The LA Times reports that director Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) may abandon the big-screen adaptation of the 2007 hit computer game Bioshock, which he signed up to direct more than a year ago.
The bottom line is it has to shoot out of the States for budget reasons and my schedule may be prohibitive.
Verbinski also talked about both his desire to produce video games himself and his philosophy regarding cinematic adaptations of video games:
It's a mistake for Hollywood to impose themselves on the gaming
space. Not only is it arrogant, but it hasn't really worked. The presumption that we have a better understanding of narrative that we can bring to gaming is flawed at its core because interactive entertainment is a completely different way to navigate and explore what compels you in that world.
As a filmmaker, I'm absolutely fascinated with the idea that the protagonist is the audience. That mandates a new form of narrative at its core. So you can't really take the skill sets we have for making movies and impose them upon games. Hollywood has made a mistake to think they can enter this space and somehow provide better storytelling.
No official word has been given regarding Verbinski's decision.