Interview: Discussing the Craziness of ‘Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die’ with Director Gore Verbinski

Gore Verbinski is a director who has seen his fair share of things. The scale of some of his blockbuster projects suggests a behind the scenes insanity that clearly comes with the territory, but is still notable. So, to see him trafficking in such crazy, albeit smaller scale, fare with Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is a pleasure. Recently, I had a few moments on Zoom with him to talk about the wackiness of the film. With it hitting theaters this weekend, our conversation comes your way today.

In my review of the movie (here), I said the following about Verbinski’s direction:

Director Gore Verbinski is clearly very amused by the screenplay Matthew Robinson penned, as well as the concept of letting Rockwell off the leash. Rockwell, along with Richardson and Temple, provide the human element, while Robinson and Verbinski get to go off on AI and technology overall. Plus, occasionally there’s a batshit crazy image or moment, such as the appearance of a mix of cat and centaur that steals its scenes. At the same time, they can’t resist the urge to make this two hours and fourteen minutes long. At one point, the movie seems to be wrapping up, but it actually has close to a half hour left. That ebb and flow of pacing and overstuffed narrative dulls a bit of the flick’s effectiveness, though not enough to keep it from being overall successful.

Below, you can see my chat with Verbinski. We did not have long for this discussion, but even so, we still managed to have fun. Much like the flick itself, there’s an inherent silliness to discussing it, which he was very much on board for. There’s a few things within the film that you can’t help but giggle at, even if the stakes are very high. There’s a message here, as well as a hope for connection, which is part of the final pitch Verbinski makes to all of you. The movie opens just in time for Valentine’s Day, so if you have an off-kilter partner, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is definitely one to catch over the weekend…

Here now is my interview with Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die director Gore Verbinski. Enjoy:

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is in theaters this weekend!