The prospect of seeing a film based on Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune next summer--as Sony had originally intended--now seems like a pipe-dream at this point, reports the LA Times. Apparently, David O. Russell (Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees) was the main candidate to direct the picture but has now backed out of the project after a settlement and contract could not be negotiated.
Therefore, it’s back to the drawing board for Sony. Maybe they should take the Nathan Drake approach to developing the film; making up plans as they go along. That seemed to work out just fine for Mr. Drake. He did save the world twice. Just a thought.
The LA Times is also reporting that Sony might try to find two stars for the picture before moving forward with the director search. Their thought process being that having some big names attached to the project will help land another solid director. Although, David O. Russell seemed like a pretty solid fit for the action and humor of the Uncharted franchise.
The script-writing duo of Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer--who both worked on the DreamWorks adaptation of Cowboys & Aliens--are still attached to the Uncharted film, as far as we know. Back in May it was reported that the film’s producers (who include Charles Roven of The Dark Knight fame) liked the duo’s version of the script and planned to move forward with it. Therefore, it’s probably a good guess that that’s still the plan.
Now it’s just time to find the film a concrete director and its stars. Also, praying it's not a bastardization of the source material won't hurt.
