Last year, director Shawn Levy signed on to produce and direct the action-comedy Free Guy with star Ryan Reynolds. That created a scheduling conflict with Uncharted, which Shawn Levy was previously set to direct, necessitating a new helmer for the long in-development video game adaptation. Now the Uncharted movie has tapped Dan Trachtenberg to take over as the new director:
Dan Trachtenberg is best known for directing 10 Cloverfield Lane, and Sony has been wanting to work with him since that thriller came out in 2016, according to Variety. Unlike Shawn Levy, who has a bevy of big screen credits to his name like Night at the Museum, Real Steel and This is Where I Leave You, this will be only Dan Trachtenberg's second feature.
Dan Trachtenberg did, however, direct the virtual reality-themed episode of Black Mirror titled Playtest, as well as the video game short Portal: No Escape. So one could surmise he has some knowledge and affinity for the world of video games. He also helmed the pilot for the comic book adaptation The Boys for Amazon.
Uncharted is based on the Playstation video game series of the same name that began in 2007 and follows the adventures of treasure hunter Nathan Drake, who is like a modern day Indiana Jones. The feature film adaptation is set to divert from the video games by featuring a young Nathan Drake and his first encounter with his mentor and partner-in-crime, Sully. Spider-Man actor Tom Holland is still attached to play Nathan Drake.
Jonathan Rosenberg and Mark Walker wrote the most recent draft of the script that was once worked on by The Grey director Joe Carnahan. There isn't a firm start date on Uncharted's production, as it will have to wait until after Tom Holland finishes up the press tour for the Sony's Spider-Man: Far From Home. But with a director now on board, the studio is hoping to start rolling before the end of the year.
The story around most video game movies is how bad they are, but the story around the adaptation of Uncharted is more akin to that of The Crow reboot because despite regular rumblings, it never seems to actually happen. The Uncharted movie has been in some stage of development for a decade, and at one point was set to star Mark Wahlberg.
Dan Trachtenberg is only the latest in a long line of directors that has included David O'Russell, Neil Burger, Seth Gordon and Shawn Levy. But through all of the directors and rewrites, Uncharted has remained lost. Perhaps the hiring of Dan Trachtenberg will change that. Given his limited resume, it's hard to know what exactly Dan Trachtenberg will bring to Uncharted, but he directed the best Cloverfield movie, so that much is encouraging.
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