Monday, December 20, 2010 at 5:03PM Fan Asks David O. Russell Face-to-Face to Cast Nathan Fillion in 'Uncharted'
Back in October when it was announced director David O. Russell would be helming the video game adaptation of Uncharted, everyone had a sneaking suspicion Russell would cast his go to guy, Mark Wahlberg, in the lead. While Wahlberg is a very talented actor and Russell can get great performances out of the guy, the fan community had someone else in mind for that role: Nathan Fillion.
Even after last month's confirmation Wahlberg would be taking the lead in Uncharted, the online fan community hasn't given up hope on getting Russell's attention. At a recent screening of The Fighter in Hollywood, one of these fans approached Russell face-to-face about Fillion. And, to make things better his buddy recorded the whole thing.
Hit the jump to check out the train wreck for yourself.
I call the video a train wreck because it's kind of hard to watch. The fan is nervous and fidgety while Russell comes off completely ignorant as he claims not to know who Fillion is even after his agent tells him they watched an audition tape sent in by Fillion's reps. It's just a completely uncomfortable encounter.
As for the casting decision itself, I agree Fillion is the better actor for the role but casting Wahlberg is just better business. While geeks the world over (including myself) and the fan community support Fillion, he's still not a household name to the general public. Wahlberg's name alone will draw more people to the theater than those that support Fillion's cause. It's unfortunate, but that's the way Hollywood works.
Reader Comments (6)
love the browncoats
you gotta do what ya' can to keep'em flying
Wahlberg doesn't draw anybody. In fact he turns them away. All of the films he's been as the "star" would have been better with somebody else.
Wahlberg is the commercial favorite. Fillion would draw fans of Firefly/Serenity but seems far too unknown for a big studio movie like this.
Fillion really need more movie roles. He's grown in popularity thanks to Castle, but he needs a break-out role in a larger picture, ala Tom Hardy in Inception. Serenity and Firefly were great, but not mainstream enough to help Fillion out.
Fillion would be awesome but I'm afraid he might be a little too old for the part now. As for that "not big enough star" stuff that's crap. He is well known for Firefly, Serenity and ABC's Crime Show Castle. Women love him, men want to be him and he is just an all-around, wise-cracking, comedian and fun dramatic actor as well. He would be a great choice to play drake. What they really need is someone talented, fresh and unknown. Someone who can really shine and make a star-making performance. To use an example, Heath Ledger was a big star at the time when he played The Joker, but nobody believed at first that he could pull off that performance. History can be repeated again for a popular video game property. It is too bad that David O. Russell doesn't seem to be a "quote" fanboy.
Nathan fillion would be the perfect choice. The guy has the perfect comic styling for the part of drake. Mark wahlberg is just so flat in his acting. I know it was a different director, but did no one see marks last attempt at a video game character. It's not about making a good movie anymore, it's about $$. Mr David o Russell needs to seriously get over marky mark.