Uncharted movie director says video game movies shouldn’t try to recreate games

Uncharted movie director Ruben Fleischer reckons the key to creating a good game-to-movie adaptation is ensuring it has a compelling story and engaging characters, and not trying to remain as faithful to the game as possible. This is the approach that’s been taken with the forthcoming Uncharted movie, which tells a story entirely separate from those of the games and doesn’t try to retell any stories players have experienced before. Having said that, Fleischer is proud that Sony, Naughty Dog, and even Nolan North, who played Nathan Drake in the games, have worked closely with the movie production team every step of the way.

“I think a mistake of some video game movies past is just trying to recreate the video game, one for one,” Fleischer told GameRadar. “I was really focused on making sure that the movie could stand on its own two feet. Whether you’re the biggest fan of Uncharted or you’ve never even heard of it, it has to be a compelling story with a great emotional center and a real relationship to invest in.”

Related: The first Uncharted movie trailer is here

Fleischer describes Naughty Dog and PlayStation as “godfathers” in the movie. “They had to sign off on all aspects of the movie. We weren’t doing anything that they didn’t approve,” he said, adding that, “they gave us the freedom because we were telling a chapter of the story that was different from the games. Their insight was really helpful, honestly.”

Nolan North visited the movie set during production and “offered so much insight into the process and the experience,” encouraging the movie’s leads Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg to improvise a lot of dialogue, just as he and Richard McGonagle (who voices Sully in the games) had done while making the Uncharted games.