We all know that video game based movies suck. From Resident Evil, to Super Mario Bros, to BloodRayne, to Max Payne; Holy God why did they make Max Payne?
So the announcement of our most beloved Playstation franchise Uncharted was being made into a movie, we were all understandably worried. Especially since we heard that David O. Russell, who directed the films “Spanking the Monkey” and “I heart Huckabees”, would be directing. The internet exploded when we heard that Mark Wahlberg would be playing the role of Nathan Drake. Thankfully both of these names have been pulled from the film; instead, Neil Burger (directer of “Limitless” and “The Illusionist”) will now be directing and we do not know who will be starring.
Game Director on Uncharted 3, Justin Richmond, was recently asked how the Naughty Dog Team would feel if the movie’s producers changed the series drastically for the movie adaptation. Justin answered,
“From what we’ve seen so far from (Ari Arad Productions), who have worked really closely with us, they don’t seem to want to let that happen. I think that we’ve been very good at saying ‘this is what Uncharted is, here are the rules, now go and do what you like with it’, rather than telling them that they have to keep Drake and nothing else.”
To explain further he compares the Uncharted film to Iron man’s big screen release:
“If you look at Iron Man (also produced by Ari Arad), for example, it’s an updated version of that character; it’s not his ‘real’ origin story,” said Richmond. “They’ve updated it, but it was amazing because they stuck with the rules of the world – Tony Starks, Pepper Potts, Randy Rhoads – and then adjusted things around that. It seems like they are trying to do the same thing with Uncharted.”
“At the end of the day, we don’t really have any control over [the movie]. I hope they do an amazing job, and I think they will, but at some point you have to let your baby go out of the door. We’re lucky to be a franchise that’s big to the point that everybody wants to get a piece of it. People trust us to make these games and we have to trust them to make a good movie,” he concluded.
If Iron Man is any indication of what Ari Arad can do for adaptations, we are very hopeful for the Uncharted movie slated to release in 2013.