Looks like the upcoming Dune film has found itself a director in the guise of Pierre Morel, the fantastic director of the off the wall minimalistic action films, Taken and Banlieue 13 (District 13).
I've been a lifelong fan of the original 1965 novel by Frank Herbert (worshipping at the alter that is the Muad'Dib) and have always thought that the novel was unfilmable as a movie. You need look no further than the 1984 David Lynch adaptation that is over 3 hours in length and nearly unwatchable. Honestly, I enjoy the movie quite a bit, but it's slow, prodding, confusing, pretentious and has Sting as one of the major bad guys... like I said nearly unwatchable unless you're a huge fan of the series.
Still, I do have some hope for the upcoming film adaptation by Morel even if many fans may not. Sure an action director may seem an odd choice to direct a film which is basically an allegory on our over dependence as a culture on religion and commodities, but I welcome a more updated and non-literal translation of a work I so dearly hold close to my heart. Like I said before, I think that the Dune series is unfulfillable as a movie, and one that tries to be to faithful will end up like Lynch's Dune. Anyway, look for Morel's Dune hopefully in 2011.
Also, if you want to see a good adaptation of Dune, check out sci-fi channels original Dune and Children of Dune miniseries. These two mini-series are very faithful and entertaining adaptations of the original source materiel.
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