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Uncharted movie loses David O. Russell - Report

Negotiations with <i>I Heart Huckabees</i> director fall through, film not expected until at least 2012.

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The director of I Heart Huckabees apparently does not "heart" the idea of directing a film based on Uncharted. Not enough, at any rate.

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that negotiations between Sony-owned Columbia Pictures, the film's producers, and David O. Russell have fallen through. In May, the paper was the first to report that the director with art-house leanings was being considered for what is expected to be a blockbuster action adaptation of Naughty Dog's hit PlayStation 3 franchise.

With Russell out of the picture, the Times reports that the studio is starting over and considering a different approach. The paper suggests that Columbia and the producers may try to attach stars to play the male and female leads in the movie before testing the waters again in search of a director. Regardless of how they go about it, the film is now expected to be definitely pushed back to a 2012 or later release.

With Russell out of the picture, hope for a Jon Brion soundtrack is fading fast.
With Russell out of the picture, hope for a Jon Brion soundtrack is fading fast.

While Russell's take on the series would have been interesting to see, the director was never a natural choice to head up a big-budget action film. His 1994 debut Spanking the Monkey was a black comedy about an incestuous relationship, while 2004's I Heart Huckabees was a philosophical comedy featuring an all-star cast portraying people in desperate search of themselves. There was a fair bit of action in Russell's Three Kings, in which a trio of American soldiers look to steal Iraqi gold in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War, but the film was a far cry from the carefree tone of the Uncharted games.

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