Uncharted Screenwriter Joe Carnahan Sheds New Light On Script And “Crazy” Action Sequences

A Thief’s End, Naughty Dog’s latest and arguably greatest entry into the swashbuckling Uncharted franchise, brought the curtain down on Nathan Drake’s saga with aplomb – but Nolan North’s wisecracking mascot is about to find new life on the big screen.

That’s right, after years spent simmering on the brink of production, Sony is finally beginning to make serious headway on a live-action adaptation after hiring both Shawn Levy and Joe Carnahan (The A-Team, The Raid) to direct and write, respectively. The latter turned in a first draft of the script late last year and now, during an interview with Coming Soon, Carnahan has shed new light on his pitch, the possibility of an R rating, and why his vision contains some of the “biggest, f***in’ craziest action sequences” he’s ever put on paper.

First up, here’s how Carnahan approached Nathan Drake’s cinematic debut in the first place.

“When I wrote Uncharted, I didn’t spare the rod. I wrote it the way the video game is. They swear in the game, they’re kinda foul-mouthed and I kept all that stuff intact and I definitely didn’t write it as a ‘PG-13’ movie, I wrote it the way that movie should be written.”

Asked whether he used one of Naughty Dog’s action-adventure titles as a template, Carnahan continued:

“No, they let me kinda do my thing. I probably wrote four of the biggest, f***in’ craziest action sequences I think I’ve ever written in that movie. I used the Uncharted games as a template but not using any one specifically, because those sequences have already been done beautifully. There’s no point in just transposing them to film, you’ve gotta come up with new sh*t, so that’s what I did. It was a great challenge but it was a lot of fun.”

Despite the failings of Warcraft, Assassin’s Creed and Angry Birds: The Movie, Hollywood studios continue to express an interest in game-to-movie adaptations, what with live-action versions of The Division and Tomb Raider both gestating in various stages of production.

Headed up by Stranger Things director Shawn Levy, production on Sony’s Uncharted movie is expected to get underway sometime this spring, at which point we’ll surely have a better understanding of the cast and the adventure that awaits them.