Eric Roth is famous for titles such as Forrest Gump, The Insider, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Munich, Ali, A Star Is Born, and of course, this year’s most notable film – Dune. Despite being confident in his screenwriting skills, Dune was particularly challenging for him.

Eric Roth Wasn’t Sure if Science Fiction Would Work For Him

The screenwriter got the job for Dune after doing some uncredited rewriting on Arrival for director and filmmaker Denis Villeneuve. Roth accepted the challenge but knew that the prodigious size of the story and the giant world-building and all the entities wouldn’t be easy to script. Villeneuve wanted a real female orientation to the film. For example, it was really important for the filmmaker to properly project Bene Gesserit, the women, and the spiritual qualities of all women. However, Roth was more interested in Paul and what is the burden of being deemed a prophet.

Finding the balance is definitely something familiar to Roth but sci-fi not being his niche made him doubt his qualities.

“People expect more than what you can give them, even if you’re thought to be godlike.”

Eric Roth Is Not Involved in Dune’s Sequel

The screenwriter denied being involved in the sequel but he believes he might be and confirms that the creators were always intended to do two Dune movies. However, he shares that at the age of 76, there are other worlds to conquer. He clearly has a lot of other work and so many things he wants to do. He makes it clear that Dune will always stay important to him but still, there are other things that are equally important.

The screenwriter reminisces about his success with Forrest Gump and shares that getting a nomination was a miracle. He says people usually don’t get so lucky and he owes his success to the alchemy there was. Everyone involved, especially Bob Zemeckis, the director, and Tom Hanks inspired him and led to the success of the movie.

Roth believes that because his previous work may not be related to Dune, particularly in terms of genre, he wouldn’t be able to write a successful script that would leave so many people satisfied. It’s all about balance but also telling a certain story in the most accurate way possible.

Tim Draper is a well-known billionaire venture capitalist and a strong bitcoin investor. He believes that the value of a single bitcoin will reach $250,000 by the end of 2022. Draper is convinced that despite the crazy swing in value that cryptocurrency has seen and its turmoil regarding its un-environmentally friendly usage, the value will continue to rise.

Draper’s Bold Bitcoin Predictions in the Past

Back in 2018, Tim Draper made his very first prediction regarding bitcoin, and it was quite a bold one. Around that time, bitcoin was trading about $8,000. He then stated for the first time that he believed it would reach $250,000 at the latest at the beginning of 2023. Now, he stands behind his initial prediction. Draper claims that he’s either going to be spot-on with his prediction or wrong. However, he remains hopeful that he’ll be right.

His prediction is based on the belief that the cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, will have much more use then than it does now. This, in turn, will make it more valuable. He says in about a year or so, more retailers will start using an Opennode which is a bitcoin payment processor, which means they’ll be able to accept the cryptocurrency.

At the moment, only a few major retailers and companies accept bitcoin as a form of payment either directly or through 3rd-party apps, and these include PayPal, Overstock, Starbucks, Microsoft, Home Depot, and Whole Foods.

Becoming a Billionaire Through Early Investments

Tim Draper, who is 63 years old, originally built his fortune by making a series of investments early on in the game. He has invested in Skype, Tesla, Twitter, and SpaceX to name but a few. While it’s unknown exactly how much bitcoin he has or whether or not he’s invested in other cryptocurrencies, it’s safe to say that he is holding onto some.

According to Draper, bitcoin will be the center of financial activity for the next 20-30 years.