Variety is reporting that David O. Russell has been replaced by Limitless director Neil Burger on the upcoming Uncharted movie. It’s a smart move on the studio’s part and one that will hopefully help a film which seems to have been plagued from day one.
When it was announced that Mark Wahlberg would be playing Nathan Drake, fans of the videogame were outraged. There was a lot of backlash and a negative buzz started circling the project.
Then we heard there were problems with Russell’s 200 page script, which included a whole handful of brand new characters that weren’t in the videogame. When gamers heard this, coupled with the fact that David O. Russell hadn’t even played the game, there was something of an online revolt led by die hard fans.
Eventually, Russell left the film and today we learn that Neil Burger will be his replacement. No word yet on what Wahlberg’s status is but with Russell gone, I can’t see Marky Mark staying on board. And honestly, he’s not the right man for the job either.
Personally, I couldn’t be happier about this. Neil Burger, while not on the A-list yet, has been on a number of high profile shortlists and after the success he found with Limitless, his star is slowly rising. This is a huge project for the relatively small director but I have full confidence in him and I know that he’ll be able to pull it off.
He brought to Limitless a certain visual spark, a certain razzle dazzle that stylistically at least, made it pretty unique. Burger has also done some excellent work with films like The Illusionist, another film that was quite visually pleasing and interesting.
Hopefully fans will rest easy now that Russell is gone and a replacement has been found. I’m curious to know though what they think of Burger taking over the reigns of their beloved franchise. Also, if Wahlberg doesn’t stay on, which he probably won’t, who do you think should star?
My vote is for Burger’s Limitless star Bradley Cooper, I think he’d be great in the role and we already know that he can work well with the director. I think the two could produce a worthy adaptation and I’d love to see things play out with Burger and Cooper leading the charge.
What do you think?
