BioShock Creator Not in a Hurry to Push Out BioShock Movie

[WMDogma]

BioShock Creator Not in a Hurry to Push Out BioShock Movie

Ken Levine, creative director of BioShock, says there's currently no need for a film adaption.

In a recent interview with IndustryGamers, Ken Levine, creative director of the BioShock series, stated that for Irrational Games "there's no burning [desire] to have a [BioShock] movie made just to get it made," further dashing hopes that we would see the underwater city of Rapture brought to the silver screen anytime soon.

Since announcing the film over sentiments [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/83749-Take-Two-Signs-BioShock-Movie-Deal] that a BioShock film is entirely possible, but with all of the issues plaguing the project it seems that for now the idea is mostly dead in the water.

At the very least, fans of the series can take some assurance that Irrational Games isn't going to cash out and let just anyone turn BioShock into a movie. Previous videogame films, such as Prince of Persia [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0419706/] have all been met with mixed reviews for getting too far away from their source material, and Levine, who originally pursued a career in screenwriting before becoming a game designer at Looking Glass Studios in 1995, wants to be sure a BioShock film stays close to home.

"It's really got to be something that will a) give the fans something that they want," Levine said in the interview. "And b) for those who don't know BioShock, really introduce them to something that is consistent with the game, and is it going to be a good representation of the game."

BioShock Infinite, the latest game in the series, is scheduled to release sometime next year.

Source: IndustryGamers [http://www.industrygamers.com/news/bioshock-creator-has-no-need-to-get-movie-made]


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[Daaaah Whoosh]

And here I thought that what made Bioshock the incredible success that it was was the medium in which it was portrayed. The mid-game plot twist played off of the gamer's understanding that you're supposed to trust the man who tells you what to do, and trust that your character actually knows his own backstory. That sort of a twist, in a movie, would come off as sort of bland and not at all as unique as in the game. I see Bioshock as the prime example of how video gaming is a unique form of storytelling that can accomplish things that other mediums can't.
But I guess they've made movies based off of books, so my argument is invalid.

 

[plugav]

And here I thought that what made Bioshock the incredible success that it was was the medium in which it was portrayed. ...

True, BioShock's impact lies in mostly in its relation to the medium. Without it, I think we'll just get a stylised sci-fi flick with maybe some critical references to Ayn Rand's objectivism.

 

[Absolutionis]

However, if they let Bioshock stray further from the source material, you may actually have a narrative-worthy movie.
Bioshock was primarily successful for being a rehash of the System Shock 2 storyline (twist and all) with mass-market appeal and much better graphics.

Bioshock already has a decent storyline, and allowing the movie to stray could make it better.
Bioshock already has mass-market appeal due to the brand name, but this may not be enough for moviegoing audiences; you need to stray from the source material.
Bioshock succeeded because of its unique setting and graphics, and this costs money for a movie.

Ultimately, I'm afraid they're going to take the enjoyable-to-play Bioshock and just make it a Uwe Boll horror movie with Ayn Rand books littered all over the place.
Atlas Shrugged already was made into a movie and nobody really cared much for it.

 

[ResonanceGames]

I feel like Ken Levine (who used to be a screenwriter) has a pretty good understanding of how it would be possible to adapt a game for the big screen, and it looks like he's making the right choice by waiting for the perfect deal.

I remember in one of his Irrational Interviews he was talking to someone (I feel like it was a director, maybe Zach Snyder) about how to develop an IP for multiple mediums, and how you do it by coming up with a strong core concept that can be properly applied to games, movies or books. I think Bioshock fits that bill.

It doesn't matter that Bioshock contained a lot of commentary about the nature of gameplay. A movie could just as easily comment on cinema, if that's the direction they decided to take. People like Charlie Kaufman and even Tarantino (to a much lesser extent) have been doing that for years.

 

[The Random One]

That twist in the middle was also just one moment that would've been better had it not been a videogame, because it's just game logic to do what the guy says.

But... that's the point. Hat Wearing Protagonist doesn't realize he's being controlled, because he contextualizes his actions as his own desires. Neither do you, because you're just thinking, 'hey, this is a videogame, I'll have to go to the next mission or I won't be able to proceed' and thus end up doing the bad guy's bidding anyway.

Though I don't feel the devs did realize this ambiguity either and kind of blundered into it.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

That twist in the middle was also just one moment that would've been better had it not been a videogame, because it's just game logic to do what the guy says.

But... that's the point. Hat Wearing Protagonist doesn't realize he's being controlled, because he contextualizes his actions as his own desires. Neither do you, because you're just thinking, 'hey, this is a videogame, I'll have to go to the next mission or I won't be able to proceed' and thus end up doing the bad guy's bidding anyway.

Though I don't feel the devs did realize this ambiguity either and kind of blundered into it.

It goes deeper than that. The whole "You never really had a past; you were just a test tube baby with false memories planted into you" part plays off the fact that the events of the game are the only parts of his life that you're privy to, with the twist being that they're the only parts of his life that really happened at all.

And incidentally, that part would be even harder to make work in a movie. It's already kind of a stretch that they would go to all that trouble instead of just program him to go after Ryan, especially the part about sending him all the way to the surface only to come all the way back. But at least you have a gameplay-related reason for it. In a movie it would seem to have happened for no reason, unless the movie also takes place from his point of view. Which would be a bad idea for a number of reasons.

 

[Helmholtz Watson]

hmmm.....*sigh* I guess he's right. Last thing I want is for the movie to be complete crap

 

[ChupathingyX]

Why not bring M. Night Shabamalama in this? Seems like his kind of film, hell it's already got the twist written into it!

Yeah because he is so great at adapting things into films *cough*The Last Airbender*cough*