Love it or hate it, it looks like David O. Russell's 'family dynamic' take on the popular Playstation 3 video game Uncharted will never come to be. And that means no more Mark Wahlberg as Nathan Drake is out, which should give many fans at rest, but who will take his place? And who will take Russell's?
Variety has reported the Russell left the film because of 'creative differences' with the studio. It's easy to see what these creative differences were, considering the fact that Russell's intentions were to make an all new story that practically had nothing to do with the game other than the lead character having the name Nathan Drake. Here's how Russell had described his story:
“… There’s a family that’s a force to be reckoned with in the world of international art and antiquities … [a family] that deals with heads of state and heads of museums and metes out justice… We’ll have the family dynamic… And then you take that and put it on the bigger, more muscular stage of an international action picture, but also put all the character stuff in it. That’s a really cool idea to me.”
Russell's take was getting negative reaction from fans, especially due to the rumored casting of Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro (Who had worked with Russell before) as two mobsters from New York. Wait, was that in the game? NO! But what really got fans going was the of Mark Wahlberg as Nathan Drake, which was a complete miscast, and dangerous for those who remember Wahlberg's run as the lead character in the film adaption of the video game Max Payne.
Fans have been supporting Castle star Nathan Fillion with a petition convincing Sony to cast Fillion as Drake. While that seemed a distant dream a few weeks ago, there's now a large possibility that Fillion has a chance, especially since he's actually expressed interest in the role himself. I personally think Fillion is a perfect match for Drake, and is nearly identical to the character personality wise.
Sony's already look for writer to rewrite Russell's story, and they'll be working from an earlier script from Conan The Barbarian writers Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Openheimer which actually stayed true to Sony's successful trilogy, which was basically written as a movie to begin with. While having award winning Russell leaving the project might sadden some, there's now a much larger chance that the Uncharted film can be a great video game film (And probably the first great video game adaption ever) that will actually stay true to the game.
What do you think of Russell leaving the project? Do you think Fillion is a good Drake?
