DUNE Reboot to Be Scripted by Oscar Winner Eric Roth

Variety reports that Legendary has closed a deal with Eric Roth to pen the screenplay for the upcoming Dune reboot. The new adaptation of Frank Herbert‘s science fiction novel will be directed by Denis Villeneuve (Sicario, Arrival).

Roth won an Academy Award for his screenplay for Forrest Gump, and also wrote The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Munich. A synopsis of the complex novel is below. Roth certainly has his work cut out for him.

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.