Scarlett Johansson for Uncharted movie?

By Fred Dutton Published 1 February, 2011

Lost in Translation star "scoped" for Elena.

Scarlett Johansson is the latest name attached to David O Russell's controversial Uncharted movie, according to a new interview with the director.

Discussing the role of Elena, Nathan Drake's love interest, with Empire Online, Russell agreed that The Fighter's leading lady Amy Adams would be a great fit, before making a suggestion of his own.

"Oh I would love that too, I love Amy. I also love Scarlett Johansson; there's a lot of great actors I think might suit. Hopefully, we'll see how it works out with everybody who are being scoped to do that role..."

Russell also talked a little more about how he was approaching the character, explaining "I've cultivated her quite a bit and I think I've added a lot of dimension to her so that's all I'm going to say. I love the woman characters and the more robust they are, the more robust the movie."

According to recent casting news Russell has lined up Mark Wahlberg to play Drake, with Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci playing his father and uncle. However, it seems that's not 100 per cent locked in just yet.

"I'd love Mark to be in it, I'd love Bob De Niro to be in it," he said, "I love the idea of growing them into a cinematic family; I think that's a really cool idea, but... I guess you'll have to wait until you see the script."

Back in December, fans didn't respond too positively to news that Russell was planning to veer well away from the story established by developer Naughty Dog. Perhaps his Best Director Oscar nom for gritty boxing flick The Fighter last week might encourage you to give him the benefit of the doubt?

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 (26) Latest comment 1 year ago

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

  • Murton #1 1 year ago

    I like Scarlett Johansson as much as the next guy, but why exactly has Emily Rose been overlooked? Seems a no brainer to me, who better to play Elena Fisher than the woman that voiced and served as a physical template to the in game charcter?

    I really really want the Uncharted movie to work and break this really long line of shitty game to movie conversions, but between the rewriting of the Drake character and the all over the place casting I'm starting to worry about the project.

  • Ultrasoundwave #2 1 year ago

    Get Tanit Phoenix as Chloe too and you've got yourself a deal!

  • captain_Carl #3 1 year ago

    Emily-Rose should do it.

  • Miths #4 1 year ago

    Well, if Wahlberg does indeed end up playing Drake, they've already screwed the casting up so much it's barely even worth suggesting the excellent - and beautiful - Emily Rose.

    And if they have to go with someone else I can certainly think of worse choices than Scarlett Johansson.

  • b-tek #5 1 year ago

    Mark as Nate = recipe for a shit movie imho :/

  • glottis0 #6 1 year ago

    Emily Rose is also a frikkin' awesome actress, if John From Cincinnati (most underrated TV show ever made) was anything to go by.

  • Jonathan_Fakenham #7 1 year ago

    Yeah, she was sweet in that show, and would be the obvious choice to go for.

    I don't think I'll care about this movie until it's out and I hear it's actually good though.

  • Miths #8 1 year ago

    @glottis0

    I haven't seen that show, but she's also great in her current leading role in Haven.

  • Hantheman #9 1 year ago

    With all due respect two 2 fantastic games, story-wise they're about as imaginative as porridge. Why not choose an intersting gaming story rather than Indiana Jones for the 21st century.

    Oh wait, it's Hollywood, imagination is a weakness

  • goatjugsoup #10 1 year ago

    "Perhaps his Best Director Oscar nom for gritty boxing flick The Fighter last week might encourage you to give him the benefit of the doubt?"
    I don't know about anyone else but Oscars don't mean anything at all to me. I hate it when people decide to adapt a game to a movie and then make a ton of unnecessary changes to the story, if they are going to do that what's the point of adapting the game at all?
    IMO the prince of persia adaption was good, the changes were necessary to make a good movie.
    The tekken movie while good enough on it's own didn't make a lot of sense to change the things it did, I always thought the strife between the Mishima family would have made a good story but the film makers didn't seem to get the point.

  • OnlyMe #11 1 year ago

    And yet, Hollywood manages to make it worse. Besides, I'm not looking for a deep and involving story in a game like Uncharted.

  • Andeus #12 1 year ago

    Perhaps his Best Director Oscar nom for gritty boxing flick The Fighter last week might encourage you to give him the benefit of the doubt?

    No. Get Nathan Fillion for Drake or GTFO.

  • spekkeh #13 1 year ago

    I like how everyone was praising Uncharted for the fact that for once they had a female lead in a game that didn't sport double D's, and then they cast Scarlett Johansson for the movie version.

  • Canyarion #14 1 year ago

    +1 Nathan Fillion

  • glottis0 #15 1 year ago

    @goatjugsoup - I felt the Prince of Persia movie was beyond terrible, not just because it was badly scripted, shot and acted, but because they dumbed down the story to a patronising degree.

    The time-travel stuff in Sands of Time and its Emo sequel was vaguely thoughtful and at times even intricate, but they crapped all over it so that every 6 year old kid and his half-pissed parents could go along to the cinema and follow it in between trips to the toilets and handfuls of £11 nachos. I guess accessibility is about all you have going for you with the modern video-game adaptation. That, Arterton's alluring pout+cleavage combo, and Donnie Darko's newly-ripped chest*, which were both as impressive as advertised.

    *(seemingly build solely from his acting talent, which was apparently consumed in the process)

  • man.the.king #16 1 year ago

    Yes, let's get Hollywood big names into the Uncharted movie. That should make it good.

    Screw the script.

  • man.the.king #17 1 year ago

    @deadlyMantis

    You are on the wrong forum dear. Eurogamer deals with video games, not the other kind.

  • mushroomyakuza #18 1 year ago

    Shit didn't even realize Elena was Emily Rose! She's haaawt AND a good actress. Scarlett would make a good Elena but Emily Rose should obviously take precedence. Still hating Wahlberg.

  • Scimarad #19 1 year ago

    Considering 90% of the feedback they seem to be getting to this film is bad, you have to wonder who exactly they are aiming it at...

  • menage #20 1 year ago

    Scarlet is alright with me. Wahlberg can take a hike (without camera's)

  • Sutorcen #21 1 year ago

    Oh this is getting better and better... First Whlaberg and now Johansson? Have the producers and the director even looked at the game? See any dissimilarity? But I guess if you have to serve some interestes and don't care about the movie you have to chose actors from your "gang". Pffff

  • Prezer0 #22 1 year ago

    Ok this movie is ruined already...

  • Kaminari #23 1 year ago

    It's dead, Jim.

  • SeesThroughAll #24 1 year ago

    The ongoing casting for this film is like stomping on a corpse.

    A short message to Naughty Dog and SCE: How can you sleep at night?

  • Caimbeul #25 1 year ago

    Scarlett Johansson + 1

    Amy Adams - 1

    Wahlberg wasnt too bad in The other guys...we cant change so just have to hope for the best.

  • nad2dare #26 1 year ago

    +2 Nathan Fillion