After a long wait and lots of talk about Peter Berg’s epic outlook at Dune, that hopeful dream has come to an end. Pajiba just broke the news that Peter Berg and his film company 44 Production have backed out. There’s no specific explanation as to why he dropped out, but it was most likely due to his involvement with Battleship and his planned war film. Currently Paramount is scrambling to find a new director who can bring the film in under a budget of 175 million and has a love for the source material. The two rumored front runners are apparently Neill Blomkamp (District 9) and Neil Marshall (The Descent). While producer Kevin Misher is apparently more fond of Marshall taking on this epic adaptation, Paramount isn’t as enthusiastic. Has Marshall proven himself as a commercially viable director? Sadly, no. As a side note, that article also mentions that Robert Pattison was possibly in talks of starring while Berg was attached, fingers crossed that won’t happen.
This is quite sad news. Berg was obviously looking to do something on a massively epic scale especially with him pitching the film as an “adventure” revenge story and with mention of the more than hefty sized script (175 pages). With that said, we can only hope Paramount finds the right suitor sometime soon. Marshall isn’t a bad choice, but he hasn’t shown he has commercial appeal which is of course a major factor for a project of this magnitude. Blomkamp on the other hand is an obvious choice on a business and artistic standpoint. District 9 at the moment is his golden ticket that shows he can make big box office bucks while making actual original spectacles. Its still disappointing that Berg won’t be leading this grand story, but perhaps there’s someone who can match his vision (Blomkamp).
Who do you want to see direct Dune?