Gore Verbinski Taking on 'Bioshock' Videogame Adaptation

This one may actually work...

By: Brad Brevet
Published: Friday, May 9th 2008 at 12:05 PM

Of all the videogames that have been turned into feature films I would say my favorite would have to be the first Resident Evil. I believe that film worked on one level or another and actually proved to be entertaining. Of course, you then have the rest of them including Doom, Hitman, Mortal Kombat, Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy and even Super Mario Bros.. I think it's enough to say that the transition from videogame to film has not been a smooth one despite the fact the videogames are becoming far more engaging and story driven.

Of course, the games mentioned above are all rather old in comparison to the next gen games that are out now and one such game is getting its very own adaptation and with a larger name director.

Gore Verbinski and Universal Pictures are aboard to adapt the Take-Two videogame "Bioshock" into a feature film with John Logan aboard to pen the script.

Out of all the news that comes from two Variety articles (traditional and better) I really don't see a single problem with any of it. Basically, this really could be the first videogame adaptation that actually works. This is probably why Take-Two Interactive is getting a multimillion-dollar advance against gross points on the pic making it what is considered to be the biggest videogame-to-movie deal since the botched 2005 deal for "Halo," which resulted in nothing being made.

First off you have Verbinski, a director I actually like after The Ring and the Pirates films. Then you have Logan. Yeah, he may have written Star Trek: Nemesis (believed to be the film that killed the Star Trek movies), but he also wrote Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, The Aviator, The Last Samurai and Gladiator. So, yeah, that doesn't bother me.

On top of all that Verbinski is working closely with the game's creative director Ken Levine in an effort to make sure things work out smoothly.

In an interview with Verbinski regarding the adaptation he seems to have a firm hold on what he believes it takes to bring a game to the bigscreen. Priority number one is not to water down the story for the kiddies and also make sure the "core audience [doesn't] feels betrayed."

A screen capture from the Xbox360 version.

The game takes place in an underwater city based on the free market principles of Ayn Rand, but things have gone disastrously wrong. Players control a pilot who crash-lands at a secret entrance to the city, called Rapture, and is drawn into a power struggle during which he discovers that his will is not as free as he'd thought.

As to how the M-rated game will be adapted to the screen, Verbinski says, "We're prepared to make it an R-rated movie. I don’t intuitively see it as PG-13. The content and the graphic nature of the story itself is smarter than that. It's not for young kids.

"The utopian references and the way the characters and world are drawn in that delightfully inspired Jules Verne and Ayn Rand style places the film in a more elevated realm. It's the realm of a graphic novel. It has to have that edge."

I have not played the game, and the only reason I actually didn't buy it was because it looked like one of those dark and moody games. This is something I love in film, but I hate walking around slowly and peeking around corners when playing videogames. I don't have time for that crap, but it seriously could make for an enormous amount of thrills if done right on film and Verbinksi has a visual style that really seems to fit the game.

There is no word on when it will begin filming since the script is not yet completed, but once it is Gore plans get begin right away.

Check out a clip from the game which involves something called "Little Sisters" which apparently is a major moral aspect to the film. Something Verbinski says they will take "right up to the edge."

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