Gore Verbinski has always had an anarchic edge. He broke the ‘bad Hollywood remake’ rule with his take on The Ring, turned a Disney theme park ride into a must-see blockbuster with Pirates Of The Caribbean, and then put all that cache into Rango, The Lone Ranger, and A Cure For Wellness. Now, at long last, he’s back with Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die – a raucous anti-A.I. apocalypse film, in which Sam Rockwell’s wild-eyed time-traveller makes his way back to our time to warn us that things are about to get extremely, extremely bad.
Rockwell was a perfect fit, Verbinski tells Empire, because of his “fuck-it energy” – a perfect match for Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die. “Getting to cast the movie the way you want to is easier in the indie space,” the director says. His ensemble includes Michael Peña, Juno Temple, Zazie Beetz, Haley Lu Richardson and Asim Chaudhry. “They all have their own process and are distinct flavours, but they got along so well. There was none of that ‘not coming out their trailers’,” he laughs.
While Verbinski has often played with mega-budgets from major studios, this time he’s gone independent. “It’s hard for original material,” he explains. “Every film relies on a constant supply of miracles. But even in that context, this fucker was scrappy start to finish.” That meant pre-selling the film to foreign markets to raise funds, making the most of every bit of budget to pull off a wild and crazy feat. “Hollywood’s in this self-fulfilling death spiral, with the streamers and the algorithm. And studios just want their sequels. But I’m optimistic,” Verbinksi says. “When the dinosaurs all died, there was this big rat that survived and thrived, because it was just the right size. Maybe, as the behemoths all slowly tilt into the tar pit, we can be that collection of rats that’s just saying… [slowly raises middle finger].” Like we said: fuck-it energy.
Read Empire’s full Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die feature in the Lord Of The Rings 25th anniversary reunion issue – on sale Thursday January 15. Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die comes to UK cinemas from February 20.
