http://chud.com/nextraimages/sandworm.gifIn August we broke the story that a deal was close to happening to bring Dune back to the big screen. Our source said that there was a director attached who was a huge fan of the property; this set off a round of speculation, and many people began to say Peter Berg. Turns out they were right.

Berg has confirmed to MTV Movies Blog that he will direct a new version of Dune – the third! – and said "if it weren’t for the writer’s strike, we’d be in it right now.”

The director says that his version of Dune will be "big, big, big," and that they’re looking at writers right now, preparing for the hopefully eventual end of the strike. In the meantime Berg will be directing Tom Cruise in the spy film Edwin A. Salt, written by one-time CHUDdie Buddie Kurt Wimmer. Keep hope alive, Kurt!

Berg is really shaping up to be an exciting director, huh? Who would have thunk it after seeing Shocker. He’s jumping from genre to genre, refusing to be pigeonholed as any specific sort of filmmaker (well, except as a Michael Mann protege). I don’t think Dune has been done exactly right yet, and I’m excited to see what Berg brings to it.