BioShock Movie Director Francis Lawrence Names His Favourite Games, and GTA 6 Is Already in His Way

Francis Lawrence, the director steering Netflix’s BioShock movie, has named the games he loves most, and the list is a tidy tour of late-90s and 2000s greats. In an interview with IGN, Lawrence said his big favourites were Metal Gear Solid, BioShock and Call of Duty, with the original GTA rounding out the group.

The GTA pick comes with a caveat. Lawrence told IGN he doesn’t think he played anything past the first game, but that it felt wild at the time, largely because of the technology behind it. That makes his next answer more entertaining, because GTA 6 is the next big thing in the series and lands almost on top of his own release. Forbes reports that Rockstar has set GTA 6 for Thursday, 19 November 2026 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, while Lawrence’s The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping hits cinemas the same month. He joked that people should “play GTA, go see our movie, play more GTA.”

The conversation also covered how the BioShock adaptation reached him. According to IGN, Gore Verbinski brought the project to Lawrence back in 2009, but scheduling conflicts meant he couldn’t take it on. Guillermo del Toro was later in talks to direct, and Lawrence said the director and the game’s creator didn’t see eye to eye. Del Toro’s own account to IGN was blunter: he described the calls as among the most disastrous he’s had, which we covered in more detail when Guillermo del Toro said BioShock movie talks ended after disastrous calls.

Lawrence has more adaptations queued behind it. IGN notes he’s also set to direct Red Rising, based on Pierce Brown’s young adult series, which spent years stuck in development before landing at Paramount with a writer attached. You can read the details in our report on the Red Rising movie happening at Paramount. Game-to-screen projects are also gathering pace elsewhere, as the Death Stranding movie shows.