Verbinski Out of 'Pirates', Diving Into 'Bioshock'

So, you're given the choice between directing a fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie or adapting one of the gaming world's most enthralling stories ever. Which one do you choose? The answer's simple, and one that Gore Verbinski very easily dove towards. Variety reports that the Pirates and Weather Man director will be diving away from Disney's cash cow franchise to concentrate on engulfing himself in 2K Games' seminal narrative.

Bioshock isn't your normal video game; riddled with symbolism that harks on the novels of Ayn Rand and an overall sense of pensiveness regarding genetic alteration and societal euphoria, the terror under the sea plays out like an idyllic, art deco Atlantis on the skids. The story is cinematic to a fault and a complete nailbiter from start to finish, but it's in the atmosphere that Bioshock really nails down its incredible intrigue. Mixing Verbinski's talents with action in the Pirates' pictures with his eye-popping ideas for visual design in horror-based settings -- read The Ring -- he's absolutely the right man for the job.

I call B.S. on the 2010 date that's floating around since this mammoth undertaking is still in pre-production, but this bit of news shows that he's serious about getting it up and running, and soon. Hopefully, more details will start to trickle through the woodwork soon. As for casting, it all seems up in the air -- but Andrew Ryan seems like a good fit for Liam Neeson while, maybe, Willem Dafoe as Atlas? His cackling voice might strike a clever chord.

The big question is ... Who will play Jack, a character never seen due to the game's first-person perspective, in the Bioshock movie?