There has been yet another director exit from the Uncharted movie; the fifth one since the film was sanctioned. Dan Trachtenberg, known for directing episodes of Black Mirror and The Boys, has left the project this time. That said, actor Tom Holland is still onboard for playing a young Nathan Drake in this prequel film. Sony is said to be in the process of looking for new directors for the film.
Deadline, which was first to report Dan Trachtenberg’s exit from the film, hasn’t revealed what the reason for the same is. The Uncharted movie was announced during the summer of 2009, with David O. Russell (American Hustle, The Fighter) at its helm, but he departed in 2011 over ‘creative differences.’ At that time, actors Mark Wahlberg, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci were supposedly attached to the project.
Neil Burger (The Illusionist, Divergent) got attached to the film the same year, which led to a complete re-write of the script. Burger dropped out a year later, and the husband-wife team of Marianne and Cormac Wibberley were hired to re-write the script. Seth Gordon (Baywatch, The Office) was next in line on the director’s seat, but 2015 saw him leaving the project too, over creative differences. Shawn Levy (Stranger Things, Night at the Museum) headed the ship from 2016 to 2018, before making way for Dan Trachtenberg.
Deadline is also reporting that a new PlayStation Productions department has been set up by Sony to oversee the productions of films based on its video game properties. The script is currently being penned by Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, and Rafe Judkins, and follows an origins arc of Nathan Drake becoming the daring and obsessive treasure hunter that he is in the video games. The game series created by Naughty Dog has sold more than 41 million copies to date.
The Uncharted movie currently has a December 18, 2020 release date, but given that there’s no director helming it, we’re not sure it’ll be able to keep that promise.