Director quits Uncharted movie

By Fred Dutton Published 26 May, 2011

Russell walks, cites "creative differences".

The planned Uncharted movie has lost its director this week, with David O Russell reportedly moving on to pastures new.

According to a Variety source, the split was amicable and due to creative differences. Sony is now looking for a replacement.

The studio hasn't commented on whether Russell's vision for the film - which would have seen Mark Wahlberg's Nathan Drake as a member of a family of antique traders that also included father Robert De Niro and uncle Joe Pesci – will remain intact.

Russell snared an Oscar nomination for his last flick, The Fighter. Next up, he'll apparently be re-teaming with Wahlberg for comic novel adaptation The Silver Linings Playbook.

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 (60) Latest comment 11 months ago

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  • RoaringPanda #1 1 year ago

    Thank god!

  • Rob_B #2 1 year ago

    Good, hopefully the next guy won't fuck up the story...

  • Svalbaard #3 1 year ago

    I'm sure nobody is surprised by this. The whole premise sounded like a huge clusterfuck from the start.

  • PixelPirate #4 1 year ago

    Thank god, lets hope his daft lovejoy around the world story goes with him

  • Gambit1977 #5 1 year ago

    Thank god! First job for the new Director is to apologise to Nathan Fillion and get him signed up!

  • Ashcroft #6 1 year ago

    He must have found the zombie portion of the movie too boring.

  • Walkerj #7 1 year ago

    best news all year!!!!!!

  • trooperdx3117 #8 1 year ago

    Thank christ! Now please who else wants Nathan Fillion to play drake?

  • LazyNinjaUk #9 1 year ago

    "According to a Variety source, the split was amicable and due to creative differences."

    Obviously someone at SCEA or Sony Pictures finally realised "Hang on, what the hell does a family of antique traders have to do with Uncharted? Fuck all! David you're fired, obviously the success of The Fighter winning an Oscar has gone to your head and you're getting high off your own sense of self satisfaction and the smell of your own farts."

    Now if they can get Nathan Fillion on board, that would be a step in the right direction.

  • Markitron #10 1 year ago

    They obviously realised that, even tho he's a good director, he's not right for this. I don't need an uncharted film to win oscars, just want it to be fun. A 3 star film with plenty of nods to the game will do me nicely

  • Walkerj #11 1 year ago

    Nolan North for Nathan Drake! He looks exactly like him, sounds the part obviously, he's a handsome everyman with charisma and an experienced actor. Guy does everything, he's superman! literally..in young justice. Give him the role that he perfected. I love fillion, but this is so totally north's character.

  • SlapLaB #12 1 year ago

    Yeah I also think it should be Nolan North.
    But didn't he say he was not interested or not available?

  • HyperTails #13 1 year ago

    Thank the Lord. Maybe the next person can create a proper story instead of some antique dealer crap.

    Just hope they take their time finding the right guy, as a rushed search will inevitably lead to some crappy movie being made.

  • polymorph #14 1 year ago

    Another vote for Fillion here.

  • Canyarion #15 1 year ago

    Now get Nathan Fillion. It's about time he lost some weight!

  • polymorph #16 1 year ago

    @Canyarion
    Yeah, he was a little chubby in the last few eps of season 3 castle, to much sitting on a set not enough location work. lol.

  • TheEarlOfZinger #17 1 year ago

    I won't be watching the film, but I do play the games.

    I would at least think they would try to do the films justice - from everything I read so far, this guy was totally re-writing what drakes/uncharted actually was and how it plays out.

    "a family of antique dealers" FFS - he's a (self-proclaimed) descendant of the explorer Sir Francis Drake - with a(discovered) notebook and a trinket (ring), and it goes from there...indiana jones stylee

    Good fucking riddance to the twat.
    Edited by TheEarlOfZinger at 26/05/11 @ 22:57

  • polymorph #18 1 year ago

    Oh, and also, a very funny Fillion clip.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9552BCx4g20

  • Lemming81 #19 1 year ago

    Umm all you guys realise this is the DIRECTOR that's walked right? The script ie. the shitty story, and likely the casting have gone nowhere. Seriously the Director was the last thing to worry about!

    I realise he also wrote the script, But Sony own that and are under no obligation to chuck it in. The 'create differences' could have been over what may amount to be minor changes to the overall non-Uncharted plot.
    Edited by Lemming81 at 26/05/11 @ 22:57

  • TheEarlOfZinger #20 1 year ago

    Lemming81

    Sure, true.

  • coolbritannia #21 1 year ago

    @Lemming, typically, a director walking takes most of the casting decisions with him. Pre-production remains, FX, costume etc, but I'd be very surprised if Wahlberg was still attached to this.

    If anyone has seen The Kingdom, Peter Berg gets my vote to direct.

  • TomDent93 #22 1 year ago

    Sounds fantastic!

    /runs

  • Walkerj #23 1 year ago

    North wasn't too busy, he actually said he hadn't been approached, but he would love to be part of it. he also said he was fine with the doing there own thing if they looked elsewhere, but he's my dream pick.

  • randompanda #24 1 year ago

    coolbritannia - Peter Berg would be a decent choice if he wasn't busy on other projects for the next few years. Plus he made Hancock which was terrible.

    I'm gonna throw a curveball and say Duncan Jones. The guy proved he can do contained storytelling well with Moon - as well as not being shy to carry on using practical effects work. He also showed he can make something fairly mainstream whilst still unique with Source Code (whilst unfortunately continuing his simplistic film-naming scheme).

    He's seemingly good with a smaller budget and I reckon he's perfect for a little "action adventure" on-location.

  • chessboxer #25 1 year ago

    Joe Flanigan for Nathan Drake!

  • emhaslam92 #26 1 year ago

    Step forward Uwe Boll.

    #PleaseGodNo

  • NunianVonFuch #27 1 year ago

    Not sure why everyone is so pleased with him leaving. This is the guy who did Three Kings which is pretty similar in tone to an ideal Uncharted movie. Anyone else who comes on board is not going to do any justice to the game and be a lot less qualified than Russell. In fact I think it'll be a long time now until we actually see any Uncharted movie at all, presuming the cast all leave too which is likely seeing as they signed on for David O. Russell's Uncharted.

    The only way Nathon Fillion or Nolan North would be playing Nathan Drake is if it went straight to DVD. The budget this movie needs guarantees an A-list star is required or it won't get made at all.

  • CaptainQuint #28 1 year ago

    O Russell is a good director and I'm a fan.

    But to this news I say: THANK FUCK.

    He was WRONG for this movie.

  • Walkerj #29 1 year ago

    I disagree, a senior A list actor could play sully and carry any lesser known star.

    We are happy he left because he was mutilating a story and a universe that we love. He took favorite characters and replaced them with stereotypical, talentless actors. Marky Mark has a bad record with video game movies if you aren't aware. Uncharted isn't loved because of the action, or the boss fights. Uncharted is loved because of the story, and the enchanting characters. Fans see that being molested and are glad to see the molester ousted. The actor playing Drake needs to be capably incompetent and haphazardly charismatic. Marky Mark literally starred in a movie about evil trees where he turned in the worst performance ever on film "the happening."

    That's why the fans are glad he's gone. He thought he was better than the material he was working with. No he's gone and I for one am thrilled.

  • coolbritannia #30 1 year ago

    I'm not glad he's gone, 3 Kings was a perfect tone for this. Duncan Jones won't touch this, he works from high concept, there's nothing high concept about the Uncharted universe.

    It'll end up being another Sahara.

  • Walkerj #31 1 year ago

    And FYI, no parting of ways based on creative differences in amicable. He was told by the higher ups that HIS direction wasn't acceptable and he left because the studio refused to do what he wanted. he was shot down, that is the only way something like this happens. he might have been the one who decided to leave, but it's because they didn't like his work.

  • tinyspark #32 1 year ago

    Sean Connery for Sully and Harrison Ford for Nathan.... No wait...

  • NunianVonFuch #33 1 year ago

    @Walkerj All that is fine but the most important part of David O. Russell and Wahlberg working together is each time they have the film has been excellent. Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees and The Fighter are the highlights of both of their careers. Wahlberg is no rubbish actor. He's been in some duds no doubt, but with the right director he's excellent. The Departed and Boogie Nights are other examples of this. I'd also disagree with the story being the highlight of the Uncharted games, the story is nonsense. The characters are what make it so entertaining. the banter between them and their reactions to the ridiculous scenarios they find themselves in. Hopefully if/when the real movie gets made the details of O. Russell's script will come out and we can see what it was really going to be like as one things for sure, he failed on the PR front for the script.
    Edited by NunianVonFuch at 27/05/11 @ 01:41

  • mcreddie #34 1 year ago

    Just scrap the whole project altogether! Hollywood obviously isn't cut out to make this film yet!

  • Walkerj #35 1 year ago

    I'm sorry, but Wahlberg is a terrible actor. Absolutely horrendous. the fact that a movie manages to be good with him in it is nothing to do with his performance. Have you seen the happening? Max payne? The other guys? A good actor doesn't all the sudden suck in half his movies. A good actor doesn't suck in bad movies. Good actors are the highlight of bad movies. You are being fooled by the quality of a movie into thinking he isn't awful, but he is!

    [link url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1PK4qYzNkI
    ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1PK4qYzNkI
    [/link]

    What a superstar!

  • NunianVonFuch #36 1 year ago

    @Walkerj I'm not defending his bad movies or his performances in them. I'm saying the 5 movies I've named are excellent and he's great in those. If you only see a performer's bad/recent movies you could think Robert De Niro, Leslie Nielson and George Lucas are talentless hacks but we all know better than that because we've seen their great stuff too. It's not black and white, talented people can produce muck too.

  • goatjugsoup #37 1 year ago

    This is fantastic news, that movie he was making sounded like it had nothing to do with Uncharted. I don't have anyone in mind in particular who should play Drake but on the definitely would not be a good choice list was MW, hope the new director both fixes the story and recasts

  • goatjugsoup #38 1 year ago

    This is fantastic news, that movie he was making sounded like it had nothing to do with Uncharted. I don't have anyone in mind in particular who should play Drake but on the definitely would not be a good choice list was MW, hope the new director both fixes the story and recasts

  • BBIAJ #39 1 year ago

    They need to get Charlize Theron on board as Elena!

  • samdu #40 1 year ago

    Best thing that could have happened to this movie. Russell wasn't at all interested in making an actual Uncharted movie. Whatever it was he was making sounded terrible, and had nothing at all to do with Uncharted.

  • man.the.king #41 1 year ago

    I'm happy that "National Treasure" by David O' Russell has probably been shelved.

    Perhaps the next director can now go and make Uncharted?

  • Gambit1977 #42 1 year ago

    Someone just claimed George Lucas is not a talentless hack and noone picked up on it!?!?

  • natureboy #43 1 year ago

    He quit because he knew the film was going to blow big time. The formula: videogame + movie = FAILURE

  • Violator #44 1 year ago

    Good news!

  • camo_kill #45 1 year ago

    I think they should just drop the movie idea altogether. It's never going to match up to the game. I'm guessing we will end up with a sub par Romancing the Stone. Uncharted is Uncharted because of Drake and Drake is Drake because of Nolan North. Anything else just isn't Uncharted.

  • madgerald Verified Studio Head of PR & Marketing, Colossal Games LTD #46 1 year ago

    Has anyone put the call out to Russell Mulcahy?

  • Murton #47 1 year ago

    "Creative differences" - Sony wanted creativity, Russel wanted something different. End of story.

    This is the first bit of good news we've had about the Uncharted movie since it was announced. It was announced, everyone thought "hells yeah" then we heard this guy effectively raping the story and characters, then he got fired and the fans rejoice.

    As Nolan North has already said that he doesn't want to play Drake himself and Nathan Fillon has said he'd love to (to the point of dropping other projects) it's only logical to approach Fillon. Elena should obviously be played by Emily Rose, I'm sure she'd be up for it and after completing Haven doesn't seem overly busy so get her on board to make sure her character is played properly. Sully is going to be the tricky one to cast, you need a strong actor to get Sully's presence nailed down, but without overshadowing Drake, it's going to be a fine balance if you don't A list on Drake.

    Of course the first hurdle is going to be finding a competent director, and after the Russel fumble I think it should more a case of approaching someone with the right style than simply looking for a volunteer. The Uncharted movie should feel like a reimagining of Indiana Jones and not a follow on of whatever is popular right now, so we need a director who is going to deliver that.

  • FortysixterUK #48 1 year ago

    Yeah it seemed to me they were fucking with the story.

    Go play the first game. Adapt THAT story. Now you have a film. AND a smaller budget.

    As for that earlier comment about Nathan Fillon getting the role...I agree completely, the guy is a great actor and looks the part.

  • Ignatius_Cheese #49 1 year ago

    HOORAY! \o/

    David O. Russell is a liability.

  • Nevfx #50 1 year ago

    YES> Maybe now the movie will be much closer to the original source material

  • curtlikesmeat #51 1 year ago

    Great news - he was making all the wrong noises, it was shaping up to be terrible.

  • cwk27 #52 1 year ago

    Duncan Jones for director!

  • darleysam #53 1 year ago

    They wouldn't let him fill it with 'as much boobs and swearing as we can'? I'm paraphrasing, but that was the gist of his earlier statements.
    Twatsack.

  • Kikizosan #54 1 year ago

    Argh, just cast the same people as in the games - they're all decent actors who have geek credentials! Plus Emily Rose needs to be on TV more (just not in rubbish Stephen King adaps).

  • actionfitz #55 1 year ago

    Yeeeeoooo!

    thank fuck.

  • Architect_z #56 1 year ago

    Marky Mark? Man that guy sucks!

  • HenryFitz #57 1 year ago

    I'd be interested to see what Robert Rodriguez would do with the source material. Maybe he'd bring some sense of the casual ultra-violence of the game.

    Failing that, get Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson on board, then have Richard Kelly of Donnie Darko fame direct it.

  • Lemming81 #58 1 year ago

    "I'd be interested to see what Robert Rodriguez would do with the source material."


    Danny Trejo in it somewhere would be my first guess :)

  • Leegion #59 12 months ago

    I think the franchise is in some capable hands. Being mine. If I get the job that is.

    I'm pitching my script to Sony shortly. A full on 119 page (1hr59min) movie that follows the exact same plot. Except I've changed the opening and ending. Don't worry though, the plot and characters are the same. I just had to make it less predictable.

  • gaberuni #60 11 months ago

    well thank the lord! You know... Josh Duhmel as Drake doesn't seem like a bad choice. His been in some A list movies like Transformers. And the guy that played J. Jonas Jameson from Spiderman always reminded me of Sully. Must be the attitude and cigar...or his killer mustache