New ‘Dune’ movie being written by ‘Forest Gump’ writer
The new Dune movie is going to be penned by the writer of Forest Gump. Truth be told, this means absolutely nothing to me. Is it good news? Is it bad news? I don’t know!
Variety reports that Eric Roth, who won an Oscar for his adapted screenplay for Forrest Gump, has been hired to adapt the Frank Herbert novel Dune for director Denis Villeneuve. Roth also wrote The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Insider, Munich, Ali, and many, many more. So even though you say the words “Forrest Gump” and some people get nauseous, Roth is still a writer who is respected and has worked with some of the best filmmakers of all time: Fincher, Mann, Spielberg, and Zemeckis, just to name a few.
This is good news.
Dune, of course, is set on the distant desert planet Arrakis and follows a deeply woven story that combines politics, science fiction, and action. The novel was released in 1965 and was famously adapted into a 1984 film by David Lynch. Last year, Legendary acquired the rights to the entire universe from Herbert’s estate and set Villeneuve, director of Arrival and Blade Runner 2049, to make the first film.
Hiring a writer of Roth’s caliber as the next step shows a real eye for quality and talent. This isn’t a project anyone is taking lightly. Even if Roth has previously only written one science fiction film: Kevin Costner’s The Postman.
[Variety]