Sam Rockwell in Talks to Star in Gore Verbinski's Next Film

Director Gore Verbinski is working on his comeback to the big screen, and he has reportedly finalised Sam Rockwell as the male lead. The film would mark the director's first turn behind the camera since 2016's horror-thriller A Cure for Wellness.

Details on the film remain closely guarded, and it is unclear who Rockwell would be playing, or even what type of project the film would be. 

Verbinski had reportedly planned to make his next animated feature Cattywumpus, a film about cats in outer space. The project was previously set up at Netflix but was eventually dropped by the studio, and was reportedly being shopped around in 2022.

After horror-thriller A Cure for Wellness's release, Verbinski, who is known for his work on The Pirates of the Caribbean series, Rango, and The Ring, had multiple high-profile projects lined up that eventually tapered off. This included directing Gambit, a film for 20th Century Fox based on the X-Men character of the same name. However, the film failed to materialise.  In addition, Verbinski was also working on a long-gestating film adaptation of Bioshock for Universal, before the studio eventually bowed out. Verbinski is also slated to direct an adaptation of George RR Martin's short story Sandkings, but there isn't much movement on this front.

Rockwell will next be seen on screen in Argylle, a Matthew Vaughn-directed spy thriller in which he will appear alongside Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard, Bryan Cranston, Samuel L Jackson, Dua Lipa, John Cena, Catherine O'Hara, and Ariana DeBose. The film is reportedly in post-production but does not yet have a release date.