No, Tom Cruise won't be starring in the new version of Frank Herbert's Dune, but it sure does look like Peter Berg is going to be one busy director over the next few years. According to an informative report over at the MTV Movies Blog, we now know that Berg's next projects are:

1. A spy thriller with Tom Cruise that has a "great" script (aka Edwin A. Salt, which we reported on the other day).

2. A "big, big, big" big-screen rendition of Dune, which was made into a feature film by David Lynch back in 1984, as well as a collection of well-received cable mini-series.

When asked about "remaking" a film made by the illustrious David Lynch, the director was more than diplomatic: "Berg said that while he's "a big fan of Lynch," he believes "that interpretation has left the door wide open for a remake."

So that's good news for Berg, obviously. Tom Cruise and a massive sci-fi epic back-to-back. Not too shabby for the kid who once starred in Wes Craven's goofy Shocker. And while Berg's resumé as a character actor might be a little choppy, there's little denying that he's a solid director: His films include Very Bad Things, The Rundown, Friday Night Lights and The Kingdom. That's what we call 4-for-4. Well, I do.

Because there can never be enough thrillers, and there's no point waiting for the book to come out before you want to adapt it, we've got word of the next upcoming book that's already been picked up for feature treatment. The Hollywood Reporter has posted that Warner Brothers nabbed the movie rights to an upcoming book by Olen Steinhauer, a two-time Edgar Award nominee, called The Tourist. Only in "early manuscript form," it's said to be similar to John le Carre and Graham Greene, and it focuses on the typical fare of the spy who is falsely accused of murder and risks everything to clear his name.

The producers for this little project will be none other than Smoke House's George Clooney and Grant Heslov. The company has been pretty busy lately, getting projects out. There is Leatherheads, the Clooney-directed film that has just hit post, White Jazz, the James Ellroy adaptation that's being tackled by Joe Carnahan, and they're also developing an adaptation of Farragut North, a play by Beau Willimon. Considering the fact that Clooney sometimes helms these productions, I wonder if this will be a cut-and-dry production gig, or if he'll get extra-involved. Whatever the case, we've got to wait for both the book and the screenplay to be written before anything else.