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Gore Verbinski Developing a Movie About a Real Life Wife and Her Husband’s Online Wife

Posted on Wednesday, December 17th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta

Universal and Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski have acquired the rights to a 2007 Wall Street Journal article about the real life effects of a virtual addiction. Eastern Promises scribe Steven Knight has been hired to pen a screenplay based on Alexandra Alter’s article, which is titled “Is This Man Cheating on His Wife”.

The article is about a Phoenix-based woman who discovers that her husband married his Second Life girlfriend in the virtual world. He claims its just a game and that they have never spoken in real life, but together they own two virtual dogs, pay a mortgage together and “spend hours shopping at the mall and taking long motorcycle rides.”

The real life wife joined an online support group for spouses of obsessive online gamers, and says her husband’s online addiction has become out of control, but she isn’t ready to move out and separate from him. The husband argues that “She watches TV, and I do this. I tried to get her involved so we could play together, but she wasn’t interested.” You can read the entire article on WSJ.com.

The concept is certainly not new. I have seen the idea on the big screen in documentary form a couple times, most recently in Second Skin. I’m actually surprised that no one has decided to adapt the idea for a fictional film. It’s not just about the effects of a video game on a relationship, but also about the effects of a virtual relationship.

source: Variety

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  • This sounds more like a South Park episode.
  • that's what i was thinking. It would be way funnier if they did an episode about it.
  • Interesting but not to exciting. Will this just be a 2 hour discusion?
  • that would be a good movie to watch. LARS AND THE REAL GIRL was something like that, and it was a very good movie, sad, and not at all creepy.
  • Lars was a great movie. It was one of the biggest surprises for me, because the marketing was way off.
  • You know I never saw any marketing for the movie, I just had a friend recommend it to me, so I watched it and it was really great. It made me wonder why i never heard of it before.
  • A lot of people think of Gore as the Pirates guy, but he's actually perfect for this. I think "The Weather Man" was very underrated, and it shows his ability to pull great performances out of everyone.

    But I pray to God this is better than "Lars and the Real Girl."
  • Ben
    More interested in the documentary than a fictional story.
  • agreed....
  • I don't know how I feel about this concept. It is interesting, but honestly I feel like it would have to stray away from focusing on the actual game and focus on the effects the wife had taken.
  • Or maybe the effects it has on all three, the wife, the other wife, and the husband. And possibly the kids if they had any.
  • comedy would be good
  • This sounds like a Charlie Kaufman script
  • As I can see the possible similarities, I doubt Charlie would stoop this low.
  • Rom
    Creepy.
  • I read about this same thing in England in the National Enquirer. That Second Life is a real life killer.
  • yeah, i tried Second Life and it was really... i dunno, i didnt like it. it was a real bone-killer.
  • I meant in a life imitating art sort of way
  • Matt
    This movie honestly looks terrible. Nobody will see this. Is there any sort of trailer or promotion that says "come see this movie about a guy who leaves his wife for his online avatar girlfriend"? no
  • I agree that this is a very interesting concept. The story line does not have to be real life. Even on a fictional level, there are a lot of angles that can be explored there. The concept or accusation about "cheating" is debatable and I think that will make this film interesting on how they will twist and plot this out till the end of the movie. I look forward to it.
  • It's sounds look good
  • Weyland_Yutani
    From filming Pirates of the Caribbean to filming a guy at his computer. I Always like to see an artist capitalize on their perceived strengths. Were those island locations that bad??!

    Having recently discovered that Neal Asher is writing the stories for Heavy Metal, I have some excitement/hope in that project, but I also find that to be a pretty strange focus after his PotC work.

    It seems to me that someone like Verbinski should be getting after something like Ender's Game. I dunno.
  • Didnt Gore Verbinski do The Ring even before the PotC movies? Why arent we comparing this to that?
  • Weyland_Yutani
    Maybe you are on to something. If the virtual wife finds some sort of physical manifestation and goes after the real wife, I think they have themselves an interesting horror concept. :)
  • Thats not what I was saying, but sure. Whatever
  • It's crazy that some article in a newspaper could possibly be turned into a feature movie a few years later. I guess people thought it was crazy to turn a theme park ride into a movie too but look at Pirates of the Caribbean. I guess people are losing their imaginations and can no longer come up with anything good.
  • Sounds interesting and unique. I'll bite.
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