The upcoming BioShock film adaptation has a lot of difficult questions to answer. Fans have seen a few projects in the same vein lately with prestige shows like The Last of Us and Fallout. Each has a specific and striking setting that stands out as a critical part of the narrative, and each remains one of the go-to high watermarks for video game storytelling. BioShock will reach the small screen via Netflix, but very little is currently known about its eventual presentation. Noted actor and massive BioShock fan Jack Quaid spoke to IGN about his hopes for a BioShock adaptation, letting slip that he’d love to portray Sander Cohen. He mentions that he doesn’t think he’s right for the part, but many elements of his past performances might disagree.
Fan casting is often a dangerous and embarrassing business. The best most fans can do when trying to cast an iconic character is recall the performers behind somewhat similar existing characters. These suggestions rely entirely on the implication that every actor lives and dies on one character archetype. It’s odd to assume that an actor would nail any intimidating villain they took on just because they pulled it off once. Conversely, it makes no sense to assume that an actor would be best served by doing something they’ve already done. It’s a very unimaginative process that quickly becomes reminiscent of modern hiring managers’ experience requirements.
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Who did Jack Quaid want to play in BioShock?
On a recent episode of IGN Arcade, Jack Quaid imagined his ideal version of a BioShock adaptation, pitching a TV series that would take place in two timelines. In that show, or in the movie Netflix is allegedly still producing on the subject, Quaid further opines that he’d love to play Sander Cohen. Cohen is an artist who slavishly devotes himself to the single-minded pursuit of bringing his masterpiece to life. To that end, he mastered a wide variety of talents long before he moved to Rapture on its founder’s personal invitation. Cohen is a critical part of the city under the sea and the game that explores it. After Rapture’s downfall, he turns to the grim work of killing humans and Splicers to craft art out of their remains. His grand design forces the player character, Jack, to aid him in constructing his magnum opus. Cohen is the living embodiment of the tactile difference between moral value and aesthetic accomplishment. He’s one of the most memorable presences in the game, far outliving his relatively short-lived appearance. He draws the attention of every fan of the game, up to and including Jack Quaid.
How could Sander Cohen work in a BioShock adaptation?
Short of Andrew Ryan, the Big Daddies, and Rapture itself, Cohen is one of the most iconic elements of the original BioShock. It’s hard to imagine any BioShock adaptation, be it feature-length or serialized, giving anything less than tremendous fanfare to the character. Cohen is the antagonist of a single level in BioShock and a presence in the game’s remarkably in-depth backstory. If the adaptation takes the form Quaid pitched, fans will get to see Cohen at his best before he becomes the killer fans know and love. He’s an antagonist who brims with personality, perhaps even more than the main villain. This is one of many issues with a BioShock adaptation; the hero is essentially a non-entity while the villains are an ensemble cast of compelling characters. It’s not unlike a dodgy Batman comic, and Cohen is arguably its Joker in terms of popularity and appeal.
Could Jack Quaid fit the Sander Cohen role?
The thing about Jack Quaid is that nearly every role he has appeared in since he appeared as Hughie in The Boys has the same coat of paint. He’s always “just a normal guy, except…” Directors have used that premise to set him up as an unexpected hero and a well-hidden villain. Cohen would be an opportunity to shed the everyman routine, leaning into an openly unhinged performance from the jump. The world has seen him reach the soaring peaks of unhinged violence, heartrending manipulation, and genuine villainy. He’s played crazy before; Cohen is just an opportunity to take off the mask he’s been wearing for a few years now. He may not have an identical role under his belt yet, but that overreliance on familiar performances robs the world of surprises.
Jack Quaid is a compelling performer who seems to be caught in something of a niche. Something about him seems to perfectly capture a kind of idealized average human man that exists to subvert expectations. For good or for ill, the casting directors of the world have looked at Jack Quaid and slapped him with the “ordinary” label. Sander Cohen is anything but ordinary, and the level of commitment to artistic expression it would take to defy every defining trait of one’s career in pursuit of a magnum opus is exactly what it takes to bring this character to life.
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