Sounds Like Gore Verbinski Won't be Directing the BIOSHOCK Movie
I knew this was going to happen. 'Pirates of the Caribbean' director Gore Verbinski was all set up and ready to go with the film adaptation of the awesome Bioshock video game. Then Universal got cold feet AGAIN and pulled out, they laid off a bunch of people, and set out to negotiate a smaller budget for the movie which means they would most likely shoot it in another country like the UK. During that whole mess everyone promised that this production would not end up like the Halo movie project, but we all know better! I knew that once they put the production on hold there was a fat chance it wouldn't get up and rolling again without any hiccups. As soon as this news hit which we reported on right here.
During the E3 convention he talked about his interest in producing video games. So he set up his Blink Wink production company and currently has 5 game projects in development. But that is not what we are here to talk about right now. We are here to talk about the 'Bioshock' movie and how it is in production hell. It is so deep in Hell right now that Verbinski's confidence in the project making to the theaters is dwindling. He gives us the bottom line:
The bottom line is it has to shoot out of the States for budget reasons and my schedule may be prohibitive. There's a great script and a really interesting cast. It really comes down to the financial model now. Big movies are just not being shot in the States. I'm weighing whether I can physically go the U.K. or Australia or one of those other places with a tax rebate for a year-and-a-half.
So what he is saying is that because the movie has to shoot in another country he won't be able to direct it. If Universal really wants Verbinski on board to direct then they will give him what he needs, if he drops out of the project the movie could be dead, if they replace him it might end up in the hands of someone like Brett Ratner. It sucks that Universal doesn't have the confidence to pump in the money that this movie needs. They are going to make a profit! Damn Hollywood bean counters are screwing up our movies!
Source: LA Times