Uncharted: Spider-Man Star Tom Holland Cast as Nate Drake
Deadline reported some casting news today that is sure to get a lot of controversy. According to the outlet’s report, Sony Pictures has opted to cast Spider-Man: Homecoming star Tom Holland as Nate Drake, the protagonist of Naughty Dog and PlayStation’s smash hit video game franchise, Uncharted.
Additionally, the report indicates Holland will star in a redrafted prequel to the video game franchise. Shawn Levy is attached to direct a film that was inspired by a sequence from Uncharted 3, that featured young Nate Drake and his first encounter with “Sully” Sullivan; Drake’s longtime friend, mentor and partner. The idea to reformat the movie apparently came from Sony Pictures chief Tom Rothman; an infamous name that’s very derisive among comic and other film fans. He apparently came up with this idea after watching a recent cut of Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Sony for years has tried and failed to get an Uncharted movie off the ground. The project has gone through many writers and directors, but nothing has ever materialized. Sony is now said to be looking for a new writer to reformat the story showing a young Nathan Drake as he grows into the role of treasure hunter Nathan Drake. The project is being produced by Avi Arad, Charles Roven, Alex Gartner, and Ari Arad.
This casting news is ridiculous, but considering the move came from the mind of Tom Rothman, it’s not all that surprising. Tom Holland is 20 years old. The sequence the article referring to in the third game, shows a young Nathan Drake, who couldn’t have been more than about 13-14 in that sequence meeting a much younger Victor Sullivan. Sony Pictures has already ruined the Uncharted movie before it’s even come out. Fans will not be happy with this casting news either. Having Holland as a 12-14-year-old Nate Drake in the first Uncharted movie makes no sense. That was only one level in a much longer game. It was simply one small part of the game.
One would wish that Tom Holland, his agent and manager had more sense here. Holland is well liked in the role of Spider-Man here. But doing this could really hurt his career. If Holland actually knew or played the games, he’d probably realize this isn’t a great idea.
The other side of this is that Uncharted has been kicked around Hollywood for years, and the studio has failed to get it off the ground numerous times. While there are some casting moves here, that doesn’t mean the movie will materialize. At one point, Mark Wahlberg was attached to star in the movie with director David O. Russell at the helm. Fans weren’t keen on that idea either. So, just because Tom Rothman is trying to ruin the movie already doesn’t mean it will happen here. This movie would require a massive budget, and Rothman is notoriously frugal and a micro-manager as a studio head. Sony Pictures has been ailing greatly as a studio lately, and even a successful Spider-Man movie might not be enough to get it out of its hole.
Holland is set to appear in Spider-Man: Homecoming in the role of Peter Parker aka Spider-Man, which is due out on July 7. Uncharted does not yet have a release date.