It’s been a busy few weeks for director David O. Russell. With his comeback film “The Fighter” on its way, and looking set to be a major player in the awards season, he’s leaping on and off projects like a man possessed. He was reported not so long ago to be considering the Jim Carrey comedy “Under Cover,” and it was reported only a few days ago that, along with star Natalie Portman, he’d dropped out of “Pride & Prejudice & Zombies” in favor of the comedy “Old St. Louis,” with Vince Vaughn and Chloe Moretz, which is set to shoot next March.
Now, the maverick director, who seems to become less and less of a maverick as time goes on, has signed on to another project that he’d been linked to, one that, not so long ago, it seemed that he had turned down. Columbia Pictures announced last night (via Coming Soon) that Russell had signed on to write and direct the tentpole “Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune,” an adaptation of the blockbuster Playstation 3 game.
The game focused on Nathan Drake, a descendant of Sir Francis Drake and a treasure hunter, as he searches for the lost treasure of El Dorado, with the help of a journalist. Russell was reported to have been offered the project, the first draft of which was written by “Conan” scribes Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer, back in May, but by August negotiations were said to have fallen apart. Clearly, whatever the sticking point was, it has been resolved, as Russell will rewrite Donnelly and Oppenheimer’s script, and direct the film. Columbia president Matt Tolmach said in a press release that “David is a tremendous choice to take on this film. He’s equally adept at combining all the classic elements involved in this property: great character development, strong comedy and amazing action sequences. He has a brilliant vision for this material and we know he will bring his original, unique voice to this adaptation.”
We certainly hope so, because we’re not wild about this announcement. The list of good movies made from video games currently stands at a big fat zero, and the derivative nature of “Uncharted” — basically Indiana Jones meets… no, just Indiana Jones — doesn’t suggest anything groundbreaking. Having said that, Russell will hopefully be able to bring something fresh to the genre — among its many qualities, “Three Kings” also managed to be a kick-ass action film, so it’s not entirely new territory for the filmmaker. But between this, the rather conventional trailer for “The Fighter” and the not-hugely-promising-on-paper “Old St. Louis,” we rather pine for the filmmaker who could get something as bonkers as “I Heart Huckabees” made.
There’s no word on a start date for the project — Sony were once fast-tracking it for a release next summer, but that certainly isn’t happening. If the rumors of filming in March are correct, we imagine that “Old St. Louis” will come first as Russell works on the script. Fans of the game, start your fantasy casting now! (n.b. anyone who says the words “Fillion” and “Nathan,” in any order, is sadly deluded.). And note according to the LAT, O. Russell has officially passed on “Under Cover” so we can wipe it off his long-list of potential projects.
