What A Hardcore Uncharted Fan Thinks Of The Uncharted Movie
2. Holland Was Right About His Performance Being A "Mistake"
Did anyone else think that Holland looked way too muscular to be playing Nathan Drake? Nate is physically fit, sure, but he isn't the kind of guy who spends hours in the gym sculpting his abs to perfection.
Watching Holland do sit-ups and seeing his glistening bod every five minutes just kept reminding me that he's a pampered movie star, and not the Indiana Jones-esque ruffian he's meant to be playing. It made him feel even less like Nate than he already did!
It brings to mind a comment Holland made in April 2021, where he admitted that he was more worried about looking cool than actually delivering a good acting performance. After watching the movie, it's easier to understand what he meant:
"As soon as you start worrying about ‘Do I look good in this shot?’ acting becomes something other than playing a character. I think there are elements of my performance in Uncharted where I kind of fell under that spell of being ‘I want to look good now. I want this to be my cool moment.' At times, it was less about land a mark and go through this scene and more about land a mark, stand like this and see my bulging biceps... it was a mistake and is something that I will probably never do again.”
On reflection, this is a big reason why Holland doesn't feel like Nate - he tried to play him all badass and cool, but video game Nate is actually more of a goofball.
And while there were elements of that in Holland's performance (again, he felt the most like Nate during the finale, with specific moments like the pirate ship wheel joke), it seems like he misinterpreted Nate as a muscular superhero, rather than the relatable everyman Naughty Dog designed him to be.