The writer and director is now aboard to punch out a brand new draft of a project that has seen work from such varied filmmakers as Seth Gordon and David O. Russell. Josh Oppenheimer, Thomas Dean Donnelly, Neil Burger and Cormac and Marianne Wibberley are just a few of the names who have had their hands on the screenplay in the past.
Its a confusing state of events, as the Uncharted series would seem to be a no-brainer for movie-fication. It's a globe-trotting, loot-hunting set of games for the PS3, following Indy-alike hero Nathan Drake on his trips to the likes of El Dorado, Shambala and the Iram of the Pillars. Along the way, Drake quips many a quip and shoots many a henchman. And it has a subject matter that Carnahan thinks could work well. “Archaeology today is in itself an antiquity, but that world has always fascinated me. Especially when you go to a museum today and wonder how a piece got there to begin with,” he tells Variety. “Plus, the property itself is so popular that it was hard to turn down an opportunity to work on it.”
But despite his clear excitement, he won't be able to direct it, as he's busily preparing to make Bad Boys 3 early next year. “In a perfect world I would love to do both, but right now, I’m only on board to write the script,” he says. Given the endless stalls on this one, he may yet get his chance, even if he's not available for a couple of years...