DV’s got the Dune remake for Legendary/Universal, and he has said during press for BR2049 that he’ll start work on that after 2049 is out.
Will Craig change Denis’ mind though? Would Universal be able to wait for Denis to do B25 before Dune?
I’m off to see CR at the Royal Albert Hall on Sept 30th and David Arnold is there before the screening discussing his soundtrack so would be interesting to see if he let’s anything slip during this time. Supposedly it’s a Q&A session before the film and orchestra start, no doubt somebody will ask the question we are all wondering. I’ll keep you updated.
If they could get Villeneuve, that would be an outstanding way to send Craig off. Few directors, I think, would be better suited to take on the next Bond film than him.
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Craig’s voice got louder when he was bumped up to producer status and I know he was incremental in getting Mendes to sign on. But no matter how badly he want it Villeneuve’s Dune commitments would be what’s keeping him away from Bond.
Villeneuve would be a great choice and I’m sure he can do some really interesting things with Bond. It’s just that from a practical standpoint I don’t think he’s likely. Right now the signs still point towards Yann Demange.
His CV is filled with the sort of things Craig tends to try and do outside of Bond (lot of tense indie thrillers) so i can believe he has Craigs vote. Whether or not he’s available and BB and MGW also want him (don’t see why they wouldn’t) is another matter.
This is likely just a side note but past experience has shown Dune projects often take a few years longer. And sometimes they don’t happen at all. In this case the project may seem solid enough, and yet Dune fans have seen stranger things happen…
Anyway, on his promo tour for BLADE RUNNER 2049 Villeneuve seems eager to do DUNE next, so Bond is probably no option for him at this point.
Well, there is another option I’m sure we don’t want to think of…
If Craig really wants Villeneuve, they could delay Bond 25 by a year like they did for Mendes to do Spectre…
Actually it’s not even clear why they are currently aiming for late 2019 right now…apart of course from the fact there is right now literally nothing known besides the provisional release date. So maybe…
The one thing that would suck about that is it would kill the possibility of a 60th anniversary film…
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Interesting talk at this point. Arbogast777, I’m with you. Eon is not going to pass up a 2022 release for Bond 26 and the intro of Bond #7 combined for the 60th Diamond anniversary so I think they’ll stick to 2019 release rather than defer to any director’s availability.
As to Villeneuve, he seems both competent and stylish, yet also willing to respect what has gone before. A BR sequel has been kicked around for 20+ years and even Ridley Scott passed on the notion years ago. The same with Dune. I read an outline nearly 20 years ago when I was in the industry full time and the issue was (and probably still is) what to develop, what to include and what to scale down or cut out. I think we’re a long way off from Dune happening.
So, B25 has (based on past schedules) about 13-14 months before rolling. There’s also the small detail of distribution, but I suspect that’s on the verge of being done or maybe is and just hasn’t been announced yet.
He could be the man for the job. We’ll see. If he is favorited, Bond’s got more readiness than anything I’ve heard about Dune in a while.
Thanks Surrie!
Villeneuve is a director that I’d adjust the schedule for if I were EON. Hopefully they can find a way to make it happen.
Dune’s problem is that studios are looking for a kind of ‘Next Star Wars’ and hope to find it in one of Star Wars’ influences. But Star Wars came to be because Lucas couldn’t do an actual adaptation of Flash Gordon, so he went and made up his own thing, taking inspiration and elements from all over the sf canon.
But Dune itself is a massive tale branching out fairly quickly from the ‘mere’ space opera to questions of religious fervour, philosophy and transcending the nature of humanity itself. It’s by no means easy popcorn entertainment for a series of blockbusters as the studios would like it. The closest to the core of Dune was probably Jodorowski’s mammoth project that died thankfully on the drawing board before it could have met its box office disaster.
Studios that want to ramp up their own sf franchise ought to look at the Dominic Flandry series by Poul Anderson, a far more screen-friendly tale with plenty of fine entries.
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Oh God, I know in showbusiness there are no sanctities but thinking that Dune could be turned into the next Star Wars…? That’s ridiculous! I hope it’ll never come to that.
As for Villeneuve, if Craig actually said that than probably it’s already been settled. We don’t know the context but it’s hard to believe he said that for no reason.
And I couldn’t be happier.
That’s why you could probably by now build a house from all the scripts that attempted to achieve the impossible.
And why films that are announced - release date, cast and all - just fade away. Studio want the impossible using something they happen to have, but can’t make it something it’s not regardless of how many writers or directors they hire and fire to do it.
And thank God for that! I’d rather not see a Dune movie at all than watching a blockbuster version of Herbert’s masterpiece. By the way, I love David Lynch’s adaptation though I regret we never had a chance to see Jodorowsky’s vision come true. But I agree with you Dustin, it would be a financial disaster.
Sorry for the off-topic.
I’d love to see the storyboard book released of Jodorowsky’s Dune one day though!!!
The question here is: is Villeneuve´s DUNE in any way close to actually start production in the next year? A project as complicated (thematically and financially), also having to deal with Lynch´s film already proving how difficult it is to pull this off without alienating the fanbase and still not falling into the trap of JOHN CARTER (hey, what a rip-off, STAR WARS already did most of that, hahahaha!)…
I believe DUNE is something VIlleneuve was interested in and committed to, but if BOND comes along now he will do Bond first and use the time to move the development and preparation of DUNE forward.
In any event, I think we will see BOND 25 sooner than any director´s new version of DUNE.
Villeneuve mentions the Dune project as his next-in-line, it would seem that’s at least theoretically solid enough to start production soon. Of course - as with many projects - that doesn’t mean all problems are solved already.
The fate of the BLADE RUNNER sequel will largely decide how much leeway Villeneuve will be given with Dune. The two productions share some peculiarities and both involve a rather demanding fanbase. At a guess I should think Legendary would be well advised to wait for Villeneuve if things should work out this way.