We sure hope “Taken” director Pierre Morel likes sand in his shorts.
With Peter Berg off the Frank Herbert adaptation, Variety reports that the French filmmaker is set to both amaze and irk fanboys everywhere with his take on “Dune.”
Set on the desert planet of Arrakis, the Hugo-Award-winning novel begins the story of the Atreides family, led by Duke Leo and his son Paul. This is the third adaptation of Herbert’s sci-fi classic, after the 1984 flop from David Lynch (which Variety kindly says was “not a financial success”) and a 2000 miniseries from The-Channel-Formerly-Known-As-Sci-Fi. Go-to genre favorites Neil Marshall (the terrifically terrifying “The Descent”) and Neill Blomkamp (sci-fi summer sleeper “District 9”) were briefly mentioned as replacements, but Paramount opted to go with Morel.
Mainstream audiences may not have been familiar with Morel’s name before “Taken” held the winter 2008 box office hostage, bringing in more than $145 million and making 20th Century Fox execs very, very happy. However, Morel got his start as a camera operator and DP for some of the biggest names in world cinema, including Luc Besson, Jonathan Demme, Nancy Meyers, and Bernardo Bertolucci. With a script co-written by Besson, Morel made his directorial debut with the action-driven sci-fi film “District B13.” But Morel may be prepared to squander all that goodwill with the upcoming (and awful-looking) “From Paris With Love,” a spy film that features John Travolta at his least subtle.
Fans who worried that Berg would insert too much action into their beloved bestseller aren’t out of danger with the hiring of Morel. Though the director is reportedly a longtime fan of Herbert’s novel, a glance at his own filmography doesn’t point to him making a politics-heavy, intrigue-laden drama. “District B13,” “Taken,” and presumably “From Paris With Love” have all relied on Morel’s talent with action and adrenaline, we’re curious if Morel’s “Dune” dorkiness can outweigh his — and the studio’s — desire to make a film propelled by explosions, space battles, and sandworms. Lots and lots of sandworms.
If Morel’s “Dune” is a success, Paramount has plenty of built-in sequels with a number of follow-ups from Herbert himself, as well as sequels and prequels from Herbert’s son and Kevin J. Anderson. The novel is the bestselling sci-fi title ever, so it’s not as though it’s lacking a fan base. If Morel can play to both die-hard fans and those who couldn’t sit through the slowness of the previous adaptation or the novel itself, Paramount may have another sci-fi franchise in its arsenal.