BLADE RUNNER 2 Director Wants to Make a DUNE Movie
Before director Denis Villeneuve took on Ridley Scott's Blade Runner 2, he brought us films such as Prisoners, Enemy, Sicario, the upcoming sci-fi thriller Arrival. The guy is an extremely talented filmmaker and he wants to use those talents to adapt Frank Herbert's classic story Dune for the big screen. During an interview with Variety, the director said:
"I’m always looking for sci-fi material, and it’s difficult to find original and strong material that’s not just about weaponry. A longstanding dream of mine is to adapt Dune, but it’s a long process to get the rights, and I don’t think I will succeed."
Just because he wants to direct it doesn't mean it's going to happen. However, I would love to see Villeneuve get to make a new film based on Dune. There have been attempts to bring Dune back to the big screen in the past, but so far they've been unsuccessful. Those attempts have come from directors such as Peter Berg (Lone Survivor), Pierre Morel (Taken), and Alejandro Jodorwsky, whose attempt there is the subject of a great documentary. Maybe Villeneuve is the filmmaker the project needs to push it through development and into production.
David Lynch made a film adaptation of Dune in 1984 and there was a SyFy channel mini-series as well. As much as I liked these, I've always felt that Dune could get an even better adaptation than what's been done before.
Who knows, maybe if Blade Runner 2 turns out to be a big hit with audiences, it will open the door for Villeneuve to make his Dune film.