Peter Berg, who just had a massive hit with “Hancock” starring Will Smith, is directing yet another version of Frank Herbert’s massive tome “Dune”. So of course when The Hollywood Reporter got a hold of Berg, they talked about his past projects, his current projects, and what he has in the fire for the future. One of those is “Dune”, in which the THR reporter tries to push Berg for a theme. Berg kind of answered, but not really.

It looks like Peter Berg’s version of Frank Herbert’s “Dune” may be getting its writer — or at least according to The Hollywood Reporter, who says that Josh Zetumer is currently in negotiations for the job. Herbert’s sprawling book was made once into a movie, in 1984 by David Lynch, which I actually kind of liked; it was followed up with a 2000 mini-series on the Sci Fi Channel that I also liked. The mini-series proved successful enough to spawn a sequel, “Children of Dune”.

I’m always amused when Internet movie sites get a movie news before the trades like Variety or The Hollywood Reporter, because, well, we always depend on THEM for the news, not the other way around. Such as this news about the upcoming “Dune” remake. We reported here, and others reported it over three months ago (from last year!) that Berg would be remaking the movie, and Variety has just now gotten around to confirming it.

About two months ago, an intriguing rumor surfaced: Paramount is seeking the rights to Frank Herbert’s Dune in order to set up Peter Berg (”The Kingdom”) as a potential franchise director. Well forget rumor — it’s fact. Berg says about the project to MTV that he directing the new Dune franchise is a “done deal”, and that they would be in production now if not for the writer’s strike.