Peter Berg will direct the second film adaptation of Dune (David Lynch did the first back in ’84) for Paramount.  

The original 1965 novel centers on a remote desert planet called Arakis, which is the sole provider of the universally loved spice fuel Melange. A power struggle ensues over who will control the spice. Berg follows David Lynch, who directed the 1984 original. The property was also turned into a 2000 Sci Fi Channel miniseries that starred William Hurt. [MovieWeb]

Peter Berg most recently directed The Kingdom, which, if you haven’t seen it, is like trying to watch a really kickass movie with a vibrator strapped to your face (and not in a good way).  Anyway, let’s hope he does a great job with this because if he makes another goddamned shakey cam movie I’m going to drive to his house and beat his family to death with a shovel*.

^{*And by that I mean whine a lot, and possibly hold my breath.}

Yes, this is a spoiler, stupid – hence the word ‘ending’ in the headline.

Anyway, RopeofSilicon today has a rundown [check it out, they have the corresponding pictures and stuff] of some of the DVD commentary from The Kingdom, in which director Peter Berg reveals that the ending in the movie wasn’t the one originally written in the script (still no word on why he chose to shoot it in the most annoying camera style known to man).

Long story short, the original ending as written by Matthew Carnahan:

The original draft that Matt wrote had a much darker ending and in that film, this character of Haytham was much more conflicted and by this point in the film he was very ensure about where he stood and which side he stood. In the original draft, at this moment, when Jamie went to say good bye Jamie hugged him and he realized that Ali [Suliman] was carrying a bomb on him and the character of Haytham detonated the bomb and the entire team was killed and it was a very powerful ending… At the end we decided it was just too much and would be hard for anyone to recover from so we changed it.

I think they made the right decision in changing it.  I’m all for gratuitous violence, but it’s kind of lame doing it at the end when it doesn’t make any sense – The Departed, anyone?  So yeah, good job on the ending, Peter Berg, but don’t think this means I’m not still gonna punch you in the wiener if I ever see you.

Last week, the "Black List" came out – the list of Hollywood’s 100 hottest unproduced screenplays.  Number 13 on the list was Edwin A. Salt, a spy thriller with Tom Cruise attached that Michael Mann was originally set to direct.

Now that Mann has jumped ship to do Public Enemies with Johnny Depp, the studio is reportedly considering The Kingdom-director Peter Berg, who recently finished Hancock with Will Smith.

I enjoyed The Kingdom, but it would’ve been a lot better if Michael J. Fox hadn’t done the camera work.  Seriously, when is Hollywood gonna drop this shakey-cam-makes-it-realer crap? 

Wow dude, if this gets any more "authentic", grandma’s  gonna be scrubbing regurgitated Milk Duds out of these sweatpants (and these are my strip-club sweatpants!). 

Heartbreak Kid failed to beat out The Game Plan this weekend as Hollywood put up its worst numbers for an October weekend since 1999. 

It’s nice to see a movie fail largely on the strength of poor reviews (especially one with Carlos Mencia in it) like Heartbreak Kid did, but when a movie with the Rock is at the top spot (and it’s on track to become the highest grossing Rock movie ever), there isn’t much to celebrate about.  

The Kingdom came in third, which is a shame because it’s a pretty kickass movie, despite the fact that director seems to enjoy shaking the camera around for no other purpose than to give the audience motion sickness for the entire movie.  Can someone please let Hollywood know that that shit is retarded?  If I wanted to feel like a shaken baby, I’d… uh… turn into a baby… and… uh… shake myself.  Or something. 

On the plus side, Michael Clayton opened on 15 screens and made $704,000 for an astounding $46,933 average.  Sadly, George Clooney still won’t admit that he’s my real father.

Opening this weekend (trailers after the jump):

The Kingdom – Peter Berg.  It looks like a hard-boiled shoot-em-up about middle east politics.  But Jamie Foxx is in it, and he needs a bigger head like Jerry Bruckheimer needs more child porn.  Your call. 

Feast of Love - Robert Benton.  It’s got Morgan Freeman, Greg Kinnear, and Radha Mitchell. It looks like someone tried to remake Love Actually. My hatred for Love Actually burns with the heat of a thousand suns.

The Game Plan – Andy Fickman.  The Rock does Kindergarten Cop.  If you even considered seeing this, you have more pressing concerns than my opinion, like adult diapers that fit and remembering to blink. But if you must go, figuring out the race of the little girl could be a fun game.  Because how can you judge someone until you know what race they are?

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - Andrew Dominik.  This was in limited release last weekend, but it should be in a theatre near you by now.  Unless you live someplace shitty, like Riverside. I’ve always said that Brad Pitt would make a convincing cowboy, because he has big cracked lips.  They tickle my neck sometimes, it makes me giggle and I have to pull away.  But yeah, I’d bone this movie.