Director Envisions Uncharted As The Sopranos

Greg Tito

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Sep 29, 2005
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Director Envisions Uncharted As The Sopranos



The director and writer of the Uncharted movie likens the crime family dynamic to another not-so-honorable clan - The Sopranos. Yeah, I don't get it either.

David Russell's star is certainly on the rise as the director of acclaimed boxing film, The Fighter, which is up for seven Oscars this year including Best Picture and Best Director. Russell's been linked to the cinematic adaptation of Uncharted and is busy penning the script now. The cast is he's considering a couple actresses [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/106780-Wahlberg-De-Niro-and-Pesci-Back-in-Uncharted-Movie] for the role of spunky love-interest Elena. The videogame and its sequel tells modern adventure tale in the vein of Indiana Jones, but what drew Russell to the story was the honorable rogue angle.

"I think if we take that family dynamic that we have in The Fighter, and put that in terms of a grander stage, with a crime family that metes out justice in the world of art and antiquities. If you're the head of a museum, or head of state, you've got to deal with them, and they're badass," Russell said before comparing the characters to the Mafia.

"They're like the Sopranos in some ways, but they have great taste, and they have a sense of justice," he said. "I would love to do that with Mark [Wahlberg], Robert De Niro, and a couple of hot women, it could be very thrilling."

The mob connection seems a little stretched, but perhaps that's why De Niro and Joe Pesci have been put forward as appearing in Uncharted. Will this kind of departure from the story of the game alienate its fans?

"I don't think that you can please everybody, but I will tell you this - I won't make it unless I can make a great movie," Russell said.

What makes a great game doesn't necessarily make a great movie, though. "Games are awesome because you're playing them, so that's just a whole other thing. I'm shooting things down and climbing over cliffs, climbing through rooms, of course you have that in an action picture, but if you don't have the characters, and the whole world that's really bizarre, I don't think you have a movie that really grabs you by the throat," he said.

"I want the gamers to be happy. I have total respect for the game. My kid loves playing it, I love playing it. I just want to create a world that takes it to another level, that's another amazing world that's more cinematic," Russell stated.

That, at least, is a sentiment I can get behind.

Source: IGN [http://uk.movies.ign.com/articles/114/1148368p1.html]

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Woodsey

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Aug 9, 2009
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Yeah, this is exactly the same as when game developers name-drop every popular release of the past 10 years as an influence on their upcoming game, even though it's totally irrelevant.
 

RatRace123

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Dec 1, 2009
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I think he needs to stop saying things.
The Fighter was a well directed movie, and I'm cautiously optimistic about the fate of an Uncharted movie. I actually believe that Russel wants to create a good movie out of it... but I don't quite "get" what he means when he says this stuff about family and museum cops the sopranos and stuff like that.

And when gamers don't understand things WE GET ANGRY! MUST SMASH!!!
 
Dec 14, 2009
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What the fuck did that guy just say? That had nothing to do with Uncharted. I forsee another Max Payne, where the scipt writer/director has saw maybe 3 seconds of gameplay/story and based a film around it.
 

latenightapplepie

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Nov 9, 2008
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No, no, no. This will not end well. I haven't seen any of it, but I'm pretty sure The Sopranos is up there as one of the best television series ever made. The Uncharted movie really cannot be anywhere near that good. It's unwise to try and make the connection.
 

blobin

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Dec 24, 2008
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He really does a great job at making it sound like he's played about 5 minutes of the game...

plus the casting's horrible so far.

just generally not looking forward to it
 

naughtydoggus

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Dec 21, 2009
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Here's a simple 3 step process to how to make a good Uncharted movie:

Step #1: Cast Nathan Fillion (who already WANTED the part to begin with) as Nathan Drake.

Step #2: Get Nathan Fillion to go on a diet, get back to his Firefly weight, and use hair and clothes to make him look exactly like Nathan Drake.

Step #3: Cut and Paste Amy Henning's origional script from Drake's Fortune and put it in the screenplay.

Simple as that Russel.
But nooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
 

megs1120

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Jul 27, 2009
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Jesus Christ, if the movie is going to be so different, why don't they just create their own IP and leave Uncharted well enough alone?
 

MatsVS

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Nov 9, 2009
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The Sopranos has depth, a thorough metaphorical and psychological understanding of its characters, an understated aesthetic sense that is perfectly in sync with its subject matter, and a fantastic sense of ambience.

Yeah, I don't see a frikkin' Uncharted flick ever living up to that pedigree.
 

sunburst

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Mar 19, 2010
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I can't understand a thing this man is trying to get across. Who knows, maybe he'll put together a great film. It just won't be an Uncharted film.
 

Truly-A-Lie

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Nov 14, 2009
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The basic point I got from it was this: "I mean well, I do want to make a good film. Videogames don't have movie worth stories, so I need to change it to make it a good film."
The trouble here is a faithful Uncharted adaptation would be a pulp B-movie throwback to Indiana Jones (Much as Indiana Jones was a throwback to previous pulp B-movies) and they're trying to carve this intricate story into it to make it a big budget blockbuster, when the only way an Uncharted movie could be good is if it was a B-movie.
 

duchaked

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Dec 25, 2008
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I'm not a fan of Uncharted, but Nathan Fillion would have made me one
...
but then again, even if they had decided to cast Nathan Fillion...that'd be ONE thing done right... amongst everyone else they're done wrong right now

but hey, who knows. maybe?? maybe
and maybe Transformers 3 will be good too!
maybe???
 

poiuppx

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Nov 17, 2009
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Yyyeah... how do you manage to continuously muck up so simple a concept as Uncharted? I mean, it practically IS a movie. How hard would it be to just, y'know, film the story it presents? Fans would be happy, non-gamers would get a story with nazis and zombies and more... I just don't see how hard this is.
 

Thunderhorse31

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Apr 22, 2009
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megs1120 said:
Jesus Christ, if the movie is going to be so different, why don't they just create their own IP and leave Uncharted well enough alone?
QFT. I think we'd all be much happier if they just stop calling it Uncharted. Just call it "The Drakes" or something stupid like that, at least then we can pretend like the gross departures from the game aren't bothersome.