Today seems to be Denis Villeneuve’s day. The director has just confirmed that he will direct a third part of Dune, Dune: Messiah, which will conclude the story of Paul Atreides on the planet Arrakis. But it is not the only project he has confirmed, as Legendary Entertainment has also just acquired the rights to a novel that is expected to be the filmmaker’s next film after the Dune trilogy.
For a $500,000 deal, the studio has acquired the rights to Nuclear War: A Scenario, a novel by Annie Jacobsen that was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize. The idea is for this film to be the director’s next project after venturing into the world of Dune, thus moving away from the more fantastical science fiction to tell a much more realistic and terrifying dystopia.
What would happen if a nuclear war broke out today?
Nuclear War: A Scenario tells a story that is not so far from our reality, but we hope it remains as a crazy science fiction idea that never happens. The novel tries to discern what would happen if a nuclear war started today, which could have unimaginable consequences for humanity.
The novel starts with a nuclear missile approaching the United States, which triggers a chain reaction from different countries that leads to an unprecedented nuclear war for the world. Considering that not long ago Vladimir Putin was threatening to have weapons that “could destroy civilization“, we may not be as far from this concept as we imagine.
This movie is part of two projects without which it would make no sense. The first of them is, of course, Oppenheimer. Christopher Nolan’s biopic swept the Oscars, which has brought the nuclear theme back into fashion. And the second is Civil War, Alex Garland’s new film that starts from a similar premise, only imagining a civil war in the United States. In this way, it seems that we are embarking on a new dark era that, at the very least, can serve to make those who can press the red button reflect.
