May 26, 2011 by Paul Curtin
After the potential plot was originally announced for David O. Russell’s “Uncharted” film, which sounded almost nothing like the game it’s based on, fans were a little upset to say the least. And with good reason, because when you have a video game developer that seems to do just about everything better than Hollywood, you’re going to upset a few people when you start straying from what makes the franchise so lovable in order to sell out and make it to the big screen. Throw in Mark Wahlberg (who comes with the negative stigma of the awful “Max Payne” game-to-film adaptation) to play the lead role of the charismatic Nathan Drake, and you’re going to have a lot of people not wanting to see this film ever enter day 1 of production.
Good news for gamers and film lovers today as filmmaker David O. Russell, who was signed on to both write and direct the adaptation, has just recently told Variety that he has left the project over creative differences with Sony. There are no other details regarding Russell leaving and if Wahlberg is still attached to the project.
Hopefully this is the first step in the cancellation of the whole Uncharted film idea. I hate to be such a downer, but right now is not the time for an Uncharted movie. The Uncharted franchise is still somewhat under the radar of a lot casual gamers, and even a lot of hardcore gamers have yet to give the series a try. With Uncharted 2 beating out Modern Warfare 2 and unanimously winning Game of the Year 2009, and Uncharted 3 set to win Game of the Year 2011 when it hits store shelves in November, now is just not the time for Uncharted‘s transition from games to the big screen.
