Gore Verbinski | |
|---|---|
 Verbinski in 2010 | |
| Born | Gregor Justin Verbinski (1964-03-16)March 16, 1964 (age 61) Oak Ridge, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Alma mater | UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1989–present |
| Notable work | Mouse Hunt The Ring Pirates of the Caribbean Rango |
| Spouse | Clayton Verbinski |
| Children | 2 |
| Awards | Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Rango (2011) BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film Rango (2011) |
Gregor Justin "Gore" Verbinski (born March 16, 1964) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for directingMouse Hunt,The Ring, the first three in thePirates of the Caribbean films, andRango. ForRango, Verbinski won both theAcademy Award andBAFTA Award for Best Animated Film.
Verbinski was born inOak Ridge, Tennessee, the fourth of five children of Laurette Ann (née McGovern) and Victor Vincent Verbinski, a nuclear physicist.[1][2] His siblings are Janine, Claire, Diane, and Steven.[citation needed] His father was ofPolish descent,[1][3] and worked as a nuclear physicist atOak Ridge National Laboratory. In 1967, the Verbinski family moved toSouthern California, where a young Gregor grew up in the town of La Jolla. Gregor was an activeBoy Scout andsurfed regularly. He went to Torrey Pines Elementary, Muirlands Junior High, andLa Jolla High School (Class of 1982[4]), before attendingUCLA Film School. Verbinski graduated with hisBFA in Film in 1987. In his youth, Verbinski was passionate about music and played in several punk rock bands, which influenced his creative approach.[citation needed]
Verbinski was active in several L.A. rock bands early in his career. He played guitar in theDaredevils, 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 backedStiv Bators on his version of "Have Love, Will Travel" with amateur drummer Chris "Poobah" Bailey. Along with a cover of theMoody 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 onBomp! (catalogue No. 12136) and was later included in Bators' compilation albumL.A. L.A. On the compilation album's liner notes, label ownerGreg Shaw described the band as "an adequate but rootless Hollywoodglam-damaged band with tattoos".
His first films were a series of8 mm films calledThe Driver Files c. 1979, when he was a young teen. After graduating from film school atUCLA, he got his first job as a script reader at the commercial production company Limelight in 1987. After directorJulien Temple viewed some of his work, he signed to his production company Nitrate Films, and later Palomar Pictures,[5] where he directed music videos for bands likeVicious Rumors,Bad Religion,NOFX,24-7 Spyz andMonster Magnet. Verbinski moved from music videos to commercials, where he worked for many brand names includingNike,Coca-Cola,Canon,Skittles andUnited Airlines. One of his most famous commercials was forBudweiser, featuringfrogs who croak the brand name. For his efforts in commercials, Verbinski won fourClio Awards and oneCannes 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 withMouse Hunt, which became a global hit. Following that film's success, Verbinski planned and developed several aborted projects;The Sky Is Falling,[6]The Lighthouse,[7]Mission to Mars,[8]How Georgie Radbourn Saved Baseball,[9]Where the Wild Things Are,[10]The Big Ticket,[11]The Light Princess,[12]Catch Me If You Can,[13]Project 3,[14] and a remake ofTen Seconds to Hell.[15]
Verbinski returned in 2001 with the action/comedyThe Mexican, starringJulia Roberts andBrad 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 remakeThe Ring (2002), which struck gold globally, grossing well over $200 million worldwide. Verbinski also had a directorial hand inThe Time Machine that year, temporarily taking over for an exhaustedSimon Wells.[16] Verbinski directed some of the underground Morlock sequences[citation needed] and is given a "Thanks to" credit in the film.
He then directed the very successfulPirates 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 producerJerry Bruckheimer, whom he has since collaborated with on several other movies. His next film wasThe Weather Man, which starredNicolas Cage. The film received mixed to positive reviews but was a box office failure. In March 2005, he started filming the sequelsPirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest andPirates 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 withUniversal.[17] Verbinski was also set to direct a film for Universal based on the video gameBioShock.[18] 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 byJuan Carlos Fresnadillo as director and the film was subsequently cancelled.[19]
In 2011 and 2013, Verbinski would delve into the Western genre, with decidedly different results:Rango was well received, critically and commercially, and earned theAcademy 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,[20][21] and gained controversy for the casting ofJohnny Depp as the Native AmericanTonto. The film grossed $260 million against a $215–225 million budget, plus an estimated $150–160 million marketing campaign.[20] That same year, he was also the executive producer of theBen Stiller adaptation ofThe Secret Life of Walter Mitty, after having initially been attached in 2010 to direct the film himself.[22]
In 2012, Verbinski announced three films in development at Blind Wink; the WesternBitterroot, thesci-fi filmSpaceless, and alive action film based on the board gameClue. At various points, he was attached to direct all three films, before eventually opting to produce instead.[23]
In 2016, Verbinski's horror filmA Cure for Wellness starringDane DeHaan andMia Goth premiered at theAlamo Drafthouse before receiving a wide release in 2017.[24] It received mediocre reviews from critics and was a financial bomb, grossing $26.6 million against a $40 million budget.[25] Verbinski was set to next direct a film centering around the characterGambit, within theX-Men film universe, before dropping out of the project in January 2018.[26]
In the 2020s, he was seeking financial backing forCattywumpus, an animated feature about cats in outer space, after being in the works atNetflix.[27] He was also working with writerDennis Kelly on a feature version of the story "Sandkings" byGeorge R. R. Martin.[28] Both were set to be animated films, withRoger Deakins committed as cinematographer.[29]
Verbinski was involved withMatter, an original futuristic video game that was being developed for theXbox 360 usingKinect. It would have used theKinect peripheral.[30] It was originally announced atE3 2012; the game was set in a universe similar to that ofTron,[31] with futuristic, industrial graphics, and featured small, metallic balls as the main characters.[32]
The game was announced to be cancelled about a year later.[33] While reasons for the cancellation are unknown, a poster on theNeoGAF forums hinted at mismanagement and the studio's unfamiliarity with game development as the main problem.[34]
| Year | Title | Director | Producer | Writer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | The Ritual | Yes | Yes | Yes | Short film |
| 1997 | Mouse Hunt | Yes | No | No | |
| 2001 | The Mexican | Yes | No | No | |
| 2002 | The Ring | Yes | No | No | |
| 2003 | Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl | Yes | No | No | |
| 2005 | The Weather Man | Yes | No | No | |
| 2006 | Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest | Yes | No | No | |
| 2007 | Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End | Yes | No | No | |
| 2011 | Rango | Yes | Yes | Yes | Also voiced Sergeant Turley |
| 2013 | The Lone Ranger | Yes | Yes | No | |
| 2016 | A Cure for Wellness | Yes | Yes | Story | |
| 2025 | Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die | Yes | Yes | No | Post-production |
Executive producer
| Year | Title | Artist |
|---|---|---|
| 1989 | "S&M Airlines" | NOFX |
| 1990 | "Don't Wait for Me" | Vicious Rumors |
| 1990 | "Fast and Frightening" | L7 |
| 1991 | "Children" | Vicious Rumors |
| 1992 | "Stuntman" | 24-7 Spyz |
| "Atomic Garden" | Bad Religion | |
| 1993 | "American Jesus" | |
| 1994 | "21st Century (Digital Boy)" | |
| "Stranger than Fiction" | ||
| 1995 | "Negasonic Teenage Warhead" | Monster Magnet |
| 2004 | "Born Too Slow" | The Crystal Method |
| Year | Film | Academy Awards | BAFTA Awards | Golden Globe Awards | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominations | Wins | Nominations | Wins | Nominations | Wins | ||
| 2003 | Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 2006 | Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest | 4 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | |
| 2007 | Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End | 2 | 1 | ||||
| 2011 | Rango | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 2013 | The Lone Ranger | 2 | |||||
| Total | 15 | 2 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 0 | |
The picture cost approximately $250 million to produce, and more than $150 million to market and distribute around the globe ... Pre-production was halted until the filmmakers could wrangle the cost down to a more manageable $215 million ... Despite all the strife over the budget, the ultimate cost of "The Lone Ranger" ballooned during production. Bruckheimer says he and Disney were responsible for covering the film's overages. Studio reps say the pic cost around $225 million, but sources say it was considerably higher.
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