Ever since "BioShock" was released (in 2007), people have been trying to turn it into a movie. The game is widely regarded as having one of the most impressive worlds and stories ever created by the film medium, and its gorgeous aesthetic seems almost perfect for a movie. These attempts have never panned out, but earlier this year Netflix announced its intention to finally make it happen.

And it is coming to fruition. The film will be directed by Francis Lawrence, best known for "The Hunger Games" and who just completed "Slumberland" on the streaming platform, and will be written by Michael Green, who worked on "Blade Runner 2049" among others. In a new interview with Collider, Lawrence says the two have plotted it, the film is currently being written, and it could be his next project. Michael Green, who wrote [Blade Runner 2049], is a longtime friend of mine, among others, and he's writing it. 'I'm in the middle of writing it right now. The takes, the outlines, those kinds of things are already done. He's actually writing it right now. That's why I said it could be the next one.

Lawrence also scores points for just playing the game, which he doesn't take for granted, and sees a great movie in there because of the thematic weight behind the world and its characters.

"First of all, I think it's one of the best games ever made. 'Also, I think it's one of the most visually unique games ever made. The second thing is that it's very thematic, which is one of the things I've always found appealing. There are real ideas and philosophies underlying the games, and they are really, really, really well thought out. A lot of games have great worlds, great protagonists, great set pieces, but they don't have the ideas, the weight, the gravitas of 'BioShock.'"

Aesthetics ("It's like a period piece, it's body horror, it's science fiction. Rapture is a world where the human body is treated like a scientific experiment, and the horror you face is how human and distorted it all is."

"There's always a debate about ratings and tone," Lawrence says. 'But I've never felt suffocated or redirected by Netflix. A lot of it is staying really true to the game itself, and we're talking to Take Two and Ken Levine.

There is a big problem that the film has to face. That is that the narrative of the game hinges on turning the notion of player agency on its head. Andrew Ryan remains in the player's mind because of what he did to the player in that moment, how he took the initiative and unveiled it for a moment. Such revelations have no real meaning in a cinematic sense. While there seems to be a simple element of "bringing the game to the screen" in the adaptation of BioShock, the major problem with adapting this most cinematic of games is that the narrative meaning at its core is inseparable from its nature as a game

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Lawrence is convinced that the idea is rich enough and has a chance to make a great movie. There are some great video games out there," he said, "but they don't always have the weight of an actual idea underlying them. They can have great aesthetics, but I feel like a lot of times they end up being empty because they're not made from a real idea." BioShock really does that. There's so much in the whole mythology of that world and the ideas behind it."

Netflix's adaptation of BioShock has yet to go into production, but it certainly looks more promising than past attempts. In these times of great success for game streaming programs, it would probably seem like a no-brainer. But as "Rapture" itself demonstrates, appearances can be deceiving.