Guillermo del Toro's BioShock Movie Died in a "Disastrous" Phone Call - And He's Never Making a Game Again

Guillermo del Toro has spent his career building worlds that audiences could get lost in, from the labyrinthine fantasy of Pan's Labyrinth to the kaiju-scaled spectacle of Pacific Rim. So when he describes BioShock as "a world I could get lost in for ages," it sounds like the setup to a dream project. Instead, it is the setup to one of the most emphatic refusals in recent adaptation history: "So no, f**k no."

For years, del Toro's apparent involvement in a BioShock film was the stuff of rumor and speculation, a project whispered about but never confirmed by the people who would have made it. That changed in a new interview with IGN's Brian Altano as part of the outlet's IGN30 Icons series, in which del Toro confirmed on the record that he was indeed involved in early concepts for adapting the beloved 2007 shooter, and explained how the whole thing collapsed before it began.

The Confirmation: What del Toro Actually Said

Del Toro's confirmation transforms a decade-old rumor into a matter of record. He was involved in early concepts for a BioShock movie. It did not survive first contact with the business side of the industry.

"We had a couple of calls," del Toro said. "They are probably one of the most disastrous calls I've ever had."

His conclusion was blunt: "So no, f**k no."

Del Toro said "calls", plural, so treat this as a series of conversations collectively described as disastrous, not one catastrophic phone call.

The context matters too. The remarks surfaced during the IGN30 Icons interview, a wide-ranging conversation in which del Toro also discussed Blade, his relationship with Hideo Kojima, and his canceled game Insane. Elsewhere in the interview, he referenced "a very contentious call about a couple of games" regarding game-to-film adaptations, suggesting the BioShock breakdown was not an isolated incident but part of a broader pattern of friction between his ambitions and the realities of the games industry.

A History of BioShock on Screen: The Movie That Keeps Not Happening

The adaptation has been a long time not happening. A prior version was in development at Universal with Gore Verbinski attached to direct, and it never made it to production. In 2017, del Toro himself said he would love to see the BioShock story on screen, a statement that stands in striking contrast to his current refusal.

The franchise's screen prospects are not dead, however. A separate BioShock film is currently in development at Netflix, and producer Roy Lee has indicated that Take-Two wants to align the movie's launch with the release of the next BioShock game. The contrast is stark: Rapture may yet reach screens, but it will not do so through del Toro.

"Never Again": Del Toro's Breakup With Making Games

The BioShock story arrives alongside a second, distinct declaration from del Toro: he "never" wants to make a video game again.

That statement is tied to Insane, his planned trilogy of dark, cinematic games that never saw release. "Never again," he said, noting that Insane "went down" and that he later saw similar ideas surface in other games.

It is worth keeping two claims separate, because the source treats them separately. One is del Toro's refusal to develop his own games, rooted in the collapse of Insane. The other is his game-to-film adaptation attempts ending in disaster, rooted in BioShock. They are related frustrations, but they are not the same frustration, and merging them would flatten what he actually said.

Del Toro's history with the medium is not purely bitter. He collaborated with Hideo Kojima on the P.T. demo, and he appeared in Death Stranding. He has praised Kojima as a "pure artist" and stated that the grand majority of P.T. was Kojima's idea, a generous attribution that suggests the relationship remains one of genuine admiration.

The Central Irony: Loving a World He Won't Adapt

Here is the heart of the story. Del Toro still counts BioShock among his favorite games. He called it "a world I could get lost in for ages." And yet his answer to adapting it is an unqualified no.

The "f**k no" is not disdain for BioShock. It is burnout from the process, the collision between a filmmaker with strong visual and narrative instincts and the publishers and IP holders who control the properties he wanted to adapt. Del Toro did not elaborate on the specifics of who was on those calls or what was said. What is clear is that the experience left a mark.

For a fuller portrait, consider that this is a filmmaker who genuinely plays games. He has said he plays Angry Birds every day of his life, a detail that rounds out the image of a director who is not merely a tourist in the medium but a habitual participant in it, one who can rattle off the mobile game on his phone and the philosophical ambitions of Rapture in the same breath. That makes his retreat from game development and game adaptation all the more pointed.

Rapture Will Find Another Way to the Screen

The BioShock movie del Toro dreamed of is dead, killed by a handful of disastrous calls, and its would-be architect has walked away from game development for good. Yet the game itself remains one he loves, a world he could still get lost in for ages.

What lingers is the candor. "Probably one of the most disastrous calls I've ever had. So no, f**k no." It is a rare, unfiltered glimpse into why some adaptations never make it past the phone call stage, and a reminder that in an industry built on hype cycles, the most honest answer is sometimes the bluntest one.

All of this comes from a single IGN interview. Readers who want the extended conversation, including del Toro's thoughts on Blade and Kojima, can watch the full IGN30 Icons video.