Tom Holland’s Failed Pitch for a James Bond Origin Story Turned into ‘Uncharted’
With three massively successful “Spider-Man” movies in the can, Tom Holland certainly has the eyes and ears of Sony. On the heels of the studio’s billion-plus box office take for “No Way Home” so far, Holland will next be releasing the action adventure “Uncharted” on February 11. As revealed in a feature interview in Total Film (via Games Radar), Holland said it was his pitch for a James Bond origin story that ultimately sparked conversations about the new film, a jungle-spanning adventure co-starring Mark Wahlberg and Antonio Banderas.
“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.”
A James Bond origin story has yet to be made among the latest set of Bond films, though Daniel Craig just finished out his run as 007 in “No Time to Die.”
Still, while the James Bond idea didn’t pan out, Holland said there was something there within those conversations. “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.”
Nathan Drake is the fictional protagonist of the “Uncharted” universe, which began as a video game series developed by Naughty Dog. His appearance and personality as a good-natured treasure hunter was inspired by a combination of Johnny Knoxville, Harrison Ford, and pulp magazine heroes.
Holland has been busy on the press tour for both “Spider-Man” and “Uncharted” back to back. Recently, he took Martin Scorsese to task for decrying Marvel movies as real art. “You can ask [Martin] Scorsese ‘Would you want to make a Marvel movie?’ But he doesn’t know what it’s like because he’s never made one,” Holland told THR. “I’ve made Marvel movies and I’ve also made movies that have been in the conversation in the world of the Oscars, and the only difference, really, is one is much more expensive than the other. But the way I break down the character, the way the director etches out the arc of the story and characters — it’s all the same, just done on a different scale. So I do think they’re real art.”
“Uncharted” is directed by “Zombieland” filmmaker Ruben Fleischer.
