As announced here earlier this year, the Dune remake is on, with Pierre Morel (Taken) replacing Peter Berg as director. Morel has tapped screenwriter Chase Palmer to write the screenplay, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Morel has brought in Palmer personally to rework the original script that Josh Zetumer (Bourne 4) had been working on for Berg. According to THR, Palmer will integrate Morel’s ideas into the story, and should result in a film that is fairly close to its Frank Herbert’s source material, unlike the David Lynch Dune film of 1984. Morel has admitted that Zetumer and Berg’s ideas were “interesting… just not our vision.”
Palmer himself is a writer director that has been part of the Hollywood scene for years. He has two self-penned films – Number Thirteen and Wild Wild East – that he’ll be directing over the next year or so. Seems that Palmer’s job on Dune will be a big undertaking, but it could be his biggest break to date.