Naughty Dog approves of Uncharted film

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 28 September, 2011

Neil Burger hire "a very good sign".

Uncharted developer Naughty Dog has given the Uncharted movie its blessing, and said the appointment of Neil Burger as director is a "very good sign" that it will please fans of the blockbuster PlayStation 3 exclusive series.

Earlier this year Limitless and The Illusionist director Neil Burger was announced as director of the Uncharted movie after previous director David O. Russell's acrimonious exit from the project.

Burger said the new team was "starting from scratch" on the script and "going back to the video game".

Burger's comments enthused Uncharted fans who were concerned by the direction Russell was taking the film before he walked out.

Russell's vision 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.

Burger's vision, however, appears closer to video game developer Naughty Dog's virtual world.

And now the famed PS3 developer has given Burger the thumbs up.

"The producers of the movie project have a lot of integrity, and they are keen to make the kind of film fans of Uncharted want to see made," co-lead designer Richard Lemarchand told Eurogamer in a new Uncharted 3 interview conducted at Eurogamer Expo 2011.

"We've been impressed at Naughty Dog with the level of interest they've shown in talking to us and to Amy [Hennig, creative director] in particular in order to get it right. The attachment of Neil Burger to the project is a very good sign in that regard."

While the movie is being developed separately, Naughty Dog has been involved, with Hennig in regular contact with the film's producers.

"I've always been very excited about it," Lemarchand continued.

"I'm interested in this concept of transmedia, perhaps because of the kind of media environment I grew up in, that we all grew up in. I'm a big Doctor Who and Star Wars fan. You have the primary thing, which is the TV show or the movies, but then you extend your enjoyment by re-experiencing those story worlds through these other channels.

"We've set out to make the most cinematic character action games that have ever existed. Cinematic as well in the right sense, we hope, because it's all about ongoing, real-time interactive gameplay as much as we can possibly make it. We're happy with what we've been able to achieve in that regard.

"We're all big fans of film. We had to study on the techniques of cinema very diligently to be able to make these games. So yeah, I remain excited about the future of the Uncharted feature film."

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (35) Latest comment 8 months ago

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

  • Oh-Bollox #1 8 months ago

    Mark Wahlberg. For fuck's sake. What was he thinking?

    Hopefully Burger will cast Fillion...

  • Bennicus #2 8 months ago

    MATT DAMON

  • WAusJackBauer #3 8 months ago

    They should just get Nolan North :)

  • CaptainQuint #4 8 months ago

    I do not want Bradley Cooper. I want Nathan Fillion. Cooper is far too smug, too polished.

    It would be as if Tom Selleck got to play Indiana Jones, after all.

  • TruSmiles #5 8 months ago

    We should start a petition to get Nolan North as Drake :D

  • IonOnion #6 8 months ago

    Bradley Cooper as Nathan Drake

  • Markitron #7 8 months ago

    Im looking forward to the film, Im just worried that it will be written off as an Indiana Jones rip-off. To a certain extent thats what most gamers thought when the first was released, obviously it has since grown into much more

  • Serk101 #8 8 months ago

    Let's get one thing straight, Nolan North is Nathan Drake! Why would you want anyone else.

  • Goodfella #9 8 months ago

    As great as I think Nolan North is doing the voice of Drake I can't help but think of him physically as a 'straight to DVD actor'. He doesn't have the necessary on screen look or presence, imo.

  • LeglessSheep #10 8 months ago

    Ryan Reynolds or Chris Evans will get this.

  • slickster #11 8 months ago

    They should make a animated film and have drake playing drake. :o)

  • WeakOrbit #12 8 months ago

    "Russell's vision 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."

    Ha they could of caledl it Goldfella's.
    Edited by WeakOrbit at 28/09/11 @ 14:29

  • J_C_X #13 8 months ago

    I really don't like the stories or the characters of the Uncharted games. The gameplay is fine. The plot is about on a par with the Transformer series, but they don't benefit from the user interaction that video games have.

    If anything, I think it shows how bad hype is in video games. It's average at best.
    Edited by J_C_X at 28/09/11 @ 12:05

  • Shikasama #14 8 months ago

    Means nothing to me. They didn't have the balls to come out and say the previous version was a load of horse shit and not how they wanted their license to be handled

  • ejstyles #15 8 months ago

    Well, he has already directed Bradley Cooper to smug, drug-assisted brilliance in Limitless...could be a big factor as to why Burger's on board for Uncharted.

    Let's just face it, Cooper is happening...

  • kickerconspiracy #16 8 months ago

    Things could be worse.

    At least Uwe Boll isn't directing it.

  • Architect_z #17 8 months ago

    'Burger hire' thats all I read before clicking the article.

    I actually thought the voice of the main character in Uncharted 2 was Bradley Cooper. So I guess he'd be a good choice.
    Edited by Architect_z at 28/09/11 @ 12:32

  • Matthew_Hornet #18 8 months ago

    Whoever hasn't seen Limitless is unqualified to judge Burger or Cooper. That movie proved they both at least have the skill for this.

  • CaptainQuint #19 8 months ago

    I saw an interview with Burger in which he spoke a little about his involvement. He couldn't give two fucks about the game.

    I'm not interested in these directors who hire 'the man of the moment' just because it makes good business sense. I'd rather a complete unknown was cast instead of Cooper.
    Edited by CaptainQuint at 28/09/11 @ 13:02

  • Kikizosan #20 8 months ago

    Should use the cast of the game, who are, you know, also actors too. If the idea behind basing a film on an existing game license is to draw in the audience of said game to your film, then they are far and away the best choice, not other well known or currently popular actors. Especially when the voice cast of Uncharted are actually a) actors, b) look like their virtual characters and c) are good at their jobs.

    You'd get them cheaper too, and turn off less potential viewers, hence turn a bigger profit!

    I've got nothing against Burger or Cooper, though (if it's him that gets cast). At least it's not Boll or Anderson.
    Edited by Kikizosan at 28/09/11 @ 13:18

  • tankboi #21 8 months ago

    Fillion all the way. He was born for this role! FFS just hire Fillion!

  • dirtysteve #22 8 months ago

    Is Wahlberg gone from the project so?This is good news. Although, let's be fair here, the film will be complete gash anyway. I mean, the game worked because of it gameplay and amazing production values. How will the movie stand out from the pack, will it even have the budget ?

  • fiery_jackass #23 8 months ago

    I hope I'm not the only person that hoped this was about Neil Hamburger

  • ShiftyGeezer #24 8 months ago

    Much as I approve, and would like to see Nathan Fillion get the part like others, I have to wonder the fiscal sense of targeting existing Ucharted fans. That's what...10 million tops? Surely a big-budget film should be aiming to appeal to hundreds of millions of people. Too often paying crappy fan-service results in crappy films, a la the later X-Men and Origins films that mess up continuity no end just to throw in cameos.

    Please instead make an awesome film, preferably with more humanity on Drake's part than the casual, murderous treasure hunter the games portray him as (because they are shooters and thus the protagonist needs a blasé attitude to killing folk!).

  • mrpon #25 8 months ago

    Bradley Walsh

  • SpartanGR #26 8 months ago

    "They should just get Nolan North :)"

    Peter North would be great as well.

  • Lemming81 #27 8 months ago

    "I do not want Bradley Cooper. I want Nathan Fillion. Cooper is far too smug, too polished. "


    Are you joking? Nearly every shot of Cooper is with a 5 o'clock shadow and Fillion is a 40 year-old that looks as pure as the driven snow!

    I'm happy with either actors, but that's a weird reason to dislike cooper.

  • someidiot #28 8 months ago

    Don't put your thumb up my burger.

  • jablonski #29 8 months ago

    My money's on Clint Howard

  • Scimarad #30 8 months ago

    I'd totally missed this piece of excellent news. That Wahlberg version sounded nothing like Uncharted so I'm glad that's not going to see the light of day.

    I don't think Bradley Cooper would be a disaster for this.
    Edited by Scimarad at 28/09/11 @ 17:19

  • kitsuneyo #31 8 months ago

    @fiery_jackass - nope, me too :)
    Edited by kitsuneyo at 28/09/11 @ 18:00

  • Doctor_What #32 8 months ago

    I'm not sure about Nolan North (agreeing with the 'straight to DVD' comment above) but I hope Emily Rose gets to be Chloe. She's a damn good actor and one of the few people who is perhaps prettier than her on-screen version, which doesn't go amiss in a film.

  • Farzlepot #33 8 months ago

    I really don't get the obsession with turning games into movies. It's almost demeaning to the medium, like saying that a game isn't really 'good' until a movie gets made out of it.

    I can only think of two motives for it:

    1) Game are now so much bigger than movies that now movies are being treated like merchandise, instead of the other way around as it's always been in the past.
    2) Game publishers are looking to get revenge on Hollywood for all of the terrible tie-in games they've inflicted on us for all of these years, by releasing a bunch of garbage game-to-film tie-ins.

    Because let's face it, the transition from game to film has always been even worse than the transition from film to game. Name a good one!

  • Gumersindo #34 8 months ago

    @Spartan GR I almost die laughing. That could be a film with lots of "shots".

    @Farzlepot: Silent Hill?

  • Brainflowers #35 8 months ago

    Seriously, someone should start a petition to Burger to sign up Nathan Fillion before its too late and we find out that someone like Ryan Reynolds has been confirmed.. I'd start one myself, but I'm sort of a lazy fellow.

    If not Nathan, it would be great if Nolan North got the gig, if only for that fantastic voice. Though that will never happen, as there'd be no star power to draw in the non-gamer crowd.