Denis Villeneuve is on a hell of a run right now, and has been for some time. While Dune: Part Two is cleaning up as one of the earliest blockbusters from the 2024 movie schedule, the man’s been on a creative hot streak that, depending on who you talk to, spans his entire career. Now Villeneuve and studio Legendary Entertainment seem to have found their first post-Dune movie together, with a concept that both absolutely horrifies and intrigues me at the same time.
Legendary Has Acquired The Rights To Nuclear War: A Scenario
Per an announcement made through Deadline, Legendary has optioned the recent New York Times bestseller Nuclear War: A Scenario. Though the book was only released last Friday, “a deal worth $500,000 against $1.5 million” has been made for Legendary to acquire the rights. Part of the synopsis for the book is as follows:
Pulitzer Prize finalist Annie Jacobsen’s Nuclear War: A Scenario explores this ticking-clock scenario, based on dozens of exclusive new interviews with military and civilian experts who have built the weapons, have been privy to the response plans, and have been responsible for those decisions should they have needed to be made. Nuclear War: A Scenario examines the handful of minutes after a nuclear missile launch. It is essential reading, and unlike any other book in its depth and urgency.
Dune fans need not worry, as further reporting in that announcement states that the expectation is for Denis Villeneuve to potentially re-team with the production company to work on Nuclear War: A Scenario once Dune: Messiah is done and dusted. So that right there suggests that Villeneuve's worries about Dune 3 may have been quelled, as that seems to be his next priority.
That hopefully means that the Prisoners director will also adapt and direct Nuclear War as he has with Frank Herbert's sci-fi masterpiece. Should that be the case, I'm definitely excited and scared to see what this movie could be in the hands of a master such as this.
Why Denis Villeneuve’s Nuclear War Intrigues And Horrifies Me
The big reason I feel both intrigued and horrified to see Denis Villeneuve tackle Nuclear War is because of his skills as a creative talent. Whether it’s turning Dune into two of the best sci-fi movies ever, or tackling darker, more realism-based pictures like Prisoners or Sicario, Mr. Villeneuve is always in the pocket. Intrigue wise, I can’t wait to see how, and if, Denis’ touch brings this urgent tome to life.
And now we turn to the part of me that’s horrified, as Nuclear War’s scenario touches upon one of my deepest fears. If you were like me and sat chilled at the ending to Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, that feeling could quite possibly be the entire tone of Denis Villeneuve’s take on this decades-old fear of modern life.
Imagine, if you will, an entire movie that takes the subject of potential mutually assured destruction, but portrays it with the level of intensity seen in a film like Prisoners. More specifically, try to think of the moments Denis Villeneuve could come up with that could play out as spiritual successors to that intense interrogation scene between Hugh Jackman and Paul Dano:
And here I thought A24 was cornering the market on socio-political anxiety field trips, like the one we saw in the Civil War trailer. With Legendary Entertainment and Denis Villeneuve potentially reteaming to make Nuclear War into the next The Day After, I’m already primed to buy my tickets.
While we don’t know when, or if, this project will get off the ground, it’s actually comforting to know that Hollywood is interested in once again tackling this shared nightmare. In the tradition of Fail Safe, Threads and even to a certain extent Dr. Strangelove, we might just see another vital exercise in trying to make sure the nightmare of nuclear war doesn’t become a reality.
For now, we'll just have to wait for more information. But in the meantime, Denis Villeneuve's latest masterpiece Dune: Part Two is still showing in theaters.
