Verbinski Drifts From Bioshock, Luketic Boards Barbarella

As he waits kindly for Universal to come to a decision on his big-budgeted videogame adaptation Bioshock, director Gore Verbinski has begun to signal that he may not continue with the project. The cause? A potentially crippling case of homesickness.

LAT's Ben Fritz caught up with the director, who had this to say about the project:

The bottom line is it has to shoot out of the States for budget reasons and my schedule may be prohibitive. There's a great script and a really interesting cast. It really comes down to the financial model now. Big movies are just not being shot in the States. I'm weighing whether I can physically go the U.K. or Australia or one of those other places with a tax rebate for a year-and-a-half.

Translation: who wants to spend almost two years of one's life in a country with nary a Real Housewives franchise to its name? We feel your pain, Gore. (Verbinski's actually been pretty successful at keeping his films contained to North America -- the father of two managed to shoot the bulk of his Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy here at a time when megabudget action franchises are routinely shipped abroad.)

In other news, Legally Blonde director Robert Luketic has taken the Barbarella reins from Robert Rodriguez, says EW. This time, we think we can safely assume that the director will not be casting his mistress/muse in the title role (as Luketic is openly gay). "It will be a big intergalactic adventure with a sexy twist," a source close to the project told EW.com. Ooh, any guesses as to the "sexy twist"? Here's ours: it'll have sex in it!

· Why Gore Verbinski is developing video games -- and likely not directing 'Bioshock' [LAT]

· 'Barbarella': 'Legally Blonde' director Robert Luketic to helm remake? [EW]