Since Tom Holland's casting as the iconic Nathan Drake in the long-awaited movie adaptation of the Uncharted games way back in 2017, die-hard fans have been unsure about the choice. Now Holland has spoken to some of those concerns in a recent interview, revealing how he got closer to the desired look for his role.
It's no secret that the upcoming Uncharted movie has been in development hell for a long time, but 2021 has been the year that Sony has been feeding fans scraps in the form of various tidbits and teasers like these behind-the-scenes Uncharted clips. The film serves as a prequel to the main story of the games and centers on Nathan Drake, a burgeoning adventurer, and his fresh friendship with the seasoned Sully, played by Holland and Mark Wahlberg respectively. It's been over a decade in the making, with constant starts and stops and delays galore, but the movie will finally be hitting screens in February next year, much to the delight of fans who have been waiting a very long time.
In the run-up to the upcoming release of Uncharted, Holland gave an interview to Total Film, describing his insecurities when acting next to the infamously buff Whalberg. Holland explained how he spent a lot of time in the gym after visiting the set for the first time and seeing "how jacked" Wahlberg was. The movie was delayed after the COVID-19 pandemic caused filming to halt and it was during this time that Holland worked to build his muscle bulk. He said, "we went home for five months, all I did was eat and train, eat and train, eat and train - to put a bit of timber on, to make me look not like a child next to Mark."
Holland certainly can't be blamed for wanting to beef up, especially because many fans of the games thought he had too childish a look to play the swaggering adventurer, Nathan Drake. In fact, Wahlberg was originally in line to play Drake, but after multiple directors decided to leave the project the story then changed to focus on younger versions of the characters, which is when Wahlberg was brought in as Sully - albeit missing the classic Sully mustache. Indeed, many fans also see Wahlberg's Sully not smoking or wearing his characteristic bowling shirts as being an upsetting departure from the source.
But the movie is an introduction to characters before the events of the games and does not appear to be going for a straight-up retelling of the plot but rather an adaptation. Either way, Holland is an extremely profitable actor for Sony due to his starring role in the popular Spider-Man films, and his big-name plus big fanbase means the adaptation will appeal to movie fans as a whole rather than just those who played the game. Expectant fans will finally get to see if Holland is a worthy Drake next year as the action blockbuster's debut gets ever closer.
Uncharted is scheduled to be released in theaters on February 18, 2022.
Source: Total Film