For those of you who cringed at director David O. Russell's plans for the movie adaptation of the "Uncharted" video game ... you need cringe no more.
A new director has been put in charge of the project and says he is "beginning from scratch and going back to the videogame."
Neil Burger (director of "The Illusionist" and "Limitless") is the new man on the job, and he spoke with Crave Online about the project and about how he intends to draw more heavily on the game than Russell apparently planned to.
"It’s really one of the most cinematic videogames, and one that has really developed characters," Burger said. "So, you know, there’s a lot of cool, really intense things that, if they work for the film’s story, I want to use them."
Russell — who directed the Academy Award-winning film "The Fighter" — had indicated that he planned to have Mark Wahlberg play leading man Nathan Drake, and he talked up a story that seemed to grow increasingly distant from the game itself. According to Variety, Russell left the project in May over creative differences with Sony.
All of this is good news for the many fans who think actor and beloved nerd icon Nathan Fillion ("Firefly," "Castle") should have a shot at the leading role. Burger says he is aware of the Internet campaign on Fillion's behalf and thinks he's a good actor. Still, he's not prepared to start casting just yet.
"Where we are right now is that we’re literally starting from scratch on the screenplay, and I think that once we finish it, then we’ll go to actors and see who’s available and who’s right for the parts," he said.
Still, there's hope.
(Thanks to Crave for the heads up.)
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Winda Benedetti writes about games for msnbc.com. You can follow her tweets about games and other things right here on Twitter or join her in the stream right here on Google+.