Denis Villeneuve might not be done with Dune just yet, and after a break could return for Dune Messiah. While he’s got other projects lined up, like a Cleopatra movie with Zendaya, another film could be happening that, like Oppenheimer, has an explosive story at its core.
Deadline reports that Legendary Entertainment has optioned the rights to Nuclear: War: A Scenario, Annie Jacobsen’s nonfiction bestseller with hopes that Villeneuve will direct. Jacobsen’s book explores the ramifications of a nuclear war if one were to take place on Earth, based on interviews the author conducted with military and civilian experts. Legendary hardly wasted any time at all. The book has barely been on store shelves for a week and it’s already a smash hit. Clearly, they saw the success of Oppenheimer and hope to capitalize on it.
So this would be something quite different for Villeneuve, although it’s doubtful this would be a straight adaptation. I imagine something similar to the adaptation of World War Z, which took a series of epistolary accounts and fashioned them into an action flick. Or perhaps it’ll be closer to something like Contagion.
Legendary’s plan would be for Villeneuve to direct and adapt the Nuclear War screenplay himself, producing with creative partner Tonya Lapointe. But nothing is set in stone as of now, and it could be a while before it is. Villeneuve has earned some time off, and given his relationship with Legendary and what they’ve accomplished with Dune, they’ll wait for him to give an answer.
