David O. Russell asked to cast Nathan Fillion in Uncharted

December 20, 2010 by | 7 Comments

nathan fillion Image

An Uncharted fan has uploaded a video to YouTube in which they ask director David O. Russell (who is helming the upcoming film based on the videogame series) to cast Nathan Fillion as main character Nathan Drake. The results are below, and are reasonably depressing.

The video was filmed after a screening of Russell’s latest film The Fighter at the Arclight in LA.

As you can see, David O. Russell, even after being informed by his agent that he was sent an audition tape by Nathan Fillion, has no idea who the Firefly / Serenity star is. This is quite disheartening, especially considering that Fillion himself actually started a campaign to play Nathan Drake, and…oh yeah, he’s the perfect guy for the role. You could ask almost anyone who’s played the games, and they’d probably agree (myself included).

I think Mark Wahlberg, who has been cast as Nathan Drake (and notably, has already starred in three of Russell’s films, including The Fighter) is absolutely the wrong man for the role. It’s incredibly disappointing that Russell has absolute zero awareness of the fact that a huge amount of actual fans of the game want Fillion as Nathan Drake. And that he doesn’t even know who Fillion is. His dismissive “you stood up for your guy” is particularly grating. Oh well.

Thanks to JoBlo for the story.

Read more on: , ,

Around the web


  • Simon Stewart

    The fact that he says “You stood up for your guy” and “I don’t know who he is” has made me decide to 100% give this film a miss unless there is a sudden change and FIllion is cast as Drake. How arrogant and ignorant can one person be??

  • ian

    I am sure Fillion woudl love to here O’Russel call him a “someone… who’s not a big deal”

    Money talks and for some unfathomable reason MArky MArky, emotionless and cold with zero sense of humour and no self awareness seems to have acreer built to ruin fims.

    At least Orussel likes him.

  • Peter

    Well, I think we need to cut the guy a little bit of slack. He’s probably had a million people telling him who he should cast in his movies. That being said, it doesn’t excuse his blatant disrespect of both those guys and Nathan Fillion. I don’t know how you could possibly be involved in the entertainment industry and not know who he is.

    I absolutely DESPISE directors who cast people just because their friends or something. He is going to ruin what could have been a really good movie by casting Mark Wahlberg. I like Mark Wahlberg, but he is completely wrong for this role. Hopefully David O. Russell will get the picture when his movie FLOPS.

  • Muercurio

    Mark Wahlberg?!?! … Fantastic!!!!!!

    (-_-)

    Can I also expect another shoddy Max Payne based movie as well? Ugh.

    Mark was wrong for that role, and he’s certainly wrong for this one.

  • Tom

    Like Peter, I’m not going to trash Mark Wahlberg, but he is definitely the wrong person for this role. If Russel can find someone better suited than Fillion I’ll shut up (though I’d be astounded), but it sure isn’t Wahlberg.

    I get that certain directors get stars that they work well with (Burton/Depp, Apatow/Rogen, etc.), but this is clearly one case where proper casting takes precedence over a good working dynamic.

    I’m honestly getting the feeling the whole project is mismanaged; it seems like the vision for the film just isn’t lining up.

  • Salarus

    Have to admit, but Mark is just a horrible cast. I understand this guy wanting Fillion, I too would say he’s the better cast. He looks, acts and speaks just like the character in the game. The Drake’s Fortune franchise will suffer due to thousands of fans being disappointed with this casting. Overall I’m shocked that Naughty Dog has gone along with this.

    That being said, I do like Mark in a number of his roles, but this isn’t for him.

  • Guest

    I do think that Nathan Fillion will be good as Drake but he’s not young enough and neither is Mark Wahlberg. For me, if Fillion took on this role he would have to get into shape.

    I think that Joe Mangeneillo should play Drake. He’s young, looks like him, he’s a good actor, in good shape and i’m guessing would be popular with the audience as he’s in True Blood. He’s brilliant for the part.

    Check him out (take that however you want)
    http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=&q=joe+manganiello