Uncharted movie director: trust me

Uncharted movie director David O. Russell has moved to reassure fans of the videogame concerned by the direction of his unfinished script, asking them to trust that he'll make an "amazing" film.

Russell, the man behind the Oscar-nominated The Fighter, plans to depict a Sopranos-like family with a sense of justice in the movie based on Naughty Dog's superlative PlayStation series.

"If we take that family dynamic that we have in The Fighter, and put that in terms of a grander stage, with a crime family that metes out justice in the world of art and antiquities," he said, "if you're the head of a museum, or head of state, you've got to deal with them, and they're badass.

"They're like the Sopranos in some ways, but they have great taste, and they have a sense of justice."

Many fans of the videogame have expressed concern at the direction of the movie, but in a new interview with SlashFilm.com, Russell asked gamers to trust in what he's doing.

"As far as I'm concerned, I'm very respectful as far as the core content and sprit of the game, but beyond that it's my job as a filmmaker to make what I think is going to be an amazing movie," he said.

"People have to trust that and let that go, I think. There's not a bunch of movies you can point to that are made from games that are amazing movies, that stand up to time as a franchise or as [individual films].

"I personally think it's really cool when you see that someone like Darren Aronofsky is going to make an X-Men movie or to get someone such as myself to make this picture. You can be guaranteed that it's going to be real, it's going to be raw, it's going to be intense, it's going to be original, and it's going to be propulsive. And those are all the things that I want when I go to watch a movie like that."

Russell said he's met with Naughty Dog's Uncharted maker Amy Hennig, who he describes as "really cool".

"I started to brew together what I thought could be a really cool idea that I'd never seen in a film before...Really intense action and really intense family dynamics on a global stage.

"To grow a game into a movie is an interesting proposition because a game is a very different experience than a movie. You guys are playing the game, and it's about playing the game. It's not about a narrative embracing you emotionally. You know what I'm saying? So, I want to create a world that is worthy of a really great film that people want to watch and rewatch, so that's what I'm working on right now."

Russell is almost done with the script. The movie is without a release date.