We’ve been keeping an eye on the development of the Uncharted film here at accessreel over the past few months and things are starting to build some momentum. Last we heard was confirmation that ‘Three King’s’ and ‘Fighter’ director David O. Russell is attached to direct the film, now on the casting side of things it has been announced that Mark Wahlberg will be playing the role of Nathan Drake.
IGN reported that while promoting ‘The Fighter’ which also stars Wahlberg, he stated that he will do whatever the director wants him to when it comes to Uncharted.
On the one hand this seems like a pretty good outcome, Wahlberg has a certain charisma that will suit the character, he has delivered some great performances in the past and I’ve particularly enjoyed ‘Three Kings’, The Big Hit’, ‘Boogie Nights’ and of course ‘The Departed’.
However at the same time anyone who’s read my previous postings would be aware he wasn’t my first choice, this remains as Nathan Fillion, who in my mind was born to play this role. Watching the character in the game deliver his lines, his charisma, comedic timing and sarcastic remarks almost feels like Naughty Dog entertainment had Fillion in mind when developing the games and I can’t help but feel if given the chance he would have owned this role.
Wahlberg also made further comments indicating that Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro are in the running for the project but gave no idea as to what role each of them is being considered for. The obvious choice for De Niro would likely be ‘Sully’, but we’ll have to wait and see.
Hopefully we’ll soon get an impression of David O. Russell’s vision for the film, the games achieved a nice balance between a realistic setting and something more fantastical yet without going too over the top, it’d be nice to see this aspect of the games transition to the film adaptation.
