An in-depth breakdown of the canceled Bioshock movie’s script

Rapture: An underwater city of dreams and dreamers alike. A place where you can do whatever your heart desires and be whomever you please. Ambitious and bold, a fantasy too good to be true… much like the canceled film adaptation of Bioshock.

Shortly after the release of the acclaimed video game, Bioshock, film studios began chomping at the bit to secure the film rights. Universal swooped in and nabbed them, attaching Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski to helm the picture. Unlike many unseen video game movie adaptations, Bioshock was just mere weeks away from rolling cameras.

Sets were being built and a script had been fully completed. They were looking to cut the budget down, which reportedly ranged between $160 million to $200 million. Just for reference, Deadpool cost about $60 million to make. Deadpool 2 *almost* doubled that with a reported budget of $110 million. That should give you an idea of what the Bioshock movie was going to be like on a production level. Basically, fucking bonkers.

Because of the massive financial risk, Universal got cold feet and pulled the plug on the film at the last minute, leaving many to wonder what could’ve been. Well, wonder no more!

John Logan’s (Skyfall, Gladiator writer) Bioshock script stumbled its way into my hands and after reading the nearly 120-page script, I have to say… it’s pretty damn good. That’s largely in part because it’s a very direct adaptation of the game with all the core story beats, characters, and major set-pieces. There is some new stuff, however, and I’m going to walk you through it beat by beat with some concept art from the film to help pad it all out.

The Script

Spoilers for Bioshock follow below.

The story doesn’t start where exactly where the game does. We meet the previously silent protagonist, Jack, on his college graduation day in 1960. The commencement speaker instantly clues us in on the themes: Choice, individualism, and one’s overall potential. Both at the ceremony and his grad party held in his backyard, Jack silently expresses his anxiety and discontent. He’s deeply unsure of where his life goes from here, deeply unsure of what he wants.

Pretty much from this moment on, things become just slightly… abnormal. There are small details such as an obscured shimmering object at the bottom of Jack’s pool. Jack is then brought to his father’s office, referred to only as “The Firm”, where he’s shown his new workplace. Jack’s father talks to himself, his son’s overwhelming panic is emerging inside him so you can tell he’s not really listening.

His father mentions they’ll have lunch with a “Mr. Ryan from New York” who can “open doors” for Jack and is the “big cheese”. They don’t call back to this at any point but it can probably be assumed this is in reference to Andrew Ryan, the central antagonist. They pass an office where a man is crying to himself, Scrabble pieces scattered across his desk, showing a level of unhappiness in the generic and oppressive workspace.

Jack’s father stops him, shows him a fancy ring and tells him he’ll get one after 10 years at The Firm. Jack realizes that the rest of his life is stuck in a corporate prison cell and instantly bolts for the airport. He boards an airliner headed for Barcelona and finally, he can breathe.

The stewardess offers him the choice of tea or coffee, Jack asks for tea but is given coffee anyways. Even in the smallest moments, Jack isn’t actually given any freedom of choice, a major running theme in the story. He flirts with the stewardess, talking about how he feels everything around him was made-up and like he’s always meant to “obey”.

At his seat, he looks at a letter and gift from his mother with the debut of the now-infamous “Would you kindly?” phrase. She tells him to open his present but before we see what’s inside, we’re taken to a flashback in Jack’s dining room. He tells his parents he’s going off to be alone for a while and collect his thoughts but then… it gets a bit weird.

Here’s the excerpt from the script after Jack stops speaking:

“He stops… as the wine begins to drizzle from his glass… drizzle horizontally… as if blown by a wind. He looks at it. As the table begins to vibrate, the cutlery shaking and jumping, a seismic roar building and building. And then a powerful wind starts sending things flying off the table. None of the other people seem to notice.”

This scene continues for another half a page. In case it wasn’t clear, the plane has crashed. Jack awakens underwater and when he surfaces, he finds himself as the lone survivor of the crash. He sees a single lighthouse out in the middle of the ocean and swims to it. Once inside, he sees the beautiful architecture and a banner that reads “NO GODS OR KINGS. ONLY MAN.”

He continues to explore until he enters an elevator that descends into the “titanic undersea city” of Rapture. Andrew Ryan gives his extensive monologue talking about how free a man can be in Rapture. No need to censor oneself, no need to abide by any real rules. An idea, a fantasy… a dream. One we see has now become a nightmare.

From here, it’s basically Bioshock as you remember it for quite a while. Atlas hijacks the broadcast and a splicer attacks someone sent to retrieve Jack when he finally arrives in Rapture. This is where we get the without a doubt confirmation that this movie would’ve been gunning for the hardest of R ratings. The violence is brutal and paints a picture of dark reds and fleshy sounds effects.

Jack walks through Rapture, amazed but in fear of its presentation. It has seen much better days. As he explores, we see one of the only references to plasmids, the “superpowers” you get in the game. Plasmids allowed players to shoot fire, electricity, and do much more within the game but it seems the film was going to sidestep them. The only mention of them is through a vending machine Jack passes.

Jack finds a dead man wearing a tuxedo who has Scrabble tiles spilled out in front of him. They spell “Would you kindly?” It’s unclear if this is supposed to be a parallel to the crying man seen in The Firm who also had Scrabble tiles on his desk. As he investigates the man, he’s made aware of a woman rocking an empty baby carriage.

She is a mess, makeup smeared and clearly in anguish. She tells Jack “they” took her baby and then pauses… she gives a look of recognition to him before starting to cry. A splicer cuts the moment short and rips her apart with hooks. It then sets its sights on Jack before Atlas shoots it dead.

Atlas leads a panicked Jack through Rapture as he tries to bolt away, believing he can just go back the way he came and go home. Pieces of the crashed plane begin to fall into Rapture, flooding the area they’re in and cutting off any chance of going back the way Jack came.

Atlas tells Jack to stick with him, his family is waiting in a place known as Neptune’s Bounty where they can escape the underwater utopia. Atlas gives Jack a .45 which results in the obvious “I’ve never killed anyone, I can’t use this!” back and forth.

“I couldn’t shoot anyone,” says Jack. “You better learn,” says Atlas. “This is insane,” Jack replies. “You’re learning,” Atlas smugly retorts.

As they venture through the city, they sneak past various themed splicers. A football player assembling bombs, a newly-wed couple (and very quickly, a self-made widow), and a milkman.

We’re finally introduced to Sander Cohen, the flamboyant artist who uses corpses to create his masterpiece. Atlas and Cohen have a verbal spat which results in the auteur signaling a bunch of splicers. Atlas shoots Cohen and the two would-be heroes bolt as they’re chased by the mutilated citizens of Rapture.

The level of violence increases even further with a splicer biting off Jack’s ear, heads being exploded, and much more. The action is incredibly well-written, ensuring there would’ve been really intense and gripping set-pieces to go along with the rich story.

The two end up getting chased into a small room. Atlas pins the door closed but knows they don’t have long, he pulls out a syringe filled with a blue liquid: ADAM. The drug that has turned the people of this once dream-like city into savages. Atlas tells Jack to take it and go save his family while he holds off the splicers. Jack argues leading Atlas to take half of it, giving him a shot of super steroids to fight off the monsters.

He asks Jack one last time to “kindly” take the drug and go to Neptune’s Bounty…. so he does, reluctantly.

“We feel the power of the drug tearing through Jack’s system. Flashes – his musculature, his blood, his brain. He gasps at the power. His spine writhes. His muscles twitch. His eyes flash with aggression and focus.”

There’s a time jump, several minutes probably. We find Jack standing in a room of corpses, the aftermath of whatever fury he unleashed on the splicers post-ADAM injection. More are coming to him, he takes them out with ease and actively enjoys it. It’s incredibly true to the gameplay of Bioshock. He’s doing things he didn’t previously know how to do such as operating a Tommy Gun like a professional but he doesn’t really care. He’s deeply immersed in his power.

After the battle, he takes a breather and realizes the thing he saw at the bottom of his pool was one of the empty ADAM syringes. How? It’s a *ominously waves hands* mysteryyyyyyy.

Jack moves along, encounters the Little Sister/Big Daddy introduction seen in the Bioshock game, and then scavenges for medical supplies to fix his ear as well as some ADAM. As he desperately searches for his resources, a monologue from Ryan echoes throughout Rapture. It seems like a pre-recorded message but it turns out Ryan is watching Jack and the two begin to speak to each other.

More and more of the game’s events unfold, such as an encounter with Dr. Steinman to fix Jack’s ear. After being turned away and seeing a Big Daddy ruthlessly rip apart a splicer to protect a Little Sister, we meet a brand-new character named Rudy. Rudy is a theater usher who gives off the impression that he literally never stops speaking but has an ultra-friendly attitude.

He makes non-stop movie references, even giving old-school casting suggestions for actors who should play the citizens of Rapture when they make a movie about what the hell happened to the city. Rudy guides Jack to Neptune’s Bounty while delivering exposition, he essentially fills in some of the details you might get from the audio logs in Bioshock.

The two end up in a fake suburb and enter a woman’s house. She offers them both food but you get the impression it’s repulsive. As the two hurry along out the back door, Jack notices a picture of his dog in the woman’s house. He insists it’s his dog but the woman tells him it is hers, creating lots of confusion for Jack.

Rudy and Jack discover a Little Sister playing in the backyard, whom Jack befriends. He begins to push her on a swing set as Rudy moves out of focus, the two bond and share a moment. The Little Sister smiles at Jack before blood splatters all over him. Rudy has smashed her head wide open with a mallet and then begins to harvest ADAM from her.

Jack is paralyzed with confusion, anger, and terror. Rudy reveals that ADAM comes from Little Sisters and it’s pretty much the only way to acquire it, repulsing Jack. A Big Daddy enters the scene with hulking rage and annihilates Rudy.

“Rudy is screaming in absolute terror. In fury, the Big Daddy swings Rudy against the wall of the house like a ragdoll. SMASH! SMASH! SMASH! SMASH! Rudy’s body is shattered.”

The Big Daddy then mourns the death of the child, Jack joins him… not wise. There’s a moment of silence and then the Big Daddy slowly turns to him and attacks him. An extended battle sequence plays out leading to Jack having to outwit the Big Daddy to kill it by leading it to a bunch of machine gun drones.

After the fight, Jack stumbles into a different house. He finds a dining room… his dining room from back home. He moves into a separate room and finds a medical lab. Pictures of people, places, things, proms, vacations, and more litter the walls. Atlas eventually rejoins Jack outside, Jack presses for answers.

Atlas is just as confused as Jack who begins to insinuate that he’s seemingly from Rapture. Jack reveals to Atlas that he told Dr. Steinman he was looking for Neptune’s Bounty which brings a new kind of urgency to Atlas. They rush to their destination to see Atlas’ family on a submarine, being lit up by gunfire and missile barrages. The submarine sinks and a weakened Atlas tells Jack to go kill Andrew Ryan.

Andrew Ryan lets down his defenses and welcomes Jack into his elegant fortress. The big twist is revealed: Andrew Ryan is Jack’s father and the woman seen crying over the baby carriage was his mother. That’s why she recognized him and began crying. Atlas kidnapped Jack and brainwashed him to help assassinate Ryan. His whole life was a lie, implanted in his head by Atlas.

Ryan sees that his son is not really a man or even his child but a slave, operated by the phrase “Would you kindly?” Realizing he has nothing left at this point, Ryan orders Jack to kill him which he does. Atlas then comes over the PA system, telling Jack to kill himself now as he’s useless to him.

A Little Sister saves him and Jack awakens in an operating room. The device that controlled him has been removed by a woman named Tenenbaum, the mother of the Little Sisters. She explains that Jack can leave via some escape pods and start a new life, finally. Atlas has control of Rapture and is harvesting Little Sisters, there is no hope.

As Jack is leaving, he is reminded of the Little Sister that he had befriended earlier thanks to a drawing on a wall. He decides to stay and fills himself with an excessive amount of ADAM. He then equips Big Daddy armor and goes to fight Atlas. The new antagonist monologues about realizing a man’s full potential, how Jack belongs in Rapture, and much more.

This is basically the final battle of the game except not as video game-y. An Atlas hopped up on an ungodly amount of ADAM kicks Jack’s ass but he’s able to flood the room with water using the drill on his Big Daddy suit. Some Little Sisters come and finish Atlas off by prodding him with syringes, draining him of all his ADAM.

Jack “dies” and envisions a peaceful version of Heaven, surrounded by Little Sisters and his dog. Tennenbaum wakes him up, telling him that they saved him. Jack begins to mutter about how Atlas may have been right and kills her.

Jack takes control of Rapture, telling the citizens that he will carry on his father’s legacy and unleash the potential of this city on the rest of the world. A US Navy submarine sits above Rapture, splicers hijack it and kill everyone on board. They find a nuclear missile and launch it.

The End

Final Thoughts

Could Bioshock really be made into a movie with this script? It’s cool as hell but would a studio want to take the gamble on an R-rated video game adaptation on a $160 million – $200 million budget? Probably not. Not to mention, the ending is even grimmer than the game’s already super dark evil ending. They could’ve opted to change the ending to liven it up but even that might not be enough.

Going off the rule of thumb of a movie’s marketing doubles its budget, Bioshock would have to have made roughly $320 million – $400 million to just turn a profit. Getting it there likely seemed near impossible. It’s a hard story to market to mass audiences.

John Logan should be given a lot of credit for what he did. He managed to streamline Bioshock’s story into a cohesive, two-hour story while adding things like the characterization of Jack, some pre-Rapture events, and more. It adds new layers to the story without taking away the ones fans deeply care about, something essential in a video game film adaptation.

That doesn’t guarantee it’s “good” either. Shooting this movie and bringing everything to life from sets to characters sounds like a hell of a task. Gore Verbinski had his work cut out for him but it would’ve made for one crazy ride had he pulled it off.

One thing’s for sure, this would’ve been one of those movies that rewards rewatches. There are a lot of “Oh shit” moments when you re-read the script, picking up on subtle lines and events that heavily foreshadow or basically outright tell you the twist. As already mentioned, Jack tells the stewardess on the plane that his whole life feels made-up and not real… because it’s not. He was right to believe that.

There’s a lot to enjoy about the script. It has great action, captures the very essence of Bioshock, and does a great job of translating it to the page. It seems like it would’ve been one crazy film but unfortunately, just like Rapture itself, it collapsed due to its own ambitions.