The director of Sony’s Uncharted adaptation, Ruben Fleischer, has spoken about his favorite Easter egg from the film. Uncharted, which stars Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg, is based on the popular video game franchise of the same name. Though the film’s timeline differs considerably from that of the games, Fleischer still managed to get some clever nods to the source material—particularly as it relates to Nathan Drake.
Though the film focuses on a younger Nathan Drake, it still includes a few characters from his formative years in the video games, such as Chloe Frazer (played by Sophia Ali), who went on to star in her own spinoff, The Lost Legacy. Fans have wondered just how much of the original story will be left intact by the film. It does still include Nathan Drake’s death-defying stunts, though, as he falls out of a cargo plane similarly to the opening of Uncharted: Drake’s Deception, so it’s clear the creative team of the film understands the game at its heart.
Fleischer spoke to Screen Rant in an exclusive interview to promote the film, where he talked about the effort he made to appeal to fans of the game. He also spoke about trying to use some of Nathan Drake’s lines from the game, specifically “Oh, crap!” and “Well, well, well.” Check out his full quote here:
“We tried to use a lot of Nate's language from the video games or lines. "Oh crap" is something that he's notorious for saying, and that's actually the first line of the film, as well as, I believe, the last line in the film. But we also have a moment when they're trapped in a well and Nate says, "Well, well, well," which is a homage to the video games, which is my favorite Easter egg in the movie.”
Video game adaptations in general have not fared very well, either with critics or at the box office. Uncharted debuted overseas to a tepid response from critics, with a 46% score on Rotten Tomatoes. The film hopes to break the "video game movie curse" that has befallen so many other adaptations. With attention to detail like Fleischer suggests, it’s possible the film could appeal to hardcore fans who are excited about seeing their favorite characters in live action.
However, fans of the Uncharted games weren’t very happy about the casting of Holland as Nathan Drake, believing him to be the wrong choice for the role. Similar comments were made about Wahlberg as Victor Sullivan (or Sully), Nate’s mentor in the game. However, Fleischer’s comments seem to indicate a decent amount of respect for the material by the creative team involved with the film, which is already working to revive the action-mystery genre, as Fleischer himself said in an interview. Perhaps if more Uncharted films are made, the creative team here can go even further in bridging the gap between the films and the games to give fans the proper adaptation they want.