Uncharted movie wanders off the map

By Fred Dutton Published 1 December, 2010

Drake family will be antique dealers.

The impending Hollywood adaptation of Naughty Dog's Uncharted franchise looks set to bare precious little resemblance to its source material.

Director David O Russell recently divulged a few plot details to the Los Angeles Times. The script, which is currently about 50 per cent complete, expands on Naughty Dog's narrative, recasting Drake as a member of a family of globetrotting antique dealers.

"This idea really turns me on that 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," he said.

"We'll have the family dynamic, which we've done in a couple of movies now," he added. "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."

As revealed last week, Mark Wahlberg is set to take on the roll of Nathan Drake, with Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci playing his father and uncle respectively.

"David is one of the best writer/directors I've ever worked with," said Wahlberg of the Three Kings director. "The idea that he has is just insane."

Wahlberg, who's no stranger to videogame crossovers having taken the lead roll in the cack-handed 2008 Max Payne flick, seems confident that Uncharted can buck the trend of rubbish game-to-movie adaptations.

"To me what a lot of those other movies lack is the level of character and heart," he said.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (75) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Prime #1 1 year ago

    fucking hell!!

  • Kami #2 1 year ago

    Where did I put my surprised face...

  • Eraysor #3 1 year ago

    ...why even bother using the game's title at all?!

  • jamhead #4 1 year ago

    If only Naughty Dog were making the film as well...

  • altitude2k #5 1 year ago

    So having an idea for a film and ripping off the name of a game just to get a few more seats filled passes for an adaptation these days? Great.

  • Dizzy #6 1 year ago

    Mark "Max Payne" Wahlberg?
    Edited by Dizzy at 01/12/10 @ 22:22

  • JBlokeUK #7 1 year ago

    ''That's a really cool idea to me."

    To you, and you only.

  • razzastuta #8 1 year ago

    I'm going to completely avoid this film. The games are fantastic, but c'mon - Antique Dealers?? What a load of sloblock.

  • Restart #9 1 year ago

    "The impending Hollywood adaptation of Naughty Dog's Uncharted franchise looks set to bare precious little resemblance to its source material."

    Just like every game to film adaptation then.

  • dnimkrad #10 1 year ago

    hopefully naughty dog don't get pushed in to some horrendous tie in affair, horrible, just horrible - first russell, then wahlberg, now these script revelations, next thing it'll be an actual movie and i'm going to have to start killing hollywood

  • HisDudness #11 1 year ago

    It belongs in a museum!

  • RoaringPanda #12 1 year ago

    oh no... If Sully ends up his fat, stupid, hopeless romantic uncle i'm gonna be rather unhappy

  • menage #13 1 year ago

    I don't ususally do this but

    epic fail.

  • patch #14 1 year ago

    Why don't they go and spoil someone else's franchise? Can someone call Naughty Dog and get their opinion on this? If it were me I'd be going apeshit.

  • timur #15 1 year ago

    I think you mean 'bear' rather than 'bare'... unless people are getting naked in one but not the other I guess.

  • timur #16 1 year ago

    Also 'role' and not 'roll' as Wahlberg isn't Swiss, though his name may suggest otherwise. Seriously, does no one proofread these things?

  • Mkwone #17 1 year ago

    Sounds more like Lovejoy than Uncharted.

  • Retroid #18 1 year ago

    Data's just told Picard about the changes.

    He's not amused.

  • nuanimal #19 1 year ago

    I sense Antiques Roadshow. With explosion.

    Not happy.

  • stephenb #20 1 year ago

    \kicks Hollywood in the nads

  • RevanNL #21 1 year ago

    Wow, just wow. They couldn't have mist the point any further could they? Why call it a Uncharted movie if you're not going to implement everything the main character is about? They might as well change the name of the movie into 'Wahlberg's fucking ludicrous adventure'. I'd even want to watch that.

  • randompanda #22 1 year ago

    Indiana Jones was an archeologist, one of the most boring sounding job titles imaginable if you put it on paper. As was Lara Croft. Antique dealer's just their way of putting a "spin" on the character that most screenwriters will do when doing adaptations.

    Nothing to get in a huff about, honestly. The character will still do the same things, it's not like he's going to be sitting in an antique shop the entire film.

    Your biggest concern here isn't the writing - it's Walberg - someone who is consistantly attached to shit films.

  • beastmaster #23 1 year ago

    Acorn Antiques?

    /awaits casting of Victoria Wood & Julie Walters

  • xen0n #24 1 year ago

    "... expands on Naughty Dog's narrative ..." - I guess in Hollywood-speak, "expand" now means "change completely". Urgh, another movie license down the toilet. Director sounds like a colossal tool as well - he's "turned on" by the brilliance of his horrible ideas? Interesting...

  • Stop-gap #25 1 year ago

    Justice meting out antique dealers? That sounds "really cool" to who exactly?
    They should cast Billy Bob Thornton in this for a cheap giggle as he tries to big it up after last weeks comments.

  • coolbritannia #26 1 year ago

    Cheap as chips.

    /orange

  • cw- #27 1 year ago

    Ok, I'm out. Up until this piece of "news" I was still looking forward to it.. but this news now has put me off.


    On the plus side, I got a PS3 this weekend with Uncharted 1 & 2. First one is great so far!

  • PseudoDuck #28 1 year ago

    It's not really Uncharted anymore, is it? Naughty Dog need to walk away...or try to influence things so that this ends up as a Crash Bandicoot movie instead.

  • feistycheese #29 1 year ago

    In further revelations, the father of Marky 'Wooden Statue' Wahlberg, will be played by Ian McShane, and they will traipse across the hidden expanse of Norfolk Broad car boot sales in a clattered old volvo looking for reasonably valuable family heirlooms, with which they will combat the dastardly David Dickinson and his evil fake tan, in order to save the world from ever hearing the really fucking annoying phrase 'cheap as chips' ever again . . .

    *goes to apply for Hollywood script writers job*

  • Embra #30 1 year ago

    Right now, Nathan Fillion must be breathing an ever-so-effortlessly-cool sigh of relief at having dodged this particular bullet.
    Edited by Embra at 01/12/10 @ 23:38

  • sfp_noodle #31 1 year ago

    So Sahara 2 is being renamed Uncharted?

  • Bigmac1910 #32 1 year ago

    LOL, who the hell from the gaming community will watch this? Especially the ones who have played the game, I sure hell won't.

  • goatjugsoup #33 1 year ago

    so first they'll substitute an actor who only has one level of acting and looks nothing like the part for one who does look the part and has unknown potential to be able to act, THEN they decide oh we haven't ruined this movie enough lets change the story too...
    fucking assholes they should either leave it the way it was or quit making the movie at all. The movie industry has done the exact same thing to the DBZ and Avatar Last Airbender Live Action movies and to a lesser extent the Tekken movie.
    the prince of persia movie is the only decent game to movie adaption i have seen in the past few years, maybe they should get him to do all of them.

  • YenooR #34 1 year ago

    Sounds very much like the Nic Cage films National Treasures

  • SeesThroughAll #35 1 year ago

    Epic Fail.

    Way to protect your IP, Sony...

  • Turbotim3 #36 1 year ago

    Maybe some of these plot ideas are going to be in uncharted 3 and we just think they don't have anything to do with uncharted

  • andywilkie35 #37 1 year ago

    Hahahahahaha what appalling casting and a hilarious concept!!

  • dwalker109 #38 1 year ago

    Well, this sounds like absolute fucking toss now doesn't it.

  • Mentat_Idaho #39 1 year ago

    The latest news: Sony's major announcement - Uncharted 3 will be released in tandem with this movie, and they are revamping Nathan Drake's image with Mark Wahlberg's likeness. A Sony spokesman said "We think that Uncharted fans will be a lot happier with the new look of Nathan Drake and we hope that those who didn't like the first two games - the more casual gamer and their whole families - will discover the franchise so Uncharted can become a household name. Uncharted 3 will also only support the Playstation Move, and will be in 3D"

  • FenderMaster #40 1 year ago

    if any game could stand to be ported to the big screen unchanged, it was Uncharted... everything about it was already perfect for a movie! oh well...

  • Lucodeath #41 1 year ago

    Tomb raider already did the transfer, Pants films but big tits was involved!

  • djed #42 1 year ago

    sounds like the mummy 4

  • Acrid #43 1 year ago

    Here's the trailer

  • mushroomyakuza #44 1 year ago

    IT'S ALL RIGHT THERE! ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS TAKE WHAT HAPPENS IN THE GAME AND MAKE IT A MOVIE! IT'S SO SIMPLE!

    Good GOD Hollywood is fucking braindead!

  • Master_Ted #45 1 year ago

    I'm going out on a limb and saying the movie will suck

  • GamesConnoisseur #46 1 year ago

    Urgh!

    Starting to think, just maybe, maybe Uwe Boll's treatment won't be too disasterous after this Lovejoy and Markie's throttlings of Uncharted....

    ...

    Nah Bollification just half as bad, but still half a smoking turd!

  • metamorphic #47 1 year ago

    A fucking "antique dealer" rather than a bounty hunter? Now I know why Clooney can't stand this guy.

  • Atropos #48 1 year ago

    Dude, I'm Swedish, and even I know it's 'bear resemblance' not 'bare'.

  • Deckard1 #49 1 year ago

    As long as its got a cameo from that leathery bloke of bargain hunt I'll be happy.

  • MadCaddy13 #50 1 year ago

    What is this? Lovejoy the movie??

  • kaya08 #51 1 year ago

    I've never understood why people use a franchise and change it.
    You've effectively payed lots of money to piss off fans of the franchise and all you get out of it is a title.

    Why not just make a movie staring mark wahlberg about a crazy antique dealing family who blow stuff up in their spare time?
    Call it unmapped or something stupid.

  • Antaios #52 1 year ago

    "...currently about 50 per cent complete..."

    I read 50 Cent there and my mind wandered off into scary realms. That being said: don't bother calling it Uncharted if you're not even going to try and be faithful to the source material.

  • LazyNinjaUk #53 1 year ago

    So he basically wants to make another "Journey to the centre of the earth" or "National Treasure", what a dick.

  • Tonne #54 1 year ago

    wahlberg already ruined one game icon for me.
    i can't play max payne without seeing marky mark's face

  • Bleedingplums #55 1 year ago

    "This idea really turns me on that there's a family that's a force to be reckoned with in the world of international art and antiquities..."

    This kind of thing is why no one likes you

  • Soton4084 #56 1 year ago

    This will be rubbish then...

  • waynenot #57 1 year ago

    Drake family will be antique dealers...and live in the Home Counties.


    Can't wait to see this now.
    Edited by waynenot at 02/12/10 @ 08:36

  • waynenot #58 1 year ago

    I wonder which other rolls will be available to actors in this movie - best ask the caterers, I suppose.

  • Raznilof #59 1 year ago

    I absolutely love uncharted (1), bought a ps3 for it and think it's definitely in my personal top ten gaming list.

    Uncharted may have been "loaning" from the movies, Twister in particular (Helen Hunt is obviously a template, as is Mark Macnina's film score which is very recognizable in Uncharte'd main theme). The Indiana Jones dynamic is an obvious inspirations also.

    But...

    Uncharted worked because it had character, not because the story was so original, even if it wasn't wholy unoriginal either. Everyone that has played it will remember the scene in the jungle with the waterfall and the you know what; a gaming location icon I think.

    I however didn't like the last act of it with those you also know what and didn't think the game needed those.

    If a film can do they same, they might have something on their hands. This director's film Three Kings definitely had it (and that inspired the awesome Bad Company (1) campaign).

    I know I am like a preacher in the desert saying this, but in my opinion even Naughty Dog themselves didn't fully understand their property. Uncharted 2 (for me) failed to capture the magic and chemistry of the first one. Feeling to much structured like a film and too little like a game.

    So movie...meh, I really don't care about it, I'll watch Indiana Jones again, but if Naughty Dog could go back to making the whole game feel like a seamless long level again, I'd be more than happy!

  • Huxamalay #60 1 year ago

    Well done Hollywood, raping yet another franchise in the face with your uncircumcised member

  • Olemak #61 1 year ago

    This sounds more like a remake of the 1989 movie Family Business, for some reason.

    [link url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097328/
    ]http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097328/
    [/link]

    Not very interested in seeing it. I wonder why they dont just "shoot the game". Uncharted was an extremely filmatic game, you just have to add a camera ans some actors and there you go. They had fanstatic sucsess by simply "sticking to the script" for movies like Sin City, 300 and Watchmen - I can't see why they have to go all "creative" for Uncharted. It makes no sense.

    And I really don't think the name is really worth anything. How many people would pay to see an Uncharted movie? How many paid to see Max Payne just because it was named after a video game? Or "Doom", for that matter? My bet is not very many at all.

  • bebox2010 #62 1 year ago

    Great another video game fucked over by moronic movie executives. OK, jokes over, wheres Uwe Boll? Is he hiding behind that plant pot?

  • Golgo #63 1 year ago

    Sounds shit. But hopefully if they push it far enough they can take the Uncharted name off it.

  • Zebula77 #64 1 year ago

    Oh, well - roll on Uncharted 3 so we can forget about this mess as soon as possible.

  • The-Bodybuilder #65 1 year ago

    National Treasure 3?

  • The-Bodybuilder #66 1 year ago

    And people wondering why MS were so controlling with the Halo IP.

  • javvyman #67 1 year ago

    I just felt a little sick in my mouth...

  • Ninja_Tino #68 1 year ago

    They should get Ian McShane to play his Dad - Lovejoy style.
    Funny buggers beat me to it.
    Edited by Ninja_Tino at 02/12/10 @ 11:06

  • MJHaylett #69 1 year ago

    'Unsurprised' is what they should call this Film, as in none of us are surprised that it's basically nothing to do with the game. The only Family as far as I can tell Drake has in the games is Sully so now to have him with a Mum and Dad Antique Dealers lol. Anyway I understand that Film is different to Games but well Marky Mark and Russell do not excite me like say a Nathan Fillion and Joss Whedon might. But I am more excited for Uncharted 3.

  • Sanya #70 1 year ago

    don't call it family movie,call it trash in a bad way

  • Financed_Hoe #71 1 year ago

    In other game-to-movie news, Kate beckinsale to star as Mistress Chief in the upcoming Halo movie. A few creative liberties were taken.

  • man.the.king #72 1 year ago

    Seems the movie has precious little in common with the games.

    Why bother naming it Uncharted then?

    EDIT: Suddenly Uwe Boll as a director doesn't seem such a bad idea, compared to the travesty of a plot idea David Russell has for this movie.
    Edited by man.the.king at 02/12/10 @ 15:05

  • darc #73 1 year ago

    "a family of globetrotting antique dealers"

    What, they were concerned that the game didn't have enough in common w/ Tomb Raider, therefore this? :/

  • Kaminari #74 1 year ago

    Sweet. Just what we needed...

  • winstoninabox #75 1 year ago

    I've got an idea for a movie about a family of globe-trotting justices that secretly mete out antiques.