The road to a BioShock film adaptation has been a long one, but we just got a pretty exciting update regarding where the current attempt to bring it to life is at.
Netflix initially announced last year that it will be partnering with 2K and Take-Two on a feature take on Ken Levine’s beloved game, but we’ve gotten few updates since. And of course, development was paused during the writers’ strike, but with that having ended last month, director Francis Lawrence tells IGN that the script is now in pretty solid shape.
“Yeah, we got a little stuck,” he says. “I was hoping we’d be further along before the writer strike. We got a little stuck during the writer strike, but now that part’s over. And I will say that I have a draft that I’m super, super excited about.”
Last we heard, writer Michael Green told Collider that the team had returned to work following the end of the strike, but couldn’t say too much else.
Speaking a little further about what drew him to take on BioShock, Lawrence noted some of the similarities between the story of the game and his past work on movies like I Am Legend and the Hunger Games series (including its forthcoming prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes).
“If you know anything about BioShock, the first game, the lead character… is a very solitary figure going on a very solitary journey, which I love.
“I like stories about very solitary figures,” he tells us. “That doesn’t mean that they’re always by themselves, but they’re on these solitary journeys. And if you know anything about BioShock, the first game, the lead character, who is the video game player, is a very solitary figure going on a very solitary journey, which I love.”
Lawrence is, of course, talking about Jack, the sole survivor of a plane crash who finds himself in the underwater city of Rapture. And Rapture, too, was a big selling point for Lawrence.
“The other thing that I really look for is the world-building possibilities, because I like the visual side of filmmaking,” he continues. “I like the world-building side of filmmaking and all the layers. And the idea of helping bring a Rapture to life in a feature film is super, super exciting. And all the detail and going back into ‘what was it like when it was thriving and alive, and what’s left over?’ And there’s elements of I Am Legend in that, which I’m really excited to bring to life.”
He added that the reason he’s “hooked” on BioShock is “that the mythology and the thematics are so rich and so deep that it gives the heft to it that most video games don’t have.”
“I think Ken Levine, when he created that game, had real ideas and very thematic ideas, and created such a dense, meaningful mythology to it all,” he says. “It’s just an amazing foundation to start from.”
Luckily, Lawrence is no stranger with adapting vast lore, which will be on display again when The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes releases on Nov. 17. For more on that, stay tuned for our full chat with Lawrence later this week.
Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she’s not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.
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