In a recent talk with the LA Times, Gore Verbinksi cited high costs as one of the main reasons for not wanting to do the Bioshock film that he was slated to do. The film was put on hold while they investigated the option of shooting the film overseas.
Well, as it turns out, the film's budget that just kept on balooning has meant that it would require going to someplace with a "very generous tax cut," for well over a year. With other projects going on, and y'know, a life otherwise, a year and a half is a big chunk of time to cut out. And anyways, it's taking away from his making videogames time.
I can understand the problem for Mr. Verbinksi. The budget required for the film is growing, as would the time required to be overseas -- many of these countries require a certain amount of work to be done in there in order to qualify for tax benefits. At the same time, I wouldn't be surprised if there was an eat-in clause on his contract, which would really cut down on the incentive for him, as I really doubt it's a pet project for him.
So, back to that videogame making business. Talking about his company Blink Wind, Mr. Verbinski said, "We're doing everything from 30 hours of gameplay to applications that may be eight minutes of highly entertaining and unique downloadable content." Verbinski's role as producer on these games seems to be that of an organizer, from how he talks. He brings the people together, and tries to get some magic to happen -- he's not going to be in there micro-managing the titles.
The whole interview is a really great read, and I suggest you plunk down a few hours at this late hour to give it a read.
[Thanks EvLo211!]
Contest:
2:00 AM on 06.02.2009 | 
This week in Rapture...
In the end, something like Bioshock done right is going to cost money.
My fear is that if Bioshock 2 does as well or better that 1 that they'll just find some bottom of the barrel directorand well have another Doom, Max Payne, etc.