When I downloaded the demo for the first Uncharted game, booted it up, and watched the intro sequence, I was stunned when the main character, Nathan Drake, opened his mouth and was not voiced by Nathan Fillion (who some of you know as Capt. Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly). That's because it appeared someone at Naughty Dog really had a hard-on for the self-described "ruggedly handsome" actor. Nathan Drake bears a striking resemblence to Fillion and yes, they share the same first name.
Recently, talks have been underway of a movie based on the video game franchise. They have a director and writer who decided that the best idea would be to make the film a family affair. So...instead of getting something akin to Raiders of the Lost Ark, we'll get National Treasure. Fantastic. When it came to selecting an actor to portray Drake, Nathan Fillion himself started a Twitter campaign to get the lead role. So, much to dismay of his and the game's fans, it was announced a few weeks ago that Mark Wahlberg would be portraying the wise-cracking, loner, asshole.
I have nothing against Marky Mark, but I would've loved to have seen Fillion in a role that seemed like such a perfect fit. A lot of people said that the man best known for his role on a super short-lived Sci-Fi Western could not carry a blockbuster action movie, and three years ago, when there was a lot of fan support for Fillion to play Hal Jordan in Green Lantern, I would've agreed. The director has also said that he has never heard of Nathan, and the guy was kind of an ass about it.
And what has Wahlberg done that makes him a box office draw? The Happening? Planet of the Apes? The only film I recall seeing because of Wahlberg was Shooter, and I'll admit he was pretty badass in that.
However, he (Fillion) is now the star of his own prime time drama on ABC. Now in its third season, Castle has managed to survive far past his other shows. Now, I'll admit, I have always been immersed in nerd culture, so I knew of the Fillion long before most ever heard the name, but why can't he star in a bigger movie? Espeically now that he has a lot more exposure with Castle?
And why does it seem like all of the high profile projects that fans want to see (like Uncharted or Transformers) go to people who really don't know anthing about or care about the property? The argument there is that filmmakers make movies to appeal to the general audience, not us nerds who made the property popular in the first place. My counter to that is look at Iron Man. That took a comic book character that a surprisingly large number of people claimed to have never heard of, and made him a household name. And how did they do it? By sticking to the source material.
So here's my advice Hollywood: If you insist on adapting a popular franchise on the silver screen, try to get someone who understands why its popular and make a faithful movie.
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