‘Uncharted’ Director Ruben Fleischer On Hope For Sequel As Pic Clocks $139M WW, Influence Of John Landis As “Unheralded Filmmaker” – Hero Nation Podcast
21.02.2022 - 20:27
/ deadline.com
For Ruben Fleischer, Uncharted, was two years in the making, however, the feature take of the Sony PlayStation game has been in the works since 2008 with several directors attached, i.e. David O. Russell, Neil Burger, Travis Knight and Shawn Levy to name a few.
It just so happened that Fleischer’s schedule timed out right in regards to taking the reigns, as he explains on this morning’s Presidents Day edition of the Hero Nation podcast. The opportunity arrived at just the right time, a few months after Zombieland: Double Tap. In fact, Fleischer only had a week’s break in between the shoots of Venom and Zombieland 2.
We talk with the Zombieland franchise and Venom filmmaker about the tricks to translating a popular videogame to the big screen, a feat often laced with peril for any studio or director. Listen to our conversation below:
“I can’t help but hope we’ll be doing a sequel,” Fleischer tells us, “I think Sony is appropriately superstitious and they don’t plan things without knowing how they’ll be received.”
After Uncharted rose above its $30M Presidents Day domestic projections for a $51M 4-day haul, for a total running global cume of $139M, odds are a sequel is in stone, and if so, count Fleischer in.
Speaking to us about his inspiration from classic 1980s films, and such filmmakers as George Lucas, Robert Zemeckis, Steven Spielberg, and Martin Brest, Fleischer also doted on the decade’s other blockbuster director John Landis.
“I think he’s probably the most unheralded filmmaker,” says the Uncharted director and EP, rattling off Landis’ resume which includes Animal House, Blues Brothers, Trading Place, Coming to America, An American Werewolf in London and more. And let’s not forget Michael Jackson’s Thriller video.
“He’s