While Tom Holland has become well-known for playing the social awkwardness of Spider-Man alter ego Peter Parker to nerdy perfection, the actor will soon face a new challenge when he steps into the role of Uncharted lead Nathan Drake. Namely, playing "the cool guy." Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Holland aired some of his concerns over playing such a different character to both what he is used to and what the audience is used to seeing.
"One of the most difficult things about this character was playing 'the cool guy.’ Historically, I've always sort of played the outsider who doesn't particularly have many friends and isn't the cool kid. So Nathan Drake is the complete opposite, and that was something that took me a while to get used to and feel comfortable doing."
Tom Holland has demonstrated his affinity for playing, well, the opposite of a cool guy throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the likes of Spider-Man: Homecoming and the recent Spider-Man: No Way Home, as well as in such non-Marvel fare as Pixar's Onward and Netflix’s The Devil All the Time. So well-suited to such roles is Holland that, despite the release of several trailers, some fans of Uncharted are still having a difficult time imagining the actor as the aspiring adventurer Nathan Drake. Hopefully, Holland will prove his coolness with aplomb come February 11.
Playing it Cool Was Not the Only Challenge for Tom Holland While Filming Uncharted
Much like the rest of the movie-making industry, Uncharted suffered a series of delays thanks to the drama of the real world, and this proved to be another challenge for Tom Holland aside from learning to play it cool.
“Naturally, with a movie of this size that is as ambitious as it is, we had to push back a few times," Holland said. "We probably had two weeks left of shooting and then we had three weeks left of shooting and then pushed it so we had four weeks left of shooting. And I knew what a monster of a film that Spider-Man was going to be, so I was very cautious about not running out of steam. So it was tough. It was a tough nine months' worth of work, but obviously, with the success of Spider-Man, it was incredibly worth it. And with the excitement and hype that Uncharted is getting, it seems like both were very, very worthwhile."
Based on the video game franchise of the same name, Uncharted will introduce audiences to Nathan Drake and his partner Victor "Sully" Sullivan, who must go up against a wealthy, ruthless treasure hunter and his mercenaries in order to claim a lost fortune in gold from the voyages of Magellan, while also tracking clues that may lead to Drake's long-lost brother, Sam.
Directed by Ruben Fleischer from a screenplay by Rafe Lee Judkins, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, Uncharted stars Tom Holland as Nathan Drake and Mark Wahlberg as his mentor Victor Sullivan, with Sophia Ali, Tati Gabrielle and Antonio Banderas in supporting roles. Uncharted is scheduled to be theatrically released by Sony Pictures Releasing on February 18 in the United States.