Uncharted Movie Appoints Venom Director, Antonio Banderas Joins Cast

Sony Pictures has officially signed Ruben Fleischer to direct Uncharted, its long-in-development screen adaptation of the video game franchise. Antonio Banderas has also joined the cast, as well as Sophia Ali (Grey's Anatomy) and Tati Gabrielle (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina).The current draft of the screenplay has been handled by Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, the screenwiritng duo behind 2008's Iron Man.

Variety broke the news, but it's not clear who Banderas, Ali or Gabrielle will play at this point. Sony Pictures subsequently confirmed the story to IGN.

Fleischer’s name first surfaced in early January as a reported frontrunner to replace Bumblebee director Travis Knight, who bowed out of his Uncharted directing duties due to scheduling issues. In the weeks between initial reports of Fleischer being the studio’s top choice to today’s announcement, Sony shifted the release date of Uncharted from December 18, 2020, to March 5, 2021.

The Strange History of the Uncharted Movie

 Fleischer is no stranger to making movies for Sony, having directed their blockbuster adaptation of Marvel Comics’ Venom as well as both Zombieland films. Uncharted also won’t be the first video game movie Fleischer has been linked to, as he was attached to direct the big-screen version of Spy Hunter several years ago. Fleischer called Spy Hunter his favorite video game in an interview IGN did with him back in 2013.

Fleischer’s hiring caps a storied journey to the silver screen for Uncharted, which previously saw David O. Russell, Neil Burger, Seth Gordon, Shawn Levy, Dan Trachtenberg, and the aforementioned Travis Knight lined up to direct, only for them to part ways with the project for various reasons.

Tom Holland recently revealed to IGN that principal photography is just weeks away. Uncharted will star Holland as a younger incarnation of adventurer Nathan Drake opposite Mark Wahlberg as his mentor, Sully. Ironically, Wahlberg had been attached to play Drake back when David O. Russell was going to direct.

Holland recently informed IGN at the world premiere of Pixar’s Onward that the Uncharted movie begins filming in roughly four weeks and that it will draw much of its inspiration from Uncharted 4: A Thief's End.

“There was definitely a lot of inspiration that came from the games, but it's a very young, fresh take on the character because, obviously, we didn't get to meet him all that much when he was younger," Holland told us. "But it's a pretty awesome movie, and it's global. We travel the world, we see some amazing places, and Mark Wahlberg and I are going to have a great summer together."

Holland also recently explained to us how Uncharted can prove to be a successful video game movie where so many other screen adaptations have failed.

“I think what Uncharted offers that most video games films don't is that it's an origin story to the games,” Holland said. “So if you played the games, you haven't seen what's going to happen in the film. And if you haven't played the games, you're going to enjoy the film because it's information that everyone else is getting at the same time. But I'm super excited to make that movie and it's been a long time coming.”