David O. Russell no longer directing Uncharted

Oscar-nominated director David O. Russell (The Fighter, Three Kings) will no longer direct the film adaptation of the popular video game Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune.

The news comes from Deadline, although no reason for Russell’s exit has been mentioned. It is unknown if frequent Russell collaborator Mark Wahlberg still remains attached to play Drake.

Fans of the video game will no doubt be relieved; many were upset over Russell’s vision of an Uncharted tale in which we meet Drake’s family (to be played by Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci).

When we spoke to Russell earlier in the year, he took on a defensive stance when discussing the project.

“I met with the game’s creators at Naughty Dog and [creative director] Amy Hennig. I wanted them to know what I was thinking about doing, and I wanted to know what was important to them, and we’ve had many conversations about that. And I respect what’s important to them, and they respect my vision as a filmmaker. I think a video game is a world that you play as a game, and that does not really create a cinematic emotional narrative that consumes you for two hours necessarily, unless you know how to grow it into that. And if I didn’t have the ideas and the vision that I thought would be really cool to do that, I wouldn’t have gotten involved in it. And I don’t think they would have bought into it.”

More news on the project as it develops.

Discuss: Glad to see Russell abandon the project, or were you looking forward to seeing his interpretation?