So, what’s going on with that Uncharted movie?

UPDATE: Back and forth… Following last week’s supposed “debunking” of Russell’s plan and Mark Wahlberg’s involvement in UNCHARTED, Moviehole just chatted with the actor and got this salient quote: “David O’Russell is writing right now and hopes to direct. It’s myself, Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro“. Wahlberg says they are “hopefully going to shoot it in the Summer time“.

(Or maybe, like some fans of the game hope, the entire thing falls apart…)

Also, check out the new CES trailer of the game sequel below!

December 30th, 2010:

“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.”

That’s what director David O. Russell just recently told the LA Times about his plans for his movie adaptation of the popular UNCHARTED videogame franchise, leading its many fans to wonder why he… seemed to be ignoring nearly everything about the games. Coupled with reported involvement of Russell’s three-time collaborator Mark Wahlberg starring as the hero (and worse, the director not even recognizing the name of fan-fave Nathan Fillion), followers/players of fortune hunter Nathan Drake have been left mystified and disappointed.

But wait — the game site Joystiq caught up with Justin Richmond, the director of the in-development console sequel UNCHARTED 3: DRAKE’S DECEPTION. Richmond seemed to refute the filmmaker’s bizarre “family dynamic” angle, saying “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.'”

Hmmm. Now, Russell’s supposed denial of his own statement to the game company seems spurious (especially since none of his public comments about the project have made it sound like he’s even interested in the games), but Joystiq also claims that Wahlberg “isn’t anywhere near to being confirmed to play Nathan Drake either — it’s just Hollywood scuttlebutt.” Which also sounds fishy, considering the actor has been essentially confirming it himself that he’d be making it. And then there’s that whole Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci thing…

So what’s going on here? Is it some kind of damage control to placate the game’s makers and fanbase? Or is there just a huge disconnect between the developers at Naughty Dog and the people turning their property into a movie? Is the studio pumping the brakes because of fan backlash, or just trying to muzzle the director and actor about their plans? Time will tell…