Irrational's Ken Levine personally "killed" BioShock film adaptation

The BAFTA awards were given out earlier this month, and apart from being known as the ceremony where winners get a golden face, it's where a few PC games took a bow for their achievements. Irrational boss Ken Levine was on hand to promote the incoming release of BioShock Infinite, and as Eurogamer reports, he also discusses what happened to the BioShock film and its on-again, off-again director Gore Verbinski.

I'll just let Levine explain it:

"There was a deal in place, and it was in production at Universal—Gore Verbinski was directing it. My theory is that Gore wanted to make a hard 'R' film—which is like an age 17/18-plus, where you can have blood and naked girls. Well, I don't think he wanted naked girls. But he wanted a lot of blood.

"Then Watchmen came out, and it didn't do well for whatever reason. The studio then got cold feet about making an R rated $200 million film, and they said what if it was a $80 million film—and Gore didn't want to make a $80 million film.

"They brought another director in, and I didn't really see the match there. 2K's one of these companies that puts a lot of creative trust in people, so they said if you want to kill it, kill it. And I killed it."

That's that, then: we probably won't see Rapture headline the nearest cineplex anytime soon. It's not like Hollywood doesn't have plenty of other game films in the works , and I'd much prefer to remember BioShock as a series of games than as a sprawling entertainment license.

Omri Petitte

Omri Petitte is a former PC Gamer associate editor and long-time freelance writer covering news and reviews. If you spot his name, it probably means you're reading about some kind of first-person shooter. Why yes, he would like to talk to you about Battlefield. Do you have a few days?