Gore Verbinski Explains Why His ‘Bioshock’ Movie Never Happened
Way back in 2008, beforeA Cure for Wellnesswas even a twinkle in his eye,Gore Verbinskihad plans to direct theBioshockmovie. But just as things seemed to be coming together, they all fall apart.In spring 2009, Universal abruptly pulled the plug over concerns about its ballooning budget, andby summer 2009, he’d ditched the video game movie entirely.
Still, that hasn’t stopped some fans from wonderingwhat might have beenand how it all went wrong. So recently, Verbinski addressed what, exactly, happened on that movie, and whether he would ever consider returning to it again.
Verbinksi got theBioshockmovie question during aReddit AMA session. Here’s how he explained what happened:
Well it’s no short answer to that question but we were eight weeks prior shooting when the plug was pulled. It’s an R rated movie. I wanted to keep it R rated, I felt like that would be appropriate, and it’s an expensive movie. It’s a massive world we’re creating and it’s not a world we can simply go to locations to shoot. “A Cure For Wellness”, we were able to really utilize a variety of location to create the world. “Bioshock” it wouldn’t work like that, we’d be building an entire underworld universe. So I think the combination of the price tag and the rating, universal just didn’t feel comfortable ultimately. At that time also there were some R rated, expensive R rated movies that were not working.
This explanation isn’t so different from what we’d already heard before, including fromVerbinskihimself— Universal wasconcerned about the budget. But this offers a bit more context. While Verbinski doesn’t name names,BioshockcreatorKen Levinehas specifically citedWatchmenas the film that made studio execs nervous. (And let’s not even get into the dubious track record of video game adaptations, as most recently demonstrated byWarcraftandAssassin’s Creed.)
As Verbinski says, though, there’ve been some recent adult-oriented hits that might make an R-ratedBioshockmovie seem slightly less risky to a studio executive in the present day. Would he ever consider returning toBioshock, then? He doesn’t rule it out entirely, but he doesn’t sound all that interested in the idea either:
So I think things have changed and maybe there will be another chance, but it’s very difficult when you’re eight weeks away from shooting a movie you really can see in your head and you’ve almost filmed the entire thing, so emotionally you’re right at that transition from architect to becoming a contractor and that will be a difficult place to get back to.
Which, fair enough. Verbinski’s got enough on his plate without trying to resurrect a failed project from his past. Since Verbinski leftBioshock, he wasreplaced byJuan Carlos Fresnadillo, who also eventuallywalked away. Which, apparently, isjust finewith Levine. As of now, theBioshockmovie does not look likely to ever happen.
