Onwriting: A Podcast Of The Wga East

Host Geri Cole is joined by Jon Spaihts and Denis Villeneuve—two-thirds of the writing team behind DUNE—to discuss the challenges of writing a story that serves two audiences, relearning the lesson of focusing on the human element in science fiction, and just how much coffee it takes for three masters of filmmaking to collaborate on the script of DUNE (spoiler alert… it's a lot). Jon Spaihts wrote the screenplays for PROMETHEUS, THE DARKEST HOUR, and MARVEL'S DR. STRANGE. Denis Villeneuve is perhaps best known as the director of SICARIO, ARRIVAL, and BLADE RUNNER 2049. Third co-writer Eric Roth—who, unfortunately, couldn’t join us because of technical difficulties—is the writer of titles like FORREST GUMP, THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON, and A STAR IS BORN, among many others. DUNE—co-written by Spaihts, Villeneuve, and Roth and directed by Villeneuve— is a mythic and emotionally charged hero's journey adapted from the 1965 science fiction novel by Frank Herbert. The film tells the story of Paul Atreides,