‘Dune’: Denis Villeneuve to direct a two-part adaptation

Canadian director Denis Villeneuve on one of his Cannes Film Festival appearances, this time in 2015. Image: AFP/Valery Hache via AFP Relaxnews

After “Blade Runner 2049” received five nominations from the Oscars and $259 million at the worldwide box office, Canadian director Denis Villeneuve is preparing his next film.

Adapted from the 1965 novel by Frank Herbert, Villeneuve is attempting a book to screen conversion last overseen by auteur filmmaker David Lynch.

On this occasion, Villeneuve has chosen to separate “Dune” into two parts, he told La Presse.

“I would have preferred to film both parts at the same time,” he said. “But it would have been too expensive. We’ll film them one by one.”

Villeneuve had previously floated the idea that “Dune” could have been extended to more than two movies.

Eric Roth, of “Forrest Gulp”, “Munich”, “The Insider” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” wrote the new treatment in collaboration with Villeneuve.

The director told La Presse that he had “not had as much fun on a creative level since [multi-award winning fourth film] “Incendies”, the last feature that he had written, and the last feature-length French language project he had worked on.

After Middle-Eastern war drama “Incendies”, he directed “Prisoners”, “Enemy”, “Sicario” and then “Arrival” before 2017’s very long awaited cyberpunk sequel “Blade Runner 2049”.

The interview was conducted at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this month but the “Dune” detail, mentioned at the foot of the article, is only just now attracting widespread attention.

“Dune” is expected to enter production in 2019. JB

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