Dune Finds a Director

One of the most beloved sci-fi adventures ever is well on it's way back to the big screen. THR is reporting that Paramount has signed director Pierre Morel to helm their adaptation of Frank Herbert's popular novel. Morel gained acclaim recently for last year's revenge-thriller, Taken, starring Liam Neeson.

The project had been in some flux after the previous director, Peter Berg, left in order to pursue directing Battleship, loosely based on the board game of the same name.  Dune is the story of a battle for a rare spice that is produced on a distant planet known as Arrakis. David Lynch helmed the previous big screen version of the story back in 1984.

I was never a big fan of Dune, seeing it at the time as a lesser Star Wars ripoff, but I grew to like it as an adult, seeing just how vastly different the two really are. I can see this setting up a potential tentpole franchise for Paramount if it gets off the ground, which it looks like it will. No writer has been attached to the film as of yet.