Gore Verbinski

Early life

Verbinski was born in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, the fourth of five children of Laurette Ann (née McGovern) and Victor Vincent Verbinski, a nuclear physicist. His siblings are Janine, Claire, Diane, and Steven. His father was of Polish descent, and worked as a nuclear physicist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. In 1967, the Verbinski family moved to Southern California, where a young Gregor grew up in the town of La Jolla. Gregor was an active Boy Scout and surfed regularly. He went to Torrey Pines Elementary, Muirlands Junior High, and La Jolla High School (Class of 1982), before attending UCLA Film School. Verbinski graduated with his BFA in Film in 1987. In his youth, Verbinski was passionate about music and played in several punk rock bands, which influenced his creative approach.

Career

Music career

Verbinski was active in several L.A. rock bands early in his career. He played guitar in the Daredevils, Bulldozer with John Thum, Mike Parma and Wiggy, the Drivers, and the all-star band the Cylon Boys Choir. He was also in a band called the Little Kings, which backed Stiv Bators on his version of "Have Love, Will Travel" with amateur drummer Chris "Poobah" Bailey. Along with a cover of the Moody Blues song "The Story in Your Eyes" (by other musicians), the song was released by Bators in the fall of 1986 as a 12-inch single on Bomp! (catalogue No. 12136) and was later included in Bators' compilation album L.A. L.A. On the compilation album's liner notes, label owner Greg Shaw described the band as "an adequate but rootless Hollywood glam-damaged band with tattoos".

Film career

His first films were a series of 8 mm films called The Driver Files c. 1979, when he was a young teen. After graduating from film school at UCLA, he got his first job as a script reader at the commercial production company Limelight in 1987. After director Julien Temple viewed some of his work, he signed to his production company Nitrate Films, and later Palomar Pictures, where he directed music videos for bands like Vicious Rumors, Bad Religion, NOFX, 24-7 Spyz and Monster Magnet. Verbinski moved from music videos to commercials, where he worked for many brand names including Nike, Coca-Cola, Canon, Skittles and United Airlines. One of his most famous commercials was for Budweiser, featuring frogs who croak the brand name. For his efforts in commercials, Verbinski won four Clio Awards and one Cannes Advertising Silver Lion.

After completing a short film, The Ritual (which he both wrote and directed), Verbinski made his feature film directing debut in 1997 with Mouse Hunt, which became a global hit. Following that film's success, Verbinski planned and developed several aborted projects; The Sky Is Falling, The Lighthouse, Mission to Mars, How Georgie Radbourn Saved Baseball, Where the Wild Things Are, The Big Ticket, The Light Princess, Catch Me If You Can, Project 3, and a remake of Ten Seconds to Hell.

Verbinski returned in 2001 with the action/comedy The Mexican, starring Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt. The film received mixed reviews, and performed modestly at the box-office, earning $68 million domestically which was quite meager considering its star power (it was technically successful due to its moderately low $38 million budget). Verbinski followed it up with the horror film remake The Ring (2002), which struck gold globally, grossing well over $200 million worldwide. Verbinski also had a directorial hand in The Time Machine that year, temporarily taking over for an exhausted Simon Wells. Verbinski directed some of the underground Morlock sequences and is given a "Thanks to" credit in the film.

He then directed the very successful Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl which earned over $600 million at the international box office. This was his first collaboration with producer Jerry Bruckheimer, whom he has since collaborated with on several other movies. His next film was The Weather Man, which starred Nicolas Cage. The film received mixed to positive reviews but was a box office failure. In March 2005, he started filming the sequels Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. The former then became his biggest success so far, becoming the third film ever to gross over $1 billion at the international box office. In 2008, Verbinski's Blind Wink production company signed a deal with Universal. Verbinski was also set to direct a film for Universal based on the video game BioShock. However, budgetary and creative disputes stemming from Verbinski's wish to incorporate a functioning underwater rail transport system, driven by his noted fascination with trains, derailed development. Verbinski was then replaced by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo as director and the film was subsequently cancelled.

In 2011 and 2013, Verbinski would delve into the Western genre, with decidedly different results: Rango was well received, critically and commercially, and earned the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. However, his adaptation of the 1930s radio hero, The Lone Ranger for Disney, was not, the project having been stuck in development hell for several years, undergone rewrites and budget cuts, and gained controversy for the casting of Johnny Depp as the Native American Tonto. The film grossed $260 million against a $215–225 million budget, plus an estimated $150–160 million marketing campaign. That same year, he was also the executive producer of the Ben Stiller adaptation of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, after having initially been attached in 2010 to direct the film himself.

In 2012, Verbinski announced three films in development at Blind Wink; the Western Bitterroot, the sci-fi film Spaceless, and a live action film based on the board game Clue. At various points, he was attached to direct all three films, before eventually opting to produce instead.

In 2016, Verbinski's horror film A Cure for Wellness starring Dane DeHaan and Mia Goth premiered at the Alamo Drafthouse before receiving a wide release in 2017. It received mediocre reviews from critics and was a financial bomb, grossing $26.6 million against a $40 million budget. Verbinski was set to next direct a film centering around the character Gambit, within the X-Men film universe, before dropping out of the project in January 2018.

In the 2020s, he was seeking financial backing for Cattywumpus, an animated feature about cats in outer space, after being in the works at Netflix. He was also working with writer Dennis Kelly on a feature version of the story "Sandkings" by George R. R. Martin. Both were set to be animated films, with Roger Deakins committed as cinematographer.

Video game career

Verbinski was involved with Matter, an original futuristic video game that was being developed for the Xbox 360 using Kinect. It would have used the Kinect peripheral. It was originally announced at E3 2012; the game was set in a universe similar to that of Tron, with futuristic, industrial graphics, and featured small, metallic balls as the main characters.

The game was announced to be cancelled about a year later. While reasons for the cancellation are unknown, a poster on the NeoGAF forums hinted at mismanagement and the studio's unfamiliarity with game development as the main problem.

Filmography

Films

Executive producer

• The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)

Music videos

Awards and nominations

References

References

1. "Cinema Odeon – Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest".
2. "Victor Verbinski Obituary (2005) - San Diego, CA - San Diego Union-Tribune".
3. (November 2025)
4. La Jolla High yearbook
5. (April 22, 1994). "Ad world's hottest prod'n pros". Variety.
6. Petrikin, Chris. (March 30, 1998). "Verbinski reaches for NL's 'Sky'".
7. Petrikin, Chris. (August 4, 1998). "Gerber nabs 'Lighthouse'".
8. (October 2, 1998). "Verbinski to helm Mouse's 'Mars'".
9. Hindes, Andrew. (January 6, 1999). "Verbinsky's in dugout as 'Baseball' director".
10. Cox, Dan. (February 16, 1999). "U and Hanks going 'Wild'".
11. Hindes, Andrew. (June 24, 1999). "Inside Moves".
12. Petrikin, Chris. (September 27, 1999). "Fox taps 'Princess' scribe".
13. (July 31, 2000). "DiCaprio plays 'Catch'".
14. Lyons, Charles. (January 11, 2001). "Revolution's evolution".
15. Fleming, Michael. (February 28, 2001). "'Hell' revisited; Eminem gets $4 mil offer".
16. (May 11, 2001). "Time Machine director bows out".
17. Graser, Marc. (August 4, 2008). "Verbinski inks first-look deal at U".
18. (May 9, 2008). "Gore Verbinski to direct 'Bioshock'".
19. Robinson, Martin. (March 12, 2013). "Ken Levine personally killed off the BioShock film – here's why". [[Eurogamer]].
20. Karger, Dave. (August 13, 2011). "Disney halts Johnny Depp's 'Lone Ranger'".
21. Graser, Marc. (June 25, 2013). "Disney, Bruckheimer See 'Lone Ranger' as New Genre-Bending Superhero". Variety.
22. (June 29, 2010). "Gore Verbinski to Direct 'Secret Life of Walter Mitty' Remake".
23. Taylor, Drew. (February 14, 2012). "Gore Verbinski Updates Us On 'The Lone Ranger,' Cary Fukunaga's 'Spaceless,' Chris Milk's 'Bitterroot' & More".
24. Leydon, Joe. (December 13, 2016). "Harry Knowles' Annual Butt-Numb-a-Thon Teases 'Logan,' 'A Cure for Wellness'". Variety.
25. "A Cure for Wellness".
26. Fleming, Mike Jr.. (January 11, 2018). "Gore Verbinski Pulls Off Of 'Gambit' Movie".
27. D'Alessandro, Anthony. (September 1, 2022). "Gore Verbinski Animated Pic 'Cattywumpus' To Be Shopped After Being In Works At Netflix".
28. Sneider, Jeff. (2021-03-02). "Exclusive: Gore Verbinski to Direct Adaptation of George R.R. Martin's 'Sandkings' for Netflix".
29. Chitwood, Adam. (2021-03-03). "Exclusive: Gore Verbinski Is Working on Two New Animated Movies with Roger Deakins".
30. Kaye, Darryl. (June 4, 2012). "E3 2012: Microsoft Press Conference Live Blog". GamingUnion.
31. (2012-06-04). "E3 2012: Gore Verbinski's Matter Is An Xbox 360 Exclusive". Cinema Blend.
32. "LocoCycle and Matter Reveal - E3 2012 Xbox 360". [[YouTube]].
33. (March 7, 2013). "Gore Verbinski's Kinect game Matter cancelled". Develop.
34. Owen, Phil. (2013-03-07). "Gore Verbinski's Kinect game Matter cancelled". VG247.
35. (October 7, 2014). "The 84th Academy Awards {{pipe}} 2012". [[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]].
36. Bugge, Gunnhild. (June 29, 2004). "Amanda-nominasjonene klare". [[NRK]].
37. "The 39th Annie Awards {{pipe}} 2012". [[ASIFA-Hollywood]].
38. "The 65th British Academy Film Awards {{pipe}} 2012". [[British Academy of Film and Television Arts]].
39. Shontell, Alyson. (January 18, 2011). "The 10 Best Award-Winning TV Ads Everyone Must See". [[Business Insider]].
40. "''Rango'' {{pipe}} Golden Globes". [[Hollywood Foreign Press Association]].
41. Trumbore, Dave. (January 15, 2014). "2014 Razzie Nominations Include ''The Lone Ranger'', ''After Earth'', ''Grown Ups 2'' and ''Movie 43''". [[Collider (website).
42. (October 21, 2003). "2003 Hollywood Film Festival".
43. (October 26, 2011). "2011 Hollywood Film Festival winners are: "Dorfman," "The World of Z," and "Clear Blue"".
44. (July 24, 2007). "2004 Hugo Awards". [[Worldcon.
45. Kilday, Gregg. (January 21, 2012). "Producers Guild Awards Name 'The Artist' Motion Picture of Year; 'Boardwalk Empire' Scores TV Drama (Winners List)". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
46. "The 30th Saturn Awards {{pipe}} 2004". [[Los Angeles Times]].