Video game publisher Naughty Dog is credited with rolling out some of the most popular games of the past decade including Uncharted and The Last of Us. The popularity of the games led to the idea of showcasing them on the big screen. Both the games are on their way of being adapted into Hollywood films, but the progress on them is going on at a very slow speed.
Taking inspiration from the game, the Uncharted film will not be a direct adaptation of any of the four main Uncharted games. It will focus on the origin story of a young Nathan Drake. Naughty Dog’s creative director, Neil Druckmann, recently said in a conversation with 10 Cloverfield Lane director Dan Trachtenberg at DICE Summit 2018 that he is excited about the upcoming Uncharted movie.
“The Uncharted movie, yeah, we’ve had some conversations with Shawn Levy,” Druckmann said. “And he’s really passionate, gets it, and I think he understands where we’re at.”
“[Shawn Levy] wanting to tell a different story than the main four adventures – with potentially a young Nathan Drake, that fills in the gaps – I think is a lot more interesting than trying to retell Uncharted 1, 2, 3, and 4,” the creative director added.
Talking about The Last of Us film, Druckmann said he wants the film to remain unmade. Notably, shortly after the film was announced in 2014, Druckmann wrote the script for The Last of Us movie. Now, after almost four years, the Naughty Dog creative director is perfectly fine seeing the movie never get made.
“…And even I worked on the script for The Last of Us film, which was a direct adaptation,” Druckmann said. “And now, having some separation from it, I look back and [am] like, ‘I don’t want that movie to be made.’”
He said that nobody at Naughty Dog wants to see direct adaptations of the games being filmed as they believe that most of their games are cinematic by nature and speaks their own story very well. However, Druckmann said that he would want to see a movie that tells a different story within The Last of Us world or focus on other characters in the game.
“Maybe there’s something that could be done in the world, either focusing on other characters or other time,” he added. “But, for me, and I know for Naughty Dog and for a lot of our fans, Nolan North is Nathan Drake, Ashley Johnson is Ellie, Troy Baker is Joel. And it would be very disorienting to see someone else in that role.”
Source: Neil Druckmann via Screen Rant
