Screenwriter Set for New DUNE Movie

Last November, Legendary Entertainment acquired movie and TV rights to Frank Herbert's Dune. Then, in December, it was revealed that Arrival and Blade Runner 2049 director Denis Villeneuve was being eyed to helm a new Dune movie, and now the screenwriter for the project has been revealed.

Variety reports that Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, The Postman, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) is set to pen the adaptation of the seminal 1965 sci-fi novel, which was the first in a series of books. Although Villeneuve was previously "in talks" to helm the Dune movie, Variety and THR mention that Villeneuve is taking on the new take on Herbert's ambitious story.

Villeneuve is also set to produce the new Dune movie with Mary Parent and Cale Boyter. Executive producers will include Thomas Tull, Brian Herbert, Byron Merritt, and Kim Herbert, with sci-fi author Kevin J. Anderson on board as a creative consultant.

Dune was previously adapted for the big screen by David Lynch in 1984, and it also came to life on the small screen in the 2000 miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune and its follow-up miniseries, Frank Herbert's Children of Dune.

Stay tuned to Daily Dead for more updates as they are announced, and check out the book's synopsis below. In the meantime, what would you like to see in a new Dune movie?

Synopsis (via Amazon): "Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, who would become the mysterious man known as Muad'Dib. He would avenge the traitorous plot against his noble family—and would bring to fruition humankind’s most ancient and unattainable dream."