The ‘Uncharted’ Movie from ‘Uncharted’ Series Video Games Will Finally Start Shooting in 2017, Director Says; Who Will Play Nathan Drake?

Sony's "Uncharted" movie will finally start shooting in 2017, director Shawn Levy said during a recent event attended by Collider. Levy says the "Uncharted" movie is really indeed his next project after directing two episodes of "Stranger Things" Season 2.

"I am unabashedly thrilled to be making that next year," Levy said. "I'm definitely not filming before March. The goal is to film in the late spring, early summer." Also in the interview, the director talked about his love of the franchise and its cinematic quality.

"I've been interested in this project for years. I've played and loved every iteration of the game. I think it's largely a popularly accepted notion that it's as cinematic a game as we've had, maybe ever, certainly of late," Levy said. "And it's cinematic in that it's not only wildly visual, but it's really rooted in character and a very specific tone and a sense of fun, right? When is the last great, fun, f**king action-dynamic, treasure-hunting movie? Right? It's not Indiana Jones, it's not National Treasure; it's very specific, it's all kind of anchored in Nathan's tone."

Levy addressed one of the hottest topics around the film: Who will play Nathan Drake? Levy simply answered that the conversations with the studio and the producers talking about who feels right them are still ongoing. However, he expressed Nathan Drake is someone who is ruggedly handsome, which is to say every movie star, and who looks anything like the square-jawed, chiseled-featured Drake. He also insisted that he is not actually going to base the casting on Twitter suggestions.

Carnahan, the movie's writer, said he showed his current draft of the script to "Uncharted" game series director Neil Druckmann, but Druckmann denied having seen the script. Meanwhile, Levy was named the director for the "Uncharted" movie at the end of October. The movie was previously going to be directed by The Fighter's David O. Russell, before he dropped out. According to GameSpot, Sony wants to "fast-track" the Uncharted movie, though a release date has not been announced.

The movie was first announced way back in 2009, only for it to repeatedly fall apart. Actors mentioned as possibilities for leading roles included Mark Wahlberg, Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, Amy Adams, and Scarlett Johansson. Chris Pratt is among those to pass on the role of Nathan Drake.