Why The Uncharted Movie Took 10 YEARS To Film

2011 - O. Russell out, Neil Burger In

Uncharted lost O. Russell with the director citing creative differences in 2011. Neil Burger was attached two months later, with him rewriting the script from scratch and a pledge that the movie would be more in line with the game. So long dad Sully, we hardly knew ya.

With the script in the process of being rewritten, it looked unclear as to whether Mark Wahlberg would still play Drake. In 2012 Burger left the project. At the time the reasons were unclear but the reason soon revealed itself; Divergent, the assumed next big young adult movie series. Marianne and Cormac Wibberley - the married screenwriting duo of National Treasure fame - were then brought on to, once again, pen a new script.

2014 - Seth Gordon Brought On To Direct, Writers Come And Go

Seth Gordon was brought in early 2014 to direct and screenwriter David Guggenheim, of Safe House and Bad Boys for Life fame, was hired to, yep, have another go at the script. All seemed well for a time, with a schedule set up touting a mid-2016 release window.

Then, a new writer came on board. Mark Boal, of Zero Dark Thirty renown, was hired to have another stab at the already well-stabbed script. Chris Pratt was also approached to star as Drake, however, he passed on the offer.

Sony was then hacked in late 2014 with the personal details, emails, scripts, and plans form Sony Pictures leaked across the internet in the following months. It was claimed that the North Korean government was responsible for the attack, with formal charges from the U.S Department of Justice being issued in 2018 against a North Korean individual. What is relevant to the Uncharted tale is that several details were leaked regarding the project, you can read more details here.

A month after the leaks Tom Rothman, who replaced Amy Pascal as head of Sony Pictures - Pascal stepping down following criticism of damaging emails she sent which were released in the hack - decided the current trajectory wasn’t good enough. Gordon was released from the project and Joe Carnahan, writer and director of The Grey and Smokin’ Aces, was brought on as Screenwriter in 2016. Although only brought on to write the script Carnahan made inferences that he would also be interested in directing. Alas, it was not meant to be.

2016 - Shawn Levy Brought On To Direct

Not long after Carnahan joined the project Shawn Levy, director of Real Steel, the upcoming Ryan Reynolds feature film Free Guy, and episodes of Stranger Things to name but a few, was brought on board as director. During this time Tom Holland was cast as a younger version of Drake, with the film set to focus on the earlier years of the Drake legend.

Due to the shift in scope, 2018 saw another screenwriter, Rafe Judkins of Chuck and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D fame, set to task creating a new script. Towards the end of 2018, Levy left the project to focus on Free Guy.

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