David O. Russell (I Heart Huckabees) always seemed an unlikely choice to helm Sony’s tentpole adaptation of video game Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, and with news that Russell is no longer attatched to the project it appears the studio is opting for a less avant-garde choice of director.
Los Angeles Times report that the auteur, the studio and the producers have been in negotiations over the past few weeks, however, the three parties were unable to agree on terms and decided to go their separate ways.
With Sony renewing their search for a director, and the male and female co-leads still yet to be cast, the original 2011 release date is beginning to look impossibly optimistic.
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, which has much in common with the Tomb Raider and Indiana Jones franchises, follows the titular Nathan Drake, a modern-day fortune hunter, as he searches for the fabled treasure of El Dorado. Hunted by merceneries, Drake and his companions must fight for survival as they begin to unravel the island’s dark secrets.
Written by Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer (Sahara), it looks as though we may have to wait a little longer for Drake’s Fortune to finally be charted on the big screen.
