Sony has been trying to get a movie based on Naughty Dog‘s Uncharted series of video games off the ground for some time now. The series, an Indiana Jones riff starring a cocky treasure-seeking hero, would seem to be more adaptable as a motion picture than other video games which get this treatment. You’d think, at least. But the Uncharted movie does not have a single shot filmed to this day.
The reason is that Sony just can’t seem to land on a director. David O. Russell, Neil Burger, Seth Gordon, and Joe Carnahan have all been attached to direct the Uncharted movie at some point, and all bailed for other projects. The latest was Shawn Levy, who has Stranger Things, A Night At The Museum and Real Steel on his resume. It felt like this project was finally going forward. But think again….
Levy found a more attractive script and jumped ship, and ironically, the project he abandoned Uncharted for is also video game related: Free Guy, a comedy about a man who realizes he’s actually an NPC in a video game. The man teams up with the game’s protagonist (controlled by a real human) and somehow, saving the real world is involved.
We have to admit, Free Guy sounds like a more intriguing movie than a straight adaption of Uncharted. But this leaves the latter film without a director once again…this time it went far enough to cast a Nathan Drake. Ton Holland would have played him; maybe Sony can retain the casting if they work quickly.
Or maybe they can take a cue from this short and cast Nathan Fillion; far better.
