Tag: dune

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Oscar Isaac might dad it up in the new Dune

Oscar Isaac may be headed to another space opera – Denis Villeneuve’s new adaptation of Dune. Variety reports that he’s entered early negotiations to play Duke Leto Atreides, father of protagonist Paul Atreides, who’s being played by Timothee Chalamet. Rebecca Ferguson, Stellan Skarsgard, and Charlotte Rampling are also among the cast.

This will be the third major adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel. David Lynch made the first movie in 1984, while the then-Sci-Fi Channel made it into a 2000 miniseries. (They also adapted sequels Dune Messiah and Children of Dune in a second miniseries in 2003.)

Another familiar Star Wars name, author Kevin J. Anderson, is serving as creative consultant on the film. He wrote several Dune novels with Brian Herbert.

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Other worlds: New attempt at Dune movie collapses

New Dune adaption dead. The latest attempt to film Frank Herbert’s Dune has officially thrown in the towel as Paramount’s rights lapsed. The novel has been filmed twice before – By David Lynch in 1984 and the Sci-Fi Channel in 2000. Neither version could quite capture the classic sci-fi novel… Is it simply not a book that translates well to screen, or has the right team just not attempted it yet? I’m sure we’ll see it adapted again either way.

That said, I must admit I am quite fond of Sci-Fi’s 2003 attempt at the second and third books in the series, Children of Dune. And it only has a little to do with James McAvoy spending half the thing running around with no shirt on.

The Hunger Games. They have their Katniss, but what about the rest of the cast? Television Without Pity, of all places, has a nice set of suggestions for casting everyone else. With the exception of Christopher Lee (he’s played that role a million times over) I wholeheartedly applaud their selections. Major props for a non-sexy Haymitch!

Chronicles of Narnia. Walden is skipping right over The Silver Chair to make prequel The Magician’s Nephew the next film in the series. Yay for having an actual reason to bring back their best character Tilda Swinton this time.

Inheritance Cycle. Knopf has released the cover for the final book in Christopher Paolini’s Star Wars meets Pern in Middle-earth series. It’s always nice to see John Jude Palencar getting work, I guess.

Lists. Topless Robot’s has 14 great but lesser-known sci-fi novels for lil’ nerds. I find it quite distressing that Paula Danzinger’s This Place Has No Atmosphere is considered a lesser known sci-fi novel. Danzinger is a YA goddess, people. RESPECT.

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Herbert estate puts the kibosh on Dune RPers

dunerpDune roleplayers in the virtual community of Second Life were taken aback when they received a takedown notice from the literary agency that maintains the Herbert Estate. The Dune RPG is rather small – just 130 members – and no one questions that the Herbert Estate has the right, but the move seems needlessly defensive – and completely clueless.

Hat tip to Boing Boing for the find, as well as this gem from their comment section, which puts it all in perspective…

Well it would be horrible for any fan activities to undermine the dignity of the Dune legacy. Isn’t Vacuum Cleaner Lint of Dune coming out next year?

Well, I doubt it has anything to do with dignity, given who they have (co-)writing the things…

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The folly of youth: Let’s own our shame together

As I’m technically still reading the most shameful series of my adolescence, linking MGK Versus His Adolescent Reading Habits might very well be an act of supreme hypocrisy.

Oh well. I might still be an Expanded Universe fan (or am I?) but at least I never read The Wheel of Time. It’s a slim victory if anything, but I’ll take it. At least until I remember how many Melanie Rawn novels I own in hardcover.

UPDATE: But wait, there’s more!