Variety is reporting that David O. Russell, the writer-director behind luggage-math movie Three Kings and the recent The Fighter, has left the movie adaptation of the beloved Uncharted video game franchise, most likely taking Mark Wahlberg with him. Variety cites “creative” differences with Sony as the reason why Russell left the project: As a big fan of the charming-but-technically-mass-murdering main character Nathan Drake, and not a fan of the canon-less vision Russell had for the movie, his leaving the project over creative differences is hilarious, because he wasn’t exactly knowledgable of even the most basic plot points of the franchise, nor did he possess any kind of common sense as related to casting.
Variety reports Russell and Sony parted ways amicably, which is good for the future of both entities, but most importantly, good for the future of the Uncharted movie. Russell is a fine director and writer, and Wahlberg is a fine actor (if you like his brand of confused-sounding acting, that is), but the pair reportedly planned on completely ignoring the canon, which would’ve been totally unnecessary in the case of Uncharted, since the game was practically built to be — and plays exactly like — a summer blockbuster movie in the first place. Maybe now Nathan Fillion has a shot of playing his virtual doppelganger, Nathan Drake.
(Variety via Empire Online)
