Uncharted fans finally have something to celebrate as the movie version of the popular video game is at long last going into production early next year.
Zap 2 It uncovered the eyed start date for Uncharted when speaking to director Seth Gordon on the 2014 summer TV press tour, on which he's promoting his work on The Goldbergs and Marry Me. He was discussing his crowded schedule, when Gordon confessed that Uncharted will shoot "very early next year. That's the plan."
While the film has had a lot of false starts in making its way to production, Gordon is confident that this time it'll take. For one thing, he says the filmmakers have "just got the script to a really good place." Secondly, there's hopes of using the release of the upcoming video game Uncharted 4: A Thief's End to cross-promote the movie.
It's a bit surprising to hear that Uncharted is looking to lens just a few months from now as the production still hasn't secured a leading man to play modern-day treasure hunter Nate Drake. As to what Gordon is seeking in a leading man, he offers, "I want it to be a great actor. That's number one, and then if it's someone who has an actual jaw, that's even better. The game is so well done that you need it to live up to that. There's no way we'd do the inverse of that where it's somebody famous who can't [act]."
Seth Gordon's previous directorial efforts include Horrible Boss and Identity Thief, movies that noticeably were fronted by television stars, from Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day to Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy. While Gordon didn't tip who he might be eying to take on the role of Drake, he admitted he's open to the idea of pulling a player from television once more.
Gordon refused to drop specifics about Uncharted's plot line, but did share:
"It's going to honor the mythology of the game, but I would say honor some of the most interesting stuff from the first one and build from there. There's some stuff that isn't in the game… I love the complexity and frankly the sophistication of the storytelling in the game, and we aspire to that -- but don't want to tell the exact same story, of course -- so something that doesn't break the rules of what it did but expands. Because I feel like the people who play the games and know them well don't want to just see the same story told. You want extra shades."
We first got word of an Uncharted adaptation back in 2009, when scribes were first put on the project. From there, the production landed David O. Russell to helm and Mark Wahlberg to star, but by the spring of 2011, both had bailed. Shortly thereafter Neil Burger (The Illusionist) was on board, dumping Russell's revised script and starting from scratch. But by the summer of 2012, he too ditched out on Drake. Seth Gordon signed on earlier this year, and if all goes according to plan Drake's globe-trotting adventure could be on its way to theaters within the year.
