Juan Carlos Fresnadillo was at the SXSW Festival premiering his new horror movie ‘Intruders’ when he was interviewed by Aint It Cool about two projects he is attached to: ‘Bioshock’ and the reboot of ‘Highlander.’

Several months ago, we reported that the likelihood of a ‘Bioshock’ movie was pretty nonexistent as creative director of Irrational Games, Ken Levine, had said the movie “doesn’t need to get made.” Budgetary concerns and the possibility of an ‘R’ rating for the video gamed based film have made studios balk at continuing with developing this project. But this doesn’t stop director Fresnadillo from still hoping that the movie will get made.

Fresnadillo still maintains that the movie should have an ‘R’ rating:

“You know, there’s a problem with the video game… well, it’s not a problem. The thing is, Bioshock is super complicated, it is a very high budget movie. Obviously, the studio doesn’t want to make a big budget movie with an R (rating). And it has to be an R… So, that’s the problem, I think, that the video game and the studio are trying to make an agreement about.”

One of the reasons for the high budget was the fact that both the producer Gore Verbinski and Fresnadillo had wanted to build the underwater setting of Rapture from the ground up so that movie goers would get the same experience as if they were in the game itself:

“… keeping in mind that the cost was one of the problems I would recommend to combine realism with good and special CGI. The most important thing is to make it feel like a real thing and I think you could do that with a good DP and a very real concept of the camera. That was something I proposed from the beginning, (for it) to work as an experience, you know? From the very beginning to the very end tracking the point of view of the hero of the story, going with him.

Unfortunately, Fresnadillo has said that ‘Bioshock’ is still in a holding pattern and his sights right now are on his next film, the reboot of the movie ‘Highlander:’

“(Bioshock) is a project that is on hold right now, so I’m not paying too much attention to that. Right now I’m so keen (for) another project, which could be my next movie, which is Highlander. I think it’s a very interesting reboot because I think the concept is so solid and very epic, which is something that I really love, so let’s see if we can continue working on that. I think it could be my next movie.”

The original ‘Highlander’ movie starred Christopher Lambert as Scottish Highlander Connor McLeod who finds that he is one of the immortals set to fight other immortals until in the end “there can be only one.” The movie also starred Sean Connery, Clancy Brown and Roxanne Hart.

So how does Fresnadillo see his version?

“…I think it’s about following the character. I would love, if we make the movie, to feel the immortality. Immortality is a curse and I would love to feel that. You are overcoming time, but you see at the same time that the most beautiful things, the things that you love, are dying and you continue this life as a tragedy. You can’t love with anyone because you’re going to lose that person.  I would love to introduce that flavor in a very strong way in the movie and at the same time the big connection with the Universe. “Why am I immortal? Why am I the chosen one?”  In that sense, the movie is an epic. I think it’s some kind of adventure romantic story about somebody who trying to share in his immortality with someone. I don’t want to reveal more than that, but there is a new revelation in the movie that is connecting with that in a very deep and strong way. If we make it, I hope you enjoy it!”

While I’m not surprised about the news that ‘Bioshock’ is still in limbo, I am intrigued by Fresnadillo’s version of ‘Highlander.’ I really enjoyed the first movie and the series with Adrian Paul but did feel that the movie sequels were very much lacking (don’t even get me started on ‘Highlander: The Source!’). It would be nice to see the story rebooted.

Which of these films are you looking forward to seeing more? Let me know in the comments below!