Who Would You Cast In A BioShock Movie?
Once upon a time, our hopes of a BioShock movie were lost at sea. We're jumping in the deep end with the long-rumoured live-action adaptation of 2K's 2007 underwater horror. As we jump in the bathysphere and Rapture opens its doors, a BioShock movie could be one of Netflix's biggest hits ever.
While Pirates of the Caribbean's Gore Verbinski was originally attached to add his nautical flair to 2K's world, the budget spiralled and Universal Studios worried about sinking $200 million into an R-rated video game adaptation. Rising from the depths, Netflix is finally making waves with a BioShock movie, with attention now turning to who will be who in Rapture.
Netflix outings have always managed to lure some surprising megastars, with everyone from Winona Ryder (Stranger Things) to Sanda Bullock (Bird Box), Chris Hemsworth (Extraction) to Henry Cavill (The Witcher) leaving Tinsel Town behind for the streaming giant. It's obviously just a fictional cast, but if money was no object, here's who'd we'd love to see in a live-action BioShock.
Jack - Wentworth Miller
Click to enlargeCasting the main man himself is arguably the (second) most difficult job of any BioShock movie. Just like Resident Evil 7's Ethan Winters, the first-person perspective of BioShock's Jack makes him a bit of a one-dimensional character.
Names like Bradley Cooper and Ryan Gosling have done the rounds among fans, while Jamie Dornan auditioned for the role back in the day. We say go for someone a little more obscure, who also has past ties to the BioShock movie.
Previously, Prison Break's Wentworth Miller was tipped to take up the role of the series protagonist. Even though Miller himself tweeted about a mysterious role in the project, it was never confirmed he was going to be Jack. Now that BioShock is back, we say, make it happen for Michael Scofield.
Andrew Ryan - Robert Downey Jr.
Click to enlargeThis is the big one. No matter who you cast as the enigmatic Andrew Ryan, you are always going to have supporters and critics. Well, apart from the inevitable uproar if Chris Pratt desecrated another beloved video game. One man who is no stranger to playing an eccentric billionaire is Robert Downey Jr.
Living in his own fantasy world, Rapture owes itself to this sinister Walt Disney knock-off. As the games have shown, Ryan will stop at nothing to bring his utopia to life - making him the de facto villain of a BioShock movie. We're used to Downey Jr. playing a hero thanks to his long-standing portrayal of Tony Stark/Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so let's mix it up a little.
In a post-Iron Man world, RDJ has had some clangers (we're looking at you Dolittle), but imagine what he could do with Andrew Ryan. Channelling his inner Tony Stark with a villainous edge, the A-lister has just the right qualities of love and loathing that Ryan embodies in BioShock.
Frank Fontaine - Woody Harrelson
Click to enlargePlaying second fiddle to Ryan, we need someone to pull double duty as Atlas and Frank Fontaine. The Irish lilt of Atlas makes him Jack's guide around Rapture, whereas Frank Fontaine is Andrew Ryan's mortal enemy who is vying for control of the city.
The big twist is that they're the same person, meaning whoever takes the part needs to be able to juggle both halves. In everything from The Hunger Games to Zombieland, True Detective to Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Harrelson has shown he's a man of varied talents.
If you really want to see him go for it, check out Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Edging out Ryan as the big baddie, you need someone with the gravitas of Harrelson for playing heroes and villains. Namely, we'd love to see if Harrelson can nail Atlas' signature "would you kindly?"
Cate Blanchett - Brigid Tenenbaum
Click to enlargeBoiling it down to the core of Brigid Tenenbaum's motives, she just wants to make sure the doomed Little Sisters of Rapture are kept safe. Although that may make her seem like a hero in the eyes of the player, you'll come to learn she's much more morally corrupt than that.
A woman we think can handle Tenenbaum's cold edge is Cate Blanchett. More than just Galadriel from The Lord of the Rings, Blanchett is considered one of the greatest actors of her generation and has even pulled off a memorable villain part as Thor: Ragnarok's Hela.
We know Blanchett would have no problem turning it out as the German-accented geneticist and stoic female voice in the war between Ryan and Fontaine. With hopes that Guillermo del Toro could direct the BioShock movie, his Nightmare Alley star would be right at home.
Sander Cohen - Ralph Fiennes
Click to enlargeThere's a major case to be made for Ralph Fiennes playing Andrew Ryan, but for some of us, he's the perfect Sander Cohen. Adding the theatrical to Rapture, Cohen is also arguably the city's most unhinged inhabitant. Whether it's encasing his victims in plaster or putting on one hell of a show, Cohen is a legend of the BioShock world.
Sealing himself away in the nightmarish Fort Frolic, Jack confronting Cohen would undoubtedly push a BioShock movie into the horror aspects of its source material. Someone that's proved his varied talents time and time again is Ralph Fiennes. Voldemort himself has also delivered a terrifying performance as the Tooth Fairy in Red Dragon, making him an easy choice for Cohen.
With Fiennes seemingly done with playing M in the James Bond movies, we're excited to see what he does next. Hint, it should be playing Sander Cohen in Netflix's BioShock.
Yi Suchong - B.D. Wong
Click to enlargeSomeone who is no stranger to playing mad scientists is B.D. Wong. As well as portraying Dr. Henry Wu in the Jurassic Park movies - and somehow surviving through to 2022's Jurassic World Dominion - Wong dialled up the creepy as Dr. Hugo Strange in Fox's underrated Gotham.
Being the go-to guy for mad scientists, we say let Wong make it three for three as Dr. Yi Suchong in a BioShock movie. Helping create Big Daddies, Little Sisters, and Plasmids, Suchong is one of the leading causes for Rapture's descent into chaos.
By the time we get to the events of BioShock, Suchong has already met his maker - with Jack finding his body pinned to a desk by a Big Daddy drill. Still, that doesn't mean we can't see him get killed off in grisly style to help promote the movie's hopeful R rating.
Julianne Moore - Julie Langford
Click to enlargeThink Batman's Posion Ivy if you locked her up at the bottom of the ocean. Enter Professor Julie Langford. Responsible for operating the gardens of Rapture as Arcadia, Langford is one of the few who isn't afflicted with an addiction to ADAM or splicing.
Langford tries to help Jack, but before they can properly meet, Ryan floods her lab with poison gas and reminds her who is in charge. Despite Langford being a pretty minor character in the first game, her death is an important moment in showing how villainous Ryan really is.
With Langford being a relatively normal character, Julianne Moore can bring her Oscar-worthy acting to the role - even if she's set for an early death. Whereas Moore portrayed the evil Poppy Adams in the second Kingsman movie, her version of Langford should embrace Poppy's sweeter side.
Bid Daddy - Dave Bautista
Click to enlargeThere's no particular character that plays the Big Daddies of Rapture, but we obviously need someone to play them in a BioShock movie. One man who is no stranger to flexing his muscles is former pro-wrestler Dave Bautista.
These days, he's one of Hollywood's leading men thanks to roles in everything from SPECTRE to the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. He's also used to playing some gruff grunt in Netflix productions due to Army of the Dead.
Playing a Big Daddy won't give Bautista the most to do, but when has that stopped Guardians co-star Vin Diesel? Also, adding Bautista could give us a nice flashback to the harrowing process where some doomed maintenance worker is butchered to become a Big Daddy.
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Ultimately, a BioShock movie is only in the early stages. There's still no director attached, and whether Verbinski gets another chance, Del Toro puts his mark on the IP, or the divisive suggestion of Zack Snyder takes on the challenge, we're sure a suitably A-list cast will help BioShock float to the top of our must-watch list on Netflix.