Comments on Sentient Developments: Peter Berg to direct new Dune movie

What do you guys think of Sigourney Weaver as The ...

2008-06-10T22:22:00.000-04:00

What do you guys think of Sigourney Weaver as The Reverend Mother Gaius Helen? And David Carradine as either Stilgar or Dr. Kynes?

Ugh, I smell another Iraq war analogy coming, and ...

2008-04-11T01:37:00.000-04:00

Ugh, I smell another Iraq war analogy coming, and that's infuriating.

Hey, maybe C'Berg could cast Viggo Mortenson, Ed H...

2008-04-02T01:22:00.000-04:00

Hey, maybe C'Berg could cast Viggo Mortenson, Ed Harris and Naomi Watts? He could call it... Dune: A history of Eastern Crashes by M Butterfly. Naked Lunch was C'Berg's only solid effort.

I'd suggest Steven Soderbergh or even (god forbid)Michael Mann - he certainly has a better track record.

Athena, my expectations are also quite low. Despit...

2008-03-21T22:28:59.051-04:00

Athena, my expectations are also quite low. Despite my excitement over the project, I feel that adaptations of Dune are doomed to failure. Conveying the intellectualism and the depth of characters is next to impossible.

BTW, I also thought the SciFi version had some redeeming qualities, although it was nearly universally panned by Dune fans.

Jay, thank you for mentioning Hellstrom's Hive! Wh...

2008-03-21T22:23:52.093-04:00

Jay, thank you for mentioning Hellstrom's Hive! When I wrote this post yesterday I actually though that it might make for an interesting movie. Let's hope that Hollywood develops an affectation for Herbert in the same way they've developed a love-in for Philip K. Dick over the past several years.

Judging from the bona fides of the director, this ...

2008-03-21T16:01:00.000-04:00

Judging from the bona fides of the director, this may be a disaster as great as the David Lynch attempt. The SciFi miniseries, despite the cheesiness of some of its FX -- for example the Fremen melange-blue eyes -- hewed closer to the book and the characters (especially Saskia Reeves' Jessica).

I disagree with "The filmmakers consider its theme...

2008-03-21T12:09:00.000-04:00

I disagree with "The filmmakers consider its theme of finite ecological resources particularly timely." Ecology in Dune counts as a secondary theme, at best. The tale has more to do with religion, social engineering, and strategic resources than it does with ecology.

The story has also been done to death. Let's have a more relevant Herbert novel brought to the screen, such as The White Plague, with its super-empowered individuals and biological terrorism, or The Dragon and the Sea. So long as I make wishes, I wish David Cronenberg would direct a movie version of Hellstrom's Hive! The man brought Naked Lunch to the screen, after all.