Produced by Gore Verbinski some of the biggest, most expensive movies of all time. From Pirates of the Caribbean franchise on The Lone Rangerthe director understands what money can and cannot buy on the film set. That’s why he’s still amazed that his latest film, the Los Angeles-based sci-fi epic Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, had to shoot in South Africa to do.

“That’s it how wonderful our industry is,” Verbinski told io9 in a video chat. “You have to take this movie that’s happening (in Los Angeles) at Norm’s and shoot it on the other side of the world.”

To be fair, though, that’s partly because too Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is the very weird and outside that no major Hollywood studio wants to do it. The film is about a man (played by Sam Rockwell) who busts into a Norm’s restaurant in Los Angeles late at night and tells the customers that he is from the future and needs a group of them to come with him, now, to save the world from a killer AI that is about to be created. Oh, and he’s already tried and failed at it over 100 times.

Think The Terminator met Groundhog Day, but no one is stranger than both, in the best way. It stars Juno Temple, Michael Pena, Zazie Beetz, and Haley Lu Richardson and will be in theaters next week. Below, read our full conversation with Verbinski, where we discuss not only the struggles of making this movie out there but also keeping it up with modern technology, his thoughts on AI, the rules of world building, and more.

Germain Lussier, io9: First, I thought the movie was great. It’s a lot of fun, and a lot to think about. But I wonder, what was it about the script that spoke to you in the first place?

Verbinski Mountains: I think that opening monologue. I think that when I first read Matthew’s (Robinson) draft, I was immediately pressured and a little nervous about starting a film with an 11-page monologue. But I’m always drawn to things I’m not sure I can do, or for sure curiosity is a motivator.

io9: I’ve read in the press notes that it’s in 2020 or so. Technologically speaking, the world has changed a lot since then. Like ChatGPT is not a matter of time. How does this affect the speed of technological evolution, or do you think the script is future-proofed in that way?

Verbinski: No, no, we really need to future proof it. I mean, until the moment we were shooting in 2023, we were still wondering what this thing is coming? What will AI mean in our daily life? Because the turn is so fast. I think Matthew originally wrote the screenplay in 2017, and that version, we knew we had to do some work on our antagonist right away. So we spent about two years working on the script before sending it to Sam, and everything kind of moved quickly after that.

io9: Can you give an example of something that has changed?

Verbinski: Yeah, I mean, I think in the case of AI, we have to look at what’s more relevant, what’s happening, what you can do, what the phones are going to show. We need to think about what social media really looks like as it goes along. And again, for me personally, thinking about the villain is not like some Skynet killing machine, but this idea that it’s worse. It wants to be ours like this. It wants us to stay engaged. I think that’s a big change. And then worked on the character of Sam. As he wants. I think if you have a rogue character or a picaresque narrative, it’s important that what he wants is true. And you can stop at any time and say, “Okay, I see a deeper pain.”

io9: One of my favorite things about this movie is its world building. Movies like this are great because you have the story, but there’s so much more you can think about that story. Like, we never see the time and place Sam’s character comes from or learn anything about how time travel is created or anything like that. Is any of this in the movie, or is it kind of missing the point?

Verbinski: I think if things go okay, if things go well, we might do a couple more, and I’ll be able to answer some of the questions. I think it has too many bites. So we want to dance around that, certainly on this one.

io9: Absolutely, and I really like that. The movie also goes to a lot of strange places and has a lot of danger. Do you have self-imposed rules about what goes too far? Is there anything too implausible or too much?

Verbinski: Yes, I think humor is an interesting form of criticism when it is used correctly. And actually, when we deal with the backstory of Juno Temple, I think there are some things where the audience starts to laugh in an uncomfortable way. And I think that’s when you start to say, “Look how we’ve normalized this insanity.” I think it’s important to have a grounded attitude. I think Juno’s performance is very human in a very inhuman world, and that’s kind of Franz Kafka in it. I think that’s the anchor. If his show isn’t honest, then it’s a joke, and I think that’s a mistake.

io9: At its core, the movie is very basically about humans fighting AI. Does that align with your personal feelings about it? Do you think it’s something we should fight against, or do you think it’s something we should accept?

Verbinski: I’m in the middle. I think there are those who live in fear, and there are those who are in denial. And I think there is a tsunami coming, but some of us have to surf it. I think that’s kind of the mantra of our time. “Good luck, have fun, don’t die.”

io9: (Laughs) Right. So, I’m in LA and I love that Norm’s restaurant plays a big role because it’s LA. How did that collaboration turn into something? Was that in the original script, and did they have any push or anything?

Verbinski: No, they’re pretty good, actually. That’s why Matthew created the Norm’s movie. When I first moved to LA, I went to Norm’s lot. I’m going to film school at UCLA. There is one in Pico. There is one in La Cienega. So I’m a big fan of Norm, and I think everything we do is a love letter.

Look, I mean, the future didn’t send us Arnold Schwarzenegger. It sent us Sam Rockwell. That’s how things break down. And I don’t think he’s going to the Navy SEAL Academy in San Diego. He goes to Norm’s to find heroes. The people who save the world are in a Norm diner. I just think she’s beautiful.

io9: Yes, I agree. Although I would like to know how he knows this. Maybe two or three movies will go into that. Speaking of sequels, though, you made some of the greatest movies of all time, obviously, with Pirates and Lone Ranger. If you had that kind of budget to make this movie, what would have been different from the above?

Verbinski: Wow, that’s a good question. We probably shot it in Los Angeles.

io9: there you are. Because it was shot in South Africa, right?

Verbinski: Yeah, to get the number, I mean, you have to remember, no studio wants to make this movie.

io9: yes.

Verbinski: And they all read the script, and I think it’s too much there. So we found some companions of Constantine and Briarcliff, and we tried to get a very small number. We got the California Tax Incentive, but we still can’t shoot in LA. We budgeted for Vancouver. We will be shooting in Winnipeg at some point. The film dropped about five times and then ended in South Africa. And that’s how unique our industry is. You should take this movie that takes place in La Cienega and Norm’s and shoot it on the other side of the world.

io9: Yeah, that’s pretty bad. Two more things. One is after watching this and also a trip to Disneyland, I watched the first one again pirates of the caribbean, and it’s perfectly fine. That’s obviously a movie inspired by a trip, so I thought, if you reverse engineer this film into a trip, what would that trip be?

Verbinski: Wow, very good question. I have to get back to you. I mean, I would say there are a lot of ideas to play in the movie. Just in terms of leveling up. In terms of failure to get a level, and you can not cross the road. Or what will he do? Like what happened the 37th time he tried it? What did he learn along the way? And what is the game throwing at him in terms of adaptation as he progresses? I think that’s part of the paranoia. That’s why when I think of a ride, I think of a holodeck experience rather than a physical ride because I think there are too many cascading mind fucks.

io9: (Laughs) That’s a good title for this movie too. Last thing, original, high-concept movies like this rarely get theatrical releases. You talk a little bit about Hollywood. Was that always the intention? Cinemas or not? And how did we do it?

Verbinski: I think this was always its purpose. And I have to say, we screened the movie at Fantastic Fest and Beyond Fest and some of these smaller festivals, and to really see how people responded… I think there’s something about the collective experience where you’re like, in the case of humor, maybe someone is like, “Is it okay to laugh?” And then you hear someone else laugh, and then someone else laugh, and then everyone jumps. I think what you feel at one moment, someone else feels different at that moment. But when you’re in a room together, you can feel that, and I think all kinds of movements and ebbs and flows, and it’s great to see it with 500 strangers. It really makes a difference.

See Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die in theaters on February 13.

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