Gore Verbinski

Overview

Born
March 16, 1964 · Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA
Birth name
Gregor Verbinski
Height
6′ 1″ (1.85 m)

Biography

Family

Parents

Trademarks

Characters carrying a weapon
Wide detailed shots
Frequently casts Johnny Depp.

Trivia

Creator of the Budweiser frogs.
His Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) holds many box office distinctions, such as: fastest film to reach $100M (in just two days), most tickets sold in a single day ($55.8M worth), and largest sum earned in seven days ($196M total and counting). The blockbuster sequel also reached $200M in eight days, tying the industry record.
Was guitarist of punk band, The Daredevils, with Brett Gurewitz of Bad Religion and Josh Freese of The Vandals.
In 2007, Forbes Magazine estimated his earnings for the year to be $37 million.
Was brought in to take over the last 18 days of shooting on The Time Machine (2002), as director Simon Wells was suffering from "extreme exhaustion". Wells returned for post-production.

Quotes

I think when you remake a movie you try not to mess it up. I think the original movie worked really well in certain places and there's part of it that's different. We're not dealing with the ESP aspect to the original movie or the volcano. Choices were made in this case to emphasize the more viral aspects of the tape. I think it's very important for me to try not to take away from what worked well in the original movie. ... There's something wonderful about an outside perspective on the horror genre, which has a real history in American cinema. And I think there was a wonderful minimalism to the original movie that I felt was very important to keep. -- on remaking "Ringu" with "The Ring"
I just tried to keep what's great in the original movie and improve it where I could. -- on remaking "Ringu" with "The Ring"
They just sent me the tape - a really bad-quality tape, which was horrifying. I don't know if you've seen the original movie, but I loved it. And that tape came with the offer. -- on how "The Ring" came to him
There were discussions very early on, because I think there's always a temptation for marquee value when you're making a movie, and movies cost money. But the star of this movie is the concept of this movie. ... I think Naomi is a great choice, because there isn't a lot of audience expectation for the plot. In movies in general, but horror movies in particular, you suffer if you're able to watch them from a more comfortable place. I think there's comfort in somebody you recognize and somebody you can distill and categorize into a character. And I think that that process of not immediately liking a character in a film, but slowly coming to terms with that character throughout the story, creates a proximity for the audience. If you achieve that, then you're able to access a different part of the brain. So horror movies are stories and psychological experiments at the same time. -- on casting Naomi Watts in "The Ring"
I think there's a lot of trying to keep what did work well, and I think as a director there's two answers to that question. One is, as a director, I wish I could make a movie once and then look at it and make it again. It's really nice to have Hideo Nakata's template. We talked about the movie. When I saw it, there were particular things I really enjoyed about it and things that I wanted to change. I think every director wants to change a movie after they've finished it. In terms of the popularity of the movie, I think it's inevitable to get persecuted for remaking a film that people love. I think there's pride of ownership. I felt that Wages of Fear is a great movie and I despised the remake, so I know what that's like. I kind of expect that, but we still had a great time making the movie, and it's a great story. -- on the challenges of making "The Ring"