Seth Gordon Sets a Course for 'Uncharted'

Best-selling video game Uncharted: Drake's Fortune may be, but it's had a journey to the big screen as troubled as one of Nathan Drake's epic adventures. Once a project that saw David O. Russell and Mark Wahlberg attached, way back when they were still homies, both left and Neil Burger got in the director's chair. But he would eventually skip out to direct Divergent, and the project has sat in limbo ever since. Until now, that is.

Seth Gordon, who directed video game flick The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, is in talks to direct Uncharted based on a script by Safe House writer, David Guggenheim. The game follows treasure hunter Nathan Drake, a descendant of explorer Sir Francis Drake, as he attempts to find the lost treasure of El Dorado. Think Indiana Jones meets Nathan Fillion and you have a pretty good idea of Drake as a character, and might explain why so many fans want Fillion to play him in the movie.

We'll see what happens and if Gordon, who also helmed Identity Thief and Horrible Bosses, can finally get Uncharted off the ground.  [Deadline]

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'Uncharted: Drake's Fortune' gets new writers; Neil Burger no longer attached

It's funny how these things work out. Just a few hours ago we were talking about director Neil Burger and his new gig directing an adaptation of the teen series, Divergent, and how he was still attached to bring the Uncharted: Drake's Fortune video game to the big screen. Well, now you can scratch that, as Variety reports the film will be moving forward without him.

Along with that comes word that National Treasure scribes,  Marianne and Cormac Wibberley, have been brought on to rewrite the Uncharted script. The film has been languishing in a special corner of development Hell for some time, with David O. Russell and Mark Wahlberg attached to it for awhile. Both eventually left, with Burger taking over in July of last year and beginning from scratch. This is the first we'd heard of it since then.

Sony's taking the slow and steady approach here, as Uncharted has the potential to be a solid  Indiana Jones-style franchise if handled correctly. It's got name recognition, a built-in fanbase, and a flashy lead character for the right actor to jump into. They'll wait until the Wibberleys complete the script before seeking out a new director.

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Neil Burger talks Uncharted: Drake's Fortune; says he's "beginning from scratch"

When Neil Burger(The Illusionist) took over for David O. Russell as director of video game adaptation Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, one of two things were assumed:

1. That this meant Mark Wahlberg would also depart, since his running buddy was no longer involved.

2. That everything O. Russell planned storywise, which meant expanding and focusing on the Drake family of treasure seekers, would be out the window.

Updating fans of the blockbuster video game of the film's status with Comingsoon, Burger pretty much confirmed both of those things have indeed happened. 

Burger: "Mainly we're beginning from scratch and going back to the videogame," .It's really one of the most cinematic videogames, and one that has really developed characters. So, you know, there's a lot of cool, really intense things that, if they work for the film's story, I want to use them."

The site also noted that Burger hasn't even looked at O. Russell's plans for the adventure project. He would go on to compare the property to The Bourne Identity, in that it's not going to be your typical treasure hunting film, in the same way Bourne wasn't your typical Cold War spy film. I can get down with that.


But what about Nathan Fillion? The Serenity star has been the desired face of the lead character ever since the film was first announce, and when Wahlberg was on board cried like a bunch of schoolgirls with skinned knees about it. Well, that's how I took their response, anyway...


Burger: "I think he's a good actor," Burger adds, "[But] I think there's a lot of really good actors who don't even look like [Nathan Drake] who could play it. Where we are right now is that we're literally starting from scratch on the screenplay, and I think that once we finish it, then we'll go to actors and see who's available and who's right for the parts. Whenever that happens."

Sounds like there's still a lot of work left to be done, but it doesn't appear as if Wahlberg is in the picture anymore. I don't think Fillion fanatics should be holding their breaths either. Although Drake's Fortune has a rather large and vocal fanbase, it's going to take a proven commodity to sell this beyond the station of other video game adaptations. Without one, you'll be seeing Drake's Fortune in the $5 bin next to copies of Tekken and DOA: Dead or Alive. (which I love, not gonna lie).

So would make for the best Nathan Drake? Having not ever played the game, I can't really say.

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