About Uncharted – Film

Uncharted Film

Uncharted is a 2022 American action-adventure film directed by Ruben Fleischer from a screenplay by Rafe Lee Judkins, Art Marcum, and Matt Holloway, based on the video game franchise of the same name developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It stars Tom Holland as Nathan Drake and Mark Wahlberg as Victor Sullivan, with Sophia Ali, Tati Gabrielle, and Antonio Banderas in supporting roles. In the film, Drake is recruited by Sullivan in a race against corrupt billionaire Santiago Moncada (Banderas) and mercenary leader Jo Braddock (Gabrielle) to locate the fabled treasure of the Magellan expedition.

The film entered development in 2008 with producer Avi Arad stating that he would be working with Sony Pictures to develop a film adaptation of the video game franchise. It was then in development hell with various directors, screenwriters, and lead cast members attached at various points. Filmmakers David O. Russell, Neil Burger, Seth Gordon, Dan Trachtenberg, Shawn Levy, and Travis Knight were initially signed to direct while Wahlberg was set to play Drake in early development. Holland was cast as Drake in May 2017 and Fleischer was hired as the director in early 2020. Filming began in March 2020, but was halted by the COVID-19 pandemic. It resumed in July and finished in October, with locations including Boston, Barcelona, New York City, and Kiamba.

Originally set to be released on December 18, 2020, the film faced major delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It eventually premiered at the Coliseum in Barcelona on February 7, 2022, and was theatrically released in the United States by Sony Pictures Releasing on February 18. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $407.1 million worldwide, making it the fifth-highest-grossing video game film of all time.

Uncharted Film

STORY

Orphaned brothers Sam and Nathan “Nate” Drake are caught trying to steal a map made after the Magellan expedition from a Boston museum. Before the orphanage can expel Sam, he sneaks out to be on his own, but promises Nate that he will return, leaving him a ring belonging to their ancestor Sir Francis Drake (although the real Sir Francis Drake actually had no children).

Fifteen years later, Nate works as a bartender in New York City and pickpockets wealthy patrons. Victor “Sully” Sullivan, a fortune hunter who worked with Sam tracking treasure hidden by the Magellan crew, meets Nate and tells him that Sam vanished after helping him steal Juan Sebastian Elcano’s diary. Nate, having stopped receiving postcards from Sam, agrees to help Sully find him. Sully and Nate go to an auction to steal a golden cross linked to the Magellan crew, where they meet Santiago Moncada, the last descendant of the Moncada family, who had financed Magellan‘s expedition, and Jo Braddock, leader of Moncada’s mercenaries. Nate is ambushed by Braddock’s men, and the ensuing fight creates a distraction for Sully to steal the cross.

The duo travels to Barcelona, where the treasure is supposedly hidden, and rendezvous with Sully’s contact Chloe Frazer, who has the other cross. Nate, Chloe, and Sully follow clues in Elcano’s diary to Santa Maria del Pi, finding a secret crypt behind the altar. Nate and Chloe enter, finding a trap door, but as they open it, the crypt floods with water. Sully helps them escape after subduing an ambush by Braddock. Using the two crosses to unlock a secret passage, Nate and Chloe find a map indicating the treasure is in the Philippines. Chloe betrays Nate and leaves to take the map to Moncada, but she indicates that Sully is keeping a secret about Sam.

Sully recovers Nate and reveals that Sam was shot and apparently killed by Braddock three years prior and that he left him for dead, straining their partnership. Moncada, Chloe, and Braddock’s team depart in a cargo plane to find the treasure, where Braddock kills Moncada, gaining control of the operation. After Nate and Sully board the plane, Nate confronts Braddock. A battle ensues; Sully parachutes out with the map, while Nate and Chloe are ejected from the plane landing in the Philippines, where they realize the map does not pinpoint the treasure. Nate discovers the treasure’s true location through hints left by Sam’s postcards, but leaves fake coordinates for Chloe after correctly doubting her loyalties.

Nate discovers the Magellan ships and reunites with Sully, who managed to follow Nate. Braddock follows them, forcing Nate and Sully to hide as her crew airlifts the ships. In their escape, Sully commandeers one of the helicopters, and Braddock orders another helicopter to approach for a boarding action. Nate defends himself from her mercenaries and shoots down the other helicopter with one of the ship’s cannons. When Braddock corners Nate, Sully throws a bag of collected treasure at her, casting her into the sea, where she is killed when the ship falls on her. As the Philippine Navy arrive, Nate and Sully get away with a few pieces of treasure Nate had pocketed, while Chloe is left empty-handed. Meanwhile, an imprisoned Sam, revealed to be alive and having somehow survived being shot by Braddock, writes another postcard to Nate asking him to watch his back.

In a mid-credits scene, Nate meets with a man working for Roman, offering his ring for a “Nazi map” he has. He tries to betray Nate, but Sully saves him. They escape but are cornered by an unseen figure.

CAST

Tom Holland as Nathan “Nate” Drake: A young bartender who is recruited by Sully to find the fabled treasure of the Magellan expedition and claims to be a descendant of famed English explorer Sir Francis Drake. To practice as a barman, Holland was taught how to do shifts by the Chiltern Firehouse staff. When filming halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Holland continued to train for the role.
- Tiernan Jones as young Nate.
Mark Wahlberg as Victor “Sully” Sullivan: A seasoned fortune hunter who previously worked with Nathan’s brother, Sam. Wahlberg was originally set to star as Drake in early development.
Antonio Banderas as Santiago Moncada: A ruthless treasure hunter and the descendant of the Moncada family.
Sophia Ali as Chloe Frazer: A fellow fortune hunter, and Sully’s associate.
Tati Gabrielle as Jo Braddock: A mercenary working with Moncada against Nathan and Sully.
Rudy Pankow as Samuel “Sam” Drake: Nathan’s long-lost brother.

PRODUCTION

Development

In 2008, film producer Avi Arad stated that he was working with a division of Sony to develop the film adaptation of Uncharted. In response to a question posed to Richard Lemarchand, lead game designer of Naughty Dog, on whether he would like to see a film adaptation of Uncharted, he replied “no comment”. Since then, Columbia Pictures had confirmed that an Uncharted film was being developed. The film was at first to be written by Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer and produced by Avi Arad, Charles Roven, and Alex Gartner. As of June 30, 2009, it was confirmed that the Uncharted film had been in development for the last year and a half. Nathan Fillion expressed an interest in playing Nathan Drake, and started a campaign on Twitter to encourage fans to support him in the endeavor. In an August 2010 interview, Naughty Dog told PlayStation University how close they really were with the development of the film and that they had trust with all who were working on it.

On October 8, 2010, it was announced by Doug Belgrad and Matt Tolmach, co-presidents of Columbia Pictures, that David O. Russell had been set to write and direct the film, an action adventure based upon the first game in the series. The film would be produced by Avi Arad, Charles Roven, and Alex Gartner. Following a screening of Russell’s film, The Fighter, he was approached by a fan of the Uncharted series who asked whether he had considered Fillion for the role of Nathan Drake for the upcoming film due to the high number of requests for him to fulfill the role. Russell was unaware of the interest in Fillion and who he was and seemed to quickly dismiss the idea. Fillion would then later go on to do a short Uncharted fan-film 8 years later, featuring him as Nathan Drake to positive reception.

On November 24, 2010, an interview with Mark Wahlberg was published by MTV with the actor discussing his involvement in the film adaptation of the popular franchise. He stated that Russell was currently writing the script and was excited for what he had in store, hoping to shoot in the middle of 2011: “I’m obviously in whatever David wants to do but the idea of it is so off the charts: Robert De Niro being my father, Joe Pesci being my uncle. It’s not going to be the watered-down version, that’s for sure.” On May 26, 2011, it was reported that Russell had departed the film to direct Silver Linings Playbook. On July 6, Variety reported that Neil Burger was stepping in for Russell. Burger landed the offer after the studio and producers Avi Arad, Charles Roven, and Alex Gartner sparked to his new take on the film. Burger spoke out about the film in July, saying the following:

On August 23, 2012, Burger dropped out to work on Divergent and the studio hired the husband and wife team of Marianne and Cormac Wibberley to rewrite the film. In an interview with IGN, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg said they were asked to write the film multiple times, but declined all of them. On February 4, 2014, Deadline reported that Seth Gordon would direct the film with the latest script being written by David Guggenheim. Production was set to begin in early 2015. The film was originally scheduled for release on June 10, 2016. On November 12, 2014, the studio hired Mark Boal to write the film. After Wahlberg, Chris Pratt was approached to portray Nathan Drake, but he declined the offer. On June 24, 2015, Seth Gordon left the project to work on Baywatch.

In April 2015, the script written by David Guggenheim was leaked, having been obtained in the Sony Pictures hack. On August 5, 2015, Sony Pictures Entertainment pushed the film’s release date back to June 30, 2017. In an interview with Game News Official, Nolan North, who voiced Nathan Drake in the video games, stated that he believed that fans did not want an Uncharted film. Charles Roven did reveal to Collider that what they were working on was pretty exciting, there was a director that they did not have at the moment, and they were not ready to cast that vote until they were actually ready to cast. In April 2016, Neil Druckmann, who had worked on previous Uncharted games, said that the most important aspect of the film is the character relationships.

On July 29, 2016, Variety reported that Joe Carnahan was writing the draft of the film’s script. On September 1, 2016, the film was removed from Sony’s release calendar due to not having a director or cast, but Sony was still moving forward with the film. On October 25, 2016, Shawn Levy was announced to be directing the film. Carnahan said to Collider that he and Levy are knowledgeable about the game, and had been hard at work getting the characters right. The filming was set to begin in early 2017. In early January 2017, Carnahan posted a photo on his Instagram to show that the script of the film had been completed. In May 2017, Tom Holland was cast as a young Nathan Drake, with the film serving as a prequel to the games. Television writer Rafe Judkins was brought on to rework the script. On December 19, 2018, it was announced that Levy had departed the film to work on Free Guy.

On January 14, 2019, Variety reported that Dan Trachtenberg had signed on to direct the film. In June 2019, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that the film was set to be released on December 18, 2020. On August 22, 2019, Deadline reported that Dan Trachtenberg had exited the film, with the film scheduled to go into production in early 2020. The film would become the first feature production of Sony’s PlayStation Productions. On September 27, 2019, The Hollywood Reporter informed that Travis Knight would direct the film. In November, Wahlberg returned to the project to star alongside Holland in the role of Victor Sullivan. In December 2019, Knight left the project due to scheduling conflicts with Holland, which resulted in the film losing its December 18, 2020 release date.