Tag: Dune 3

Legendary Reunites With Denis Villeneuve For 'Nuclear War' & Announces 'Dune Messiah' Officially In Development
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Legendary Reunites With Denis Villeneuve For ‘Nuclear War’ & Announces ‘Dune Messiah’ Officially In Development

French-Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve is coming off the massive success of “Dune: Part Two” and is cementing his future working relationship with Legendary Entertainment, who are the main folks behind the “Dune” franchise. Yesterday, it was announced by Deadline that he would be reuniting with Legendary for a feature adaptation of the non-fiction novel “Nuclear War: A Scenario,” a book from author Annie Jacobsen that covers the plans and logistics behind a full-scale nuclear war between the various superpowers that have massive caches of nuclear weapons ready to be launched at a moment’s notice. Ensuring the mutual destruction of every living being on the planet.

Here is the synopsis of the original “Nuclear War” novel:

An edge-of-your-seat non-fiction thriller for readers of American Prometheus by Kai Bird or Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham. The first rule of nuclear war is that there are no rules. Until now, no one outside official circles has known exactly what would happen if a rogue state launched a nuclear missile at the Pentagon. Second by second and minute by minute, these are the real-life protocols that choreograph the end of civilization as we know it.

If a single nuclear missile is launched, it could provoke dozens in return. Frantic calls over secure lines work to confirm the worst as armored helicopters are scrambled outside. Decisions that affect hundreds of millions of lives need to be made within six minutes, based on partial information, in the knowledge that once launched, nothing is capable of holding the destruction.

Because the plans for General Nuclear War are among the most classified secrets held by the United States government, this book takes the reader up to the razor’s edge of what can legally be known. Based on dozens of new interviews with military and civilian experts who have built the weapons, been privy to the response plans, and taken responsibility for crucial decisions, this is the only account of what a nuclear exchange would look like.

Nuclear War is at once a compulsive non-fiction thriller and a powerful argument that we must rid ourselves of these world-ending weapons forever.

That’s not it as Legendary also confirmed (via Entertainment Weekly) that “Dune Messiah” is also officially in the works after Villeneuve had been quietly putting together a script before the release of “Dune: Part Two.” Continuing Paul’s journey into starting his own galaxy war against the other Houses that wouldn’t take a loyalty oath after he made the Emperor submit and killed-off House Harkonnen’s Baron and Fyed.

Villeneuve is a busy guy with other projects on the horizon. Those include a “Cleopatra” film, and Villeneuve is also attempting to tread in the footprints of Stanley Kubrick with an adaptation of the Arthur C. Clarke (“2001: A Space Odyssey”) sci-fi novel “Rendezvous With Rama.” So, with that in mind, don’t expect “Dune Messiah” to happen anytime soon, and Warner Bros. has yet to give the sequel a release making it hard to predict when cameras could begin rolling.

SOURCE: DEADLINE & EW

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Dune Messiah’: Denis Villeneuve Says Script “Almost Finished” But Hopes To Make Another Movie Before Tackling His Last ‘Dune’ Installment

There has been an assumption of what happens next for the “Dune” franchise once the second installment, the other half of the first book, is released in theaters on March 1, 2024, after being bumped from its November date as Warner Bros. fearing the cast wouldn’t be able to promote the sequel due to the SAG-AFTRA strike (A deal with the AMPTP is now ratified by members). Director, co-writer, and producer Denis Villeneuve is giving us a rather large update.

While speaking at an event in South Korea (via Tong Tong Culture) today to promote “Dune: Part Two,” the filmmaker revealed that the script to “Dune Messiah,” aka, “Dune 3” is nearly finished but doesn’t see himself jumping back to Arrakis anytime soon after a “very challenging” shoot on the second pic.

“There’s the dream of making an adaptation of ‘Dune Messiah,’ the third movie that will be the end of the journey of Paul Atreides. It will make absolute sense for me to do this movie. The movie is being written right now, the screenplay is almost finished, but it’s not finished it will take a little time. I don’t know exactly when I’ll go back to Arrakis, but I might make a detour before just to move away from the sand for my mental sanity (laughs), I might do something in between but my dream would be to rule one last time on this planet that I love.”

Villeneuve also seemed to reiterate that the third film is expected to be when he dismounts from as the franchise director, nothing says someone else couldn’t keep the movies going as there are four other novels from Frank Herbert to adapt. Neither Legendary nor Warner Bros. has officially greenlit/dated the third installment. Still, barring any major box office and critical hiccups next year when “Dune: Part Two” is finally released, there is an expectation that the studio will sign off on the next installment of the “Dune” saga.

One of those potential projects Villeneuve could attempt to make between “Dune” installments is his adaptation of the Arthur C. Clarke sci-fi novel “Rendezvous With Rama” and would see him reunite with Alcon Entertainment after working with them on “Blade Runner 2049” and his thriller “Prisoners.” Clarke, of course, was the author and co-writer of the screenplay of the iconic Stanley Kubrick film “2001: A Space Odyssey.” The French-Canadian filmmaker was first announced for the project back in December 2021 in an article from The Hollywood Reporter and screenwriter Eric Roth (“Killers of The Flower Moon“) may have revealed doing some screenwriting work on the project last month without directly naming “Rama.”

“I just wrote a movie for Denis Villeneuve. We’ll see what ends up happening with it, but it’s about space and time, and it’s very lonely. It’s certainly about eternity,” Roth said on the Script Apart Podcast.

Rumors based on a production grid making the rounds online had suggested that his next film could be “Cleopatra” for Sony Pictures. However, this has yet to be confirmed/backed up by Villeneuve (Who has yet to announce his involvement), trades, or Sony themselves. Also worth bringing back up is Villeneuve’s new statement from today about “moving away from the sand” for a production shoot which would suggest he’s not itching right now to make a movie about a historical Egyptian leader.

As mentioned, “Dune: Part Two” will hit theaters on March 1, 2024.

You can watch that full exchange with Villeneuve below.

SOURCE: DENIS VILLENEUVE VIA TONG TONG CULTURE

Posted on in Film News, News

Denis Villeneuve Still Keen To Adapt ‘Dune Messiah’ To Make A ‘Dune’ Trilogy: “I Always Envisioned Three Movies”

This week saw Legendary announce officially that Dune: Part Two is moving forward with Warner Bros. planning to release it on October 20, 2023, all but confirming its shoot will indeed start by fall of 2022 (hinted to by Denis Villeneuve).

However, it doesn’t sound like they’ll stop at only two movies and a series, Dune: The Sisterhood. During the promotional tour for the film, director Denis Villeneuve has talked up the idea of tackling the second Frank Herbert, Dune Messiah, for a third film.

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, he doubled-down on the idea of making a trilogy and suggests he’s “always envisioned” making three movies.

“I always envisioned three movies. It’s not that I want to do a franchise, but this is Dune, and Dune is a huge story. In order to honor it, I think you would need at least three movies. That would be the dream. To follow Paul Atreides and his full arc would be nice.”

“Herbert wrote six books, and the more he was writing, the more it was getting psychedelic. So I don’t know how some of them could be adapted. One thing at a time. If I ever have the chance to do Dune: Part Two and Dune Messiah, I’m blessed.”

If Villneueve gets to make his trilogy, the impression he gives he won’t be the one to adapt the other four books such as Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune, and Chapterhouse: Dune. Given the time-jumps, it would mean they’d have to recast roles and we don’t know if Legendary will even attempt to adapt the other books.

Then again, cycling out different directors to continue a Dune franchise wouldn’t be unheard of. Legendary could also decide to stop at a trilogy and pivot to television/HBO Max for the other books. Global box office returns would likely have a big impact on all of this.

As far as we know, Jon Spaihts is only tackling the Dune: Part Two script and they haven’t said they are actively working on a Dune Messiah movie, just the intention to do so in the future.

SOURCE: ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Dune’: Denis Villeneuve Would Consider Adapting ‘Dune Messiah’ For A Trilogy & Confirms Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen Won’t Appear In First Movie

While director Denis Villeneuve is already in the scripting phase of Dune: Part Two and mentioning a potential fall 2022 production start, assumed to take place in Budapest again. He’s started talking up his desire for a third Dune movie to round-out a trilogy, as he mentioned to Radio Canada (spotted by The Playlist) he could see Frank Hebert’s Dune Messiah (the second installment) making an “extraordinary film.”

“There is ‘Dune’s second book, The Messiah of Dune, which could make an extraordinary film. I always saw that there could be a trilogy; after that, we’ll see. It’s years of work; I can’t think of going further than that.”

Below is a rundown of the second book.

“Dune Messiah continues the story of Paul Atreides, better known–and feared–as the man christened Muad’Dib. As Emperor of the Known Universe, he possesses more power than a single man was ever meant to wield. Worshipped as a religious icon by the fanatical Fremens, Paul faces the enmity of the political houses he displaced when he assumed the throne–and a conspiracy conducted within his own sphere of influence. And even as House Atreides begins to crumble around him from the machinations of his enemies, the true threat to Paul comes to his lover, Chani, and the unborn heir to his family’s dynasty…”

The director also confirmed that Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen won’t be showing up in Dune during his lengthy interview with Total Film. Feyd is the nephew of Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgard) and pretty much takes the role of Paul’s rival in the space opera.

“The book is so rich. There are so many fantastic details about the different cultures. In order to preserve and have the time to bring that to the screen, we had to make important choices. It was a powerful image, that jockstrap.”

Dune is still set to be released on October 22 in theaters and HBO Max.

DUNE – A mythic and emotionally charged hero’s journey, Dune tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet’s exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence—a commodity capable of unlocking humanity’s greatest potential—only those who can conquer their fear will survive.

SOURCE: RADIO CANADA & TOTAL FILM