Of all the video game properties that are being turned into movies, the Uncharted franchise seems to be having a tough go of it. However, under a new director the movie is back on track, and that means it's nearly time to cast the lead. Joe Carnahan is the man responsible for writing the script for the new movie, and he and the new director have a great, and obvious, idea as to who should play the part, the guy who already does.
Shawn [Levy] and I have talked about a couple of guys, but it's pointless to mention them now because we don't know where everybody's gonna be. In a perfect world it'd be Nolan North! [laughing] That's who I'd like to see play Nathan Drake. That'd be the perfect casting, but I don't know.
Nolan North has become one of the most prolific voice actors in video games in recent years. He's responsible for numerous great characters, but his voice for Nathan Drake may be his single most famous. He does a remarkable job of giving the character a life of his own. The attitude that Nathan Drake has is a large part of what gamers love about him and they'd want to see that same sort of character on the big screen. Certainly Nolan North, who is an actor, not simply a voice, would bring everything that he brings to the games to the movies as well. Though Joe Carnahan tells Collider that he knows a casting like that is unlikely.
Of course, in the grander scheme of Hollywood Nolan North isn't exactly a superstar, which means the odds of him playing the part are probably just above zero. Sony certainly sees the Uncharted movie as the potential beginning of a franchise and as such, they'll want to put an established name of some sort in the role of Nathan Drake. Mark Wahlberg has been previously attached to the role but that was back when David O. Russell was attached to direct, and that was a couple of directors ago. There's been a great deal of fan support behind the idea of Nathan Fillion taking the role as well.
In the end, lots of different people could potentially play the part. The real key would seem to be finding the right mix of charisma and bravado to do justice to the character.
As Joe Carnahan says, they're so far away from actually starting filming that there's no real point in casting people, as they may all be busy by the time the script is ready. It's also possible that Shawn Levy could disappear from the project before too long, it's happened before with this particular film.
Who would you like to see play Nathan Drake in the Uncharted movie? Let us know in the comments.
