crack at it, so hopefully if they've got a trilogy to work with they can cover it. I'm still not sure how interested I am in covering stuff post-Dune - even in the books I felt they were a substantial step down in quality from the original novel.

[Eldan]

Oh, he did Arrival?

...You have my attention.

Ooooh. You know, I considered Dune pretty much unfilmable (without turning it into generic you killed my father revenge space opera), but Arrival was fantastic.

[JoshL]

I'm still not sure how interested I am in covering stuff post-Dune - even in the books I felt they were a substantial step down in quality from the original novel.

I will respectfully disagree, though the first time I read them I felt the same. I do think Messiah is the weakest, but it's short and was rushed, so there is that. In terms of the craft of writing and complexity of the story, the really step up with God Emperor and go on from there....

....until you get to the two post-Frank books, where the writing is atrocious. I do think they are worth reading, because at the end you find out what the whole series, right from the beginning, is really about (and based on Frank's notes). The prequels are only worth reading if you are into literary masochism.

Anyway, I wish they'd do the whole thing, but I'll take a new adaptation!

[Cikomyr]

I will respectfully disagree, though the first time I read them I felt the same. I do think Messiah is the weakest, but it's short and was rushed, so there is that. In terms of the craft of writing and complexity of the story, the really step up with God Emperor and go on from there....

....until you get to the two post-Frank books, where the writing is atrocious. I do think they are worth reading, because at the end you find out what the whole series, right from the beginning, is really about (and based on Frank's notes). The prequels are only worth reading if you are into literary masochism.

Anyway, I wish they'd do the whole thing, but I'll take a new adaptation!

If you dont mind, can you please tell us what these two books "where all about", and what overall plot got wrapped up?

In spoilers for those who want to save themselves for a bit of masochism ;-)

[Chromascope3D]

Will never be as bat**** cool as Jodorowsky's Dune, but dang if it won't be close. Villenueve is easily my favorite new director so it's cool to see him moving on up to bigger things.

[JoshL]

If you dont mind, can you please tell us what these two books "where all about", and what overall plot got wrapped up?

In spoilers for those who want to save themselves for a bit of masochism ;-)

Sure thing:
Essentially, the machines were not destroyed in the Butlerian Jihad, they went away, and eventually, come back. The prophecy of the Kwisatz Haderach is the of the one who can either destroy or make peace with the machines. The "Golden Path" outlined by Leto II in Children of Dune turns out to be creating/preparing the actual Kwisatz Haderach, while simultaneously keeping mankind alive and contained so that can happen (making sure they don't stretch to far and run into the machines before they are ready). Mankind learns to accept artificial intelligent as sentient life equal to their own, neither to dominate or to be subservient to. I did not see that coming, other than the great lengths he went to explain mankind not relying on computers and forcing physiological development to compensate. But once you know that, and go back and re-read them, you can see how that was where he was going from the beginning.

But again, they are TERRIBLY written. Book 7 probably would have been 7 & 8 if Frank wrote it. Or equally likely, rather than rushing through a bunch of crap, he would have skipped the whole thing and just recapped necessary bits. He did like that "they don't need to see the math" approach. Book 8 contains some of the most painful "explain the metaphor" moments in anything not actually written for kids. Glad I read them, but don't really want to again.

[Cikomyr]

Oh. Airk..