If there was ever a sign that Universal were looking at ways for cutting down costs in the current climate,
today's news that Spanish helmer
Juan Carlos Fresnadillo is in talks to replace
Gore Verbinski in the director's chair for
Bioshock is sure fire proof of a recession era picture. Fresnadillo is the guy who made
28 Weeks Later look like it carried a Hollywood mega budget of $70 million when it came out two years ago when in actual fact the figure was probably more like $10-12 million (although solid figures for that movie for whatever reason are hard to find) - so he is a wise choice for a recession tentpole as his CV boasts a fast paced, entertaining as hell, genuinely terrifying Indie movie that felt like a heayweight blockbuster. I dare bet he is a guy with a tremendous ambition, who takes every new project as a challenge, pushing the boundaries of the resources that are made available to him. He showed fabulous creativity when working with what he had on
28 Weeks Later. It was a sequel that should be the blueprint of exactly how you continue a great concept and make it larger, more epic and most importantly, kept the story moving forward. I must admit to being a little saddened that we will never see Verbinski's version of the
Bioshock universe but when his imagination had ballooned the project to $160 million, Universal were never going to give him the ball. But we should be encouraged that some of his work and ideas might stay with the project - he is going to work closely with Fresnadillo as producer (hopefully not THAT closesly, otherwise the clash of heads could cause this to be a disaster). The exiting of Verbinski with
Bioshock was amicable after all, and if it wasn't for the fact Universal had to change location shooting to outside the U.K., a place Verbinski didn't want to move too for over a year, he probably would still have been in the director's chair.