Legendary Pictures has found a writer to take on the new movie adaptation of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi classic Dune. According to reports, the studio has hired screenwriter Eric Roth for the job.

This latest cinematic take on Dune is set to be directed by Denis Villeneuve, who will be moving on to his third consecutive science fiction project after recent Best Picture nominee Arrival and the upcoming Blade Runner 2049, a sequel to Ridley Scott’s own sci-fi classic Blade Runner.

Roth signs on to the project with an impressive resume. Some of his credits include The Horse Whisperer, The Insider, Ali, Munich, The Good Shepard, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, and Forrest Gump. Each and every one of them received at least one Academy Award nomination, with Gump scoring a remarkable 13 nominations. It ended up winning six awards total, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Tom Hanks, Best Director for Robert Zemeckis, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Roth, the writer’s only Oscar win so far. He’s also been nominated three other times, for Benjamin Button, Munich, and The Insider.

Here’s more on the book the movie is based on from Amazon:

Frank Herbert’s epic masterpiece””a triumph of the imagination and the bestselling science fiction novel of all time.

Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, who would become the mysterious man known as Muad’Dib. He would avenge the traitorous plot against his noble family””and would bring to fruition humankind’s most ancient and unattainable dream.

A stunning blend of adventure and mysticism, environmentalism and politics, Dune won the first Nebula Award, shared the Hugo Award, and formed the basis of what it undoubtedly the grandest epic in science fiction.

The story has already been adapted once before in 1984 by Mulholland Drive and The Elephant Man director David Lynch.

No word yet on a release window for Dune.

[Source: Variety]

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