The David O. Russell Script Will Not Be Used As 'Uncharted' Moves Forward

Yesterday when I wrote about David O. Russell leaving Sony's Uncharted, I mused about the possibility of the eventual film hewing much closer to the original games than his script had planned. That script was only tangentially related to the game, as it featured a family that is "a force to be reckoned with in the world of international art and antiquities ... [a family] that deals with heads of state and heads of museums and metes out justice," with the game's hero, Nathan Drake, being one family member.

But when Mr. Russell left LionsGate's Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the project carried on with the script he left behind. So I wondered if Sony would do the same with Uncharted. Now we know that the studio will go back to an earlier draft of the script and move forward from that. In other words: all the family stuff is definitely going away. More details follow.

The LA Times says Sony will bring on a new writer and director who will use the earlier draft by Conan writers Thomas Dean Donnelly & Joshua Oppenheimer.

The site also says that Mark Wahlberg is not expected to star, and that any projected release date is not likely to be hit.

Finally, the LAT also reiterates what we knew yesterday: that creative differences are what pushed him away from the project. In other words, Sony wanted a movie that was more recognizable as sourced from the games. So gamers can expect to see a film that looks a lot more like the first game come to life. Whether that's a good thing or not is open to debate in the comments below.