George R.R. Martin's IN THE LOST LANDS in development as a movie starring Milla Jovovich & Dave Bautista

George R.R. Martin's 1985 short story "In the Lost Lands" is headed to the big screen. Paul W.S. Anderson (Mortal Kombat, Event Horizon, Resident Evil, Alien vs. Predator) is planning to direct the film, with wife and favourite actress Milla Jovovich already slated to star, alongside Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy, Blade Runner 2049, Dune).

The story follows a queen who sets out to acquire the secret of shapeshifting, to which end she hires the sorceress Gray Alys (Jovovich), who embarks into the Lost Lands to find the secret, allying with the drifter Boyce (Bautista) along the way.

Anderson and Jovovich have become synonymous with solid, B-movie pulp in recent years and Bautista has shown canny judgement in his projects so far, so this could end up being quite interesting.

Dave Bautista cast in the new film version of DUNE

Guardians of the Galaxy actor Dave Bautista has signed on to Denis Villeneuve's two-part movie adaptation of Frank Herbert's seminal novel Dune.

Bautista will be playing the role of the Beast Rabban, the nephew of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, the story's primary villain. Rabban is a brutal, sadistic murderer who is placed in charge of spice mining operations on the planet Arrakis by his uncle, resulting in a reign of terror that helps spur an uprising by the natives.

The film marks Bautista's second project with Villeneuve, having previously played the small but memorable role of Sapper Morton in Blade Runner 2049. It also marks Bautista's latest foray into genre fiction, having previously starred in films such as The Scorpion King 3 and Riddick.

The movie has already cast Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides and Rebecca Ferguson as Jessica Atreides, with cinematographer Greig Fraser (Zero Dark Thirty, Lion, Star Wars: Rogue One) also on board. Villeneuve, whose previous two movies Arrival and Blade Runner 2049 were highly critically-acclaimed, is hoping to adapt at least the first novel in the Dune saga and possibly more of the later books if the first two are a success.

Legendary Pictures are producing for a likely 2021 release date. This will be the third adaptation of the novel, following on from David Lynch's 1984 movie and a Sci-Fi Channel mini-series in 2000, both of which ran into problems with either time (in the former's case) or money (in the latter's). Third time, hopefully, will be the charm.