After being stuck for so many years in development, the screen adaptation of the “BioShock” gaming franchise is finally on the way with “I Am Legend” director Francis Lawrence set to helm the project for Netflix.
Out promoting his new film “Slumberland” and recently finishing production on “The Hunger Games” prequel, Lawrence sat down with Collider to discuss the status of the film adaptation and how believes the film can break the infamous ‘video game movie curse’.
Lawrence confirms “Logan” and “Blade Runner 2049” writer Michael Green is currently at work on the script from an outline he and Lawrence mapped out and, as a result, it’s “a real possibility of [it] being what’s next” for Lawrence to direct.
Asked what about the property would make a great movie, he says the thoughtful nature of the games and its rich themes could hit home with a new audience:
“First of all, I think it’s one of the best games ever created. It’s also, I think, one of the most visually unique games ever created. The other thing, and one of the things that always appeals to me, is it is very thematic. There’s real ideas and philosophies underneath the game property, and it’s really, really, really thought out.
A lot of games may have a great world of some kind, or they may have a great lead character, or they may tee you up for great set-pieces, but they don’t really have the ideas, they don’t have the kind of weight and the gravitas that Bioshock does.
The sort of combo of real ideas and philosophies mixed with the unbelievable aesthetic of it. Plus, one of the other things that I love, love, love is that sort of strange mashup of genre, the idea that you have what feels like a period piece, mixed with body horror, mixed with sci-fi. It’s one of those great mashups, and I think it can be really unique and really beautiful and really entertaining.”
What will considerably help him is the project being at Netflix, which offers a sense of freedom to help him create a faithful film without studio interference. He’s also had discussions with Take-Two Interactive and the ‘father’ of the franchise Ken Levine in an effort to stay “really true to the game itself”.
That said, he’s well aware of the troubled road of game-to-film adaptations in the past, most recently seen with a muted response to Sony’s “Uncharted” film adaptation earlier this year. He thinks “BioShock” will avoid that due to its deep source material:
“I think that there’s some great video games out there, but they don’t always have the weight of actual ideas underneath them. Sometimes they have a great aesthetic or something like that, but I feel like often they end up feeling empty because they’re not built from real ideas. The thing is, BioShock really is. The whole mythology of that world and the ideas behind it all, there’s just so much there.”
The comments come as the fourth game in the series is in early development at Cloud Chamber, with that entry rumored to boast a polar setting.
