Gore Verbinski Pitched a Truly Unhinged Comic Book Movie and Netflix Thought He’d Lost It
Gore Verbinski has been making the interview rounds for his new movie Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, and in the process he shared the story of a jaw-dropping comic book adaptation that he pitched to Netflix.
While talking about projects that never made it off the ground, Verbinski revealed a pitch so strange, so aggressively off the rails, that it earned him a long, confused stare from a Netflix executive.
The conversation came up during an interview with ComicBook, when Verbinski was asked if there was a comic book property he’d ever wanted to bring to the screen.
He says, “There’s so much good IP out there that’s just not even been explored.” Instead of naming a familiar superhero, he talked about an adaptation he once considered making with Sam Rockwell called Ballistic.
That’s when things apparently got weird fast.
“Ballistic [is] about a guy whose best friend is a drug addict gun. Really warped. I remember pitching that to Ted Sarandos and having him just look at me like I was insane.”
That pitch went straight to Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s co-chief executive officer, and judging by Verbinski’s recollection, it did not land. Still, the director wasn’t backing down from the idea.
He went on to explain that there are incredible stories hiding in graphic novels, and that comics remain one of the best places to find ideas studios aren’t touching.
The comic in question, Ballistic, comes from Darick Robertson, best known for Transmetropolitan and The Boys. The story centers on Butch, an air conditioner repairman living in Repo City State, a massive trash island built from DNA-based living technology with a serious attitude problem.
Butch dreams of becoming a master criminal, and his partner in crime is Gun, a foul-mouthed, genetically modified firearm with a drug addiction.
The book blends insane worldbuilding with extreme violence, and it left such an impression that Grant Morrison once called it his favorite comic released that year. It’s not hard to see why a director like Verbinski would gravitate toward something that unfiltered.
The timing of this reveal is interesting because Verbinski has only just returned to filmmaking after a long absence. Before Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, he hadn’t directed anything since A Cure for Wellness in 2016, which itself followed The Lone Ranger in 2013.
After leaving the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise in 2007, his output slowed to a crawl, making his latest film feel like a big comeback.
The new movie proves he hasn’t lost his edge. It’s a gonzo time travel story with a surprising amount on its mind, and it stays entertaining from start to finish. It also reminds audiences that this is the same filmmaker who delivered The Ring and the wildly inventive animated film Rango.
What Verbinski does next is still a mystery, but hearing about something like Ballistic makes it hard not to imagine how far he could’ve pushed that material.
A drug-addicted talking gun doesn’t exactly scream safe investment, but in the hands of a director willing to embrace the madness, it could’ve been something completely unlike any comic book movie we’ve seen, and that kind of insanity sounds pretty awesome.