The upcoming Uncharted movie starring Tom Holland as a young Nathan Drake might have found its Victor "Sully Sullivan. Drake's longtime friend, mentor, and cigar-smoking wise-ass will be played by none other than Mark Wahlberg, according to a new report. I know, I wanted Tom Hanks too.
Variety reports that Wahlberg (Ted, Daddy's Home, loads of other films of varying quality) is currently in "final talks" to join Spider-Man star Holland in Sony's planned live-action video game adaptation.
A fun fact: The Uncharted movie has been in development for so long now, that Wahlberg had actually signed on to play Nathan Drake at one point. This was around a decade ago now, and the project has changed hands many times since then. As previously reported, the latest version of the film will feature a younger Nathan, so Wahlberg will obviously be playing a younger Sully.
Back in September it was revealed that Uncharted had swapped directors yet again. Travis Knight is the latest, hopefully final person to sit in the director's chair. His previous directorial work includes 2018's Transformers spinoff Bumblebee, and 2016's wonderful, underrated animated feature Kubo and the Two Strings.
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I'd say I'm quietly optimistic... but I said the same thing about previous director Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane). He was signed up last year following the departure of Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum). I think this film might actually be cursed.
The above three directors have all been attached to the current version of the project, to be clear. There have been various attempts to get the Uncharted movie off the ground with other scripts and directors, including David O. Russell (American Hustle). He was attached to the project back in 2010, when Wahlberg originally signed on.
As much as I want to say that this current cast, script, and director will be the winning formula that gets Uncharted finished and into cinemas, we've been burned too many times before.
The film is apparently slated to go into production in early 2020, and will hit cinemas in December that same year... so I guess we'll see. It'll also be the first live-action feature from Sony's PlayStation Productions film and TV studio, which was announced earlier in 2019.
If I'm being honest, I'm not entirely sure I buy Wahlberg as Sully. I'll certainly be heading into the cinema with an open mind, and very much hope for the best. At this stage, I'll just be glad to see the damn film finally escape from the development hell it's been trapped in since 2009.
Featured Image Credit: Naughty DogTopics: PlayStation, Uncharted, Naughty Dog