Tom Holland presents the “Best Multiplayer” game for the annual Game Awards. Gal Gadot, Brie Larson, Keanu Reeves, and Christopher Nolan are a few other A-listers who took part in gaming’s biggest night. Due to ongoing social distancing measures and Covid-19 restrictions, Tom presented the award from Atlanta, where he is currently filming Spider-Man 3.
“I am in Atlanta on the set of the next Spider-Man film, but I am honored to be a part of the Game Awards tonight. You know that for the past few years I’ve been working on the Uncharted movie, which did involve some extensive research playing the game,” he said, “I am honored to be playing Nathan Drake. What I can assure you is that we really want to honor Naughty Dogs‘ amazing game. So this film tells you how Nathan Drake became the character we all know and love.”
Live on stage was none other than Nathan Drake himself, Nolan North, who famously voiced the character since 2007 in the video game, Uncharted. “You know, someday when someone searches for Nathan Drake on IMDB and you are the first result, I’ll only be remarkably bitter,” he joked. Nolan finishes off by announcing the “Best Multiplayer” game awarding it to Among Us.
Take a look at what once seemed like a faraway movie, finally got the ending it deserved.
Uncharted: The Video Game Series
Uncharted follows the story of Nathan Drake, who is described as an awkward and nervous guy who happens to fight enemies off as he searches the world to uncover historical mysteries. His in-game persona is modeled after Johnny Knoxville and draws similarities to Lara Croft and Indiana Jones.
Nathan Drake sounds like an awesome guy who can do anything, but he also has trusted people by his side. As of now, the film adaptation has cast Victor “Sully” Sullivan, who is like a mentor to Nathan, and the female lead, Chloe Frazer who is a treasure hunter, thief, and an old flame of his.
In 2008, Hollywood producer Ari Arad announced he will produce the film adaptation of the video game. Ari has a history with action movies; He’s responsible for producing the Blade series and the X-Men series.
But what once seemed to be a hopeful production for the adventure-game movie, slowly turned into a nightmare in the past decade. However, there’s always light at the end of the tunnel — or in this case a lengthy film production.
Who Will Be in the Movie?
Prior to Tom Holland taking the helm as the charismatic treasure hunter, Mark Whalberg was once in talks to play Nathan Drake. With many trials and tribulations, the film decided to focus on a much younger and fresh take of Nathan Drake and his story.
Mark is now set to play Sully. He gave fans a first look at the treasure hunter-friend of Nathan’s on Twitter.
Here we go, kid. @unchartedmovie @Naughty_Dog pic.twitter.com/xpL7etW6qf
— Mark Wahlberg (@markwahlberg) October 29, 2020
Also attached to the project are Sophia Taylor Ali, Tati Gabrielle, Antonio Banderas, and Bryan Cranston.
The Directors Curse
Although Uncharted holds a strong star-studded cast, it wasn’t all a breeze. Through its decade run of production, the film has gone through several directors, most of who left to direct even bigger projects. The first to exit the project was director, David O. Russell, who left to work on Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle. A few months later, its second director, Neil Burger, dropped out to direct Divergent. Seth Gordon, Shawn Levy, Dan Trachtenberg, and Travis Knight were once going to bring the video game to the big screen.
Rumor has it, Seth Rogen was even asked to take a nab at the project. Could you imagine a Pineapple Express–Lara Croftesque film?
The fate of Uncharted remained in the air for some time, that is until director, Ruben Fleischer, came into the picture. Venom, Fleischer’s other film he directed, proved to be a major box office hit, so there are high hopes for Uncharted.
Directors aren’t the only ones to blame in this situation. The film has gone through countless script re-writes and creative changes as well. Not to mention the pandemic shutting production down mid-March.
Tom Holland Brings Nathan Drake to Life
With Tom Holland attached to the film since 2017 and with the success of Spider-Man, it seems hopeful that a 10-year project will attract a new audience apart from the loyal fans of the game. The success of other video game movies like Detective Pikachu and Sonic The Hedgehog are to thank for paving the way in recent years and bringing back to life the video game movie genre.
After a long year of filming complications, Uncharted finally wraps up filming.
Sic Parvis Magna. That’s a wrap on #UnchartedMovie. pic.twitter.com/0BmG5oHCsk
— Uncharted (@unchartedmovie) October 29, 2020
On October 21, Tom Holland brings Nathan Drake to life in an announcement on his Instagram. “It’s nice to meet you, I’m Nate,” he said.
Tom’s been very vocal and passionate about the project. During a press tour for his film Onward, he confessed that he’s super excited about the movie and it’s one of the best scripts he’s ever read.
“I think what Uncharted offers that most video game games films don’t is that it’s an origin story to the games,” he said, “It’s been a long time coming and I think Mark Whalberg is going to kill it as Sully”
Uncharted is set to release on July 16, 2021.
