The history of video games being turned into movies, from “Super Mario Bros” to the wretched “Resident Evil” series, is not a happy one — when Christophe Gans’ “Silent Hill” is the best example of a sub-genre, you know you’re in trouble. Early word on “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” suggests that it’s pretty mediocre, and the most promising project, “Bioshock,” appears to be stuck in development hell. But news comes today of an adaptation which could be more promising.
The Playstation 3 game “Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune” is one of the format’s big hitters, an adventure following Nathan Drake, an ancestor of Sir Francis Drake, on a quest for the secret treasure of El Dorado. Yes, it’s essentially a male version of “Tomb Raider,” so it’s basically Indiana Jones. But apparently, the game’s wit and execution elevates it above its derivative plotting, and Sony hired writers Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer to write a script for a film version, which, according to the LA Times, the studio are pleased with.
So much so, in fact, that they’re already meeting with directors, and among them? David O. Russell. Despite “Nailed” remaining incomplete, the director’s got some heat again with the buzz on his fall drama “The Fighter,” and he’d be sort of a fascinating choice for this one — “Three Kings” was one of the most fiercely original action movies of recent times, and Russell’s one of the few directors who could make this distinct from other Indiana Jones rip-offs like “Sahara.” Unfortunately, Donnelly and Oppenheimer also wrote that stinker, so we hope Russell gets a stab at the script…or better yet, just moves on to several more interesting sounding projects he’s got kicking around in development.
This report could all be moot (again, thanks for making us waste time with offer stories that might not come to pass) — the LA Times takes pains to reinforce that things are only at the meetings stage, and Russell’s got a busy dance card coming up, including “Pride & Prejudice & Zombies” with Natalie Portman and the comedies “Grackle,” “Aaron & Sara” and “The Silver Lining Playbook,” (that is if that last trio of pictures actually see the light of day, our guess is “Grackle” under the aegis of Russell, is long gone) he may be simply too busy for the project, depriving the world of YouTube videos of Russell in a jungle calling a monkey the c-word. But better off for us in the end. This sounds like a mighty weird project for a filmmaker who has better options. Let’s file under: took a meeting — no big deal — for now.