Gore Verbinski would seem to have hit a snag in his big-budget blockbuster career after his Lone Ranger movie for Disney became a notoriously bloated flop. However, he was able to return with a smaller directorial effort after that, with the suspense film A Cure for Wellness. It has been eight years since the release of A Cure for Wellness, and Verbinski returns from his hiatus to helm an action-adventure film with the humorous title Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die. The movie sports an impressive cast, including Sam Rockwell, Michael Peña, Haley Lu Richardson, Zazie Beetz and Juno Temple. The film has just started production on location in South Africa.
The description of the movie’s plot, according to Deadline, reads, “The film, written by Matthew Robinson (Love & Monsters), centers on a man from the future (Rockwell) who arrives at a diner in Los Angeles where he must recruit the precise combination of eclectic patrons (Richardson, Peña, Beetz, Temple) to join in him on a one-night quest to save the world.” The production of Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die comes from the studio Constantin Film, whose projects include Resident Evil, Fantastic Four and The Three Musketeers. Robert Kulzer is on board serving as producer. Meanwhile, Verbinski’s Blind Wink Production and 3 Arts Entertainment are also producing the movie with casting Director Denise Chaian, Erwin Stoff (known for projects like I Am Legend), and Oly Obst on board. One of the most recent Sam Rockwell movies, Argylle, featured the actor in an action driven role, but otherwise it’s a genre he rarely played a hero in.
Gore Verbinski is best known for helming the first three installments of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, as well as the American remake of The Ring and the excellent animated movie Rango before he and Johnny Depp failed to recapture the Pirates of the Caribbean success with The Lone Ranger. The director may have been out of the spotlight for some time. However, his break was not for the lack of trying to manifest new work, as he’s had numerous projects in the works that have fallen apart. He was attached to a live-action adaptation of Bioshock for many years before the project was shelved and was also in talks to direct the Gambit movie starring Channing Tatum. One of the last projects Verbinski was said to be working on was an adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s The Sandkings for Netflix, but there haven’t been any updates on the project for quite some time.