The origin of Tom Holland starring in Sony Pictures’ upcoming “Uncharted” movie is rooted in a failed pitch for the James Bond franchise, the actor recently revealed.
Speaking with Total Film, Holland said that he came up with and pitched an idea for him to star in a young James Bond origin story movie for Sony. “I had a meeting, after or during ‘Spider-Man 2 [Far From Home],’ with Sony to pitch this idea of a young Bond film that I’d come up with,” Holland said. “It was the origin story of James Bond. It didn’t really make sense. It didn’t work. It was the dream of a young kid, and I don’t think the Bond estate were particularly interested.”
However, the pitch inspired Sony to rethink its adaptation of the popular video game franchise “Uncharted” and put Holland in the starring role. “The idea of a young Bond film sparked this idea, in turn, that you could do a Nathan Drake story as an origin story, rather than as an addition to the games. And that opened a conversation,” he said.
Sony began developing an adaptation of the adventure video game series “Uncharted” back in 2008, and directors ranging from David O. Russell to Shawn Levy were attached to the project over the years. While Mark Wahlberg was at various points attached to play the hero Nathan Drake, the actor switched over to the mentor role of Victor Sullivan when Holland became attached to play a young Drake in what will serve as an origin story for future installments.
The James Bond producers are famously protective over that franchise and recently revealed they won’t consider a TV adaptation, so it’s no surprise that Holland’s pitch didn’t exactly land.
“Uncharted,” directed by Ruben Fleischer, opens in theaters Feb. 18.
