When we last heard about David O. Russell's adaptation of the video game Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, it looked like Mark Wahlberg was set to play lead character Nathan Drake while Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci were being courted for a family dynamic storyline.  Not so fast, says Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception video game director Justin Richmond.  Richmond tells Joystiq “First of all, all that stuff was denied by David O. Russell.  He actually called us up and was like, ‘I don’t know what these guys are talking about.’”  They were talking about what O. Russell reportedly told the L.A. Times, when he said,

"This idea really turns me on that there’s a family that’s a force to be reckoned with in the world of international art and antiquities … [a family] that deals with heads of state and heads of museums and metes out justice…. We’ll have the family dynamic, which we’ve done in a couple of movies now.  And then you take that and put it on the bigger, more muscular stage of an international action picture, but also put all the character stuff in it. That’s a really cool idea to me."

Hit the jump for more.

It's possible that O. Russell was just misquoted or that the project is at such an early stage, that he hasn't decided on the story yet.  However, during the press junket for The Fighter, Mark Wahlberg told MTV that they were talking to De Niro and Pesci to play Drake's father and uncle, respectively.  However, Wahlberg may not even be on board yet as Richmond also told Joystiq that the actor wasn't yet signed on to the film.  That keeps hope alive for Nathan Fillion, who launched a Twitter campaign to get the role (even if O. Russell only recently heard of the Castle and Firefly star).

Uncharted may not even be O. Russell's as he's also considering Old St. Louis and an adaptation of The Silver Linings Playbook.  I wouldn't be surprised if O. Russell ends up taking more time to play with Uncharted's story since both Drake's Fortune and the sequel, Among Thieves, are fairly light on narrative and keep the emphasis on action and a fun protagonist (as well they should since they're trying to be games rather than interactive movies).

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