Before it died in the 2010s, director Gore Verbinski’s adaptation of BioShock would have been R-rated and somehow incorporated both of its endings. It’s one of those potentially fascinating movies that never happened: Pirates Of The Caribbean director Gore Verbinski’s adaptation of the hit videogame, BioShock. Bankrolled by Universal, it was set to be as ... BioShock | Gore Verbinski’s R-rated adaptation would have included both of the game’s endings
Before it died in the 2010s, director Gore Verbinski’s adaptation of BioShock would have been R-rated and somehow incorporated both of its endings.
It’s one of those potentially fascinating movies that never happened: Pirates Of The Caribbean director Gore Verbinski’s adaptation of the hit videogame, BioShock.
Bankrolled by Universal, it was set to be as dark and full blooded as the original, set in an undersea kingdom that had descended into chaos. The studio began to half second thoughts about making a $200m movie with an R-rating attached, and the plug was pulled – after sets had been built, and mere weeks before cameras were due to roll.
BioShock sat in limbo for several years, until it was finally announced as being cancelled in 2013.
Verbinski is now back with a new dark sci-fi film: Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, and on the promotional trail for it, he’s briefly talked about his time on BioShock – and how he initially hoped to include both endings from the videogame.
“I loved this project when we were getting close to making it at Universal,” Verbinski wrote on a Reddit AMA (via IGN). “I was going to dive deeply into the Oedipal aspect and definitely keep it hard R with the Little Sisters, and the ‘choices’ the protagonist makes… and the consequences.”
Read more: The story of the lost BioShock movie
As part of those consequences, Verbinski and screenwriter John Logan had worked out a version of the story that incorporated both the good and bad endings from the videogame:
“I had worked out a way with writer John Logan to have both endings and I was looking forward to bringing that to the big screen and really f***ing with people’s heads. [We] had some great designs for the Big Daddies and the entire underwater demented art-deco aesthetic. Every year I hear something about the project, but I’m not sure any studio is quite willing to go where I was headed.”
Quite how their take on BioShock would have included two endings without copping out with an ‘it was all a dream’ rug-pull isn’t clear. Perhaps one day their script will emerge online…
There’s still a BioShock adaptation in the works – though this time it’s at Netflix, with Francis Lawrence directing. The Verbinski version, sadly, is one we’ll never get to see.
