(upbeat tense music)
- [Nate] There are places out there
you can't find on any map.
They're not gone.
(Nate screams)
They're just lost.
(upbeat tense music continues)
- Put 'em down boys.
(Nate chuckles)
- What is that thing on your face?
- Puberty's right around the corner, kid.
You can you grow your own.
- I don't think you guys get enough credit
for how funny you are.
Like, you know what I mean-
You are like a truly funny guy
who's incredibly capable at improv.
And so for me,
it was thrilling just to get you two
going back and forth and the banter,
and so much of that, as I recall,
was improvised,
like of you guys just giving each other
crap on the day.
It develops into this real bond
and this true reliance on each other,
and appreciation, ultimately.
- [Tom] It was a lot of fun.
It was challenging.
It was daunting having the confidence
to improvise and put yourself
in a vulnerable position.
'Cause anytime you improvise
and it's not funny,
it's horrible.
Like it's a horrible thing
when the director comes in and says,
"That line is not working
and just say what it says on the page."
But it was a lot of fun.
And we very quickly got into a rhythm
in which we knew how to push each other's buttons
and how to bring out the best in each other
from a humor point of view.
- It's cool to hear
that your process of improvising
and pushing each other's buttons
sounds so similar to how
Nolan North and Richard McGonagle worked
like Nate and Sully in the game.
- That's brilliant.
- So much of their banter was improvised.
- Oh, really?
(Sully grunts)
- You got a great, Sully.
- Thanks.
- Here at Naughty Dog, historically,
has been a very animation driven company
but more like hand drawn animation
or hand keyed animation.
So we created Crash Bandicoot,
for example,
and then Jack and Daxter
got a bit more realistic
but still very stylized,
and with uncharted it was the first time
we felt like we had the technology
and the resources to tell a story
with human characters.
Our approach when we started this franchise
was like,
how do we capture the feel of a summer blockbuster
on the controller?
- Yeah.
- So we would just study,
like, Indiana Jones,
Die Hard, Mission Impossible,
just all these like kind of summer blockbusters.
We'd be like, how do we kind of rep-
And now it's like the reverse happening,
it's like you guys are now looking at the game
and like,
how do we reverse back into cinema?
(helicopter roaring)
(intense music)
- [Asad] You know what I was really impressed with,
was the fight sequences on the boats,
because they were-
What was really impressive is that
you capture the idea of how
Nate and Sully would fight.
It's a brawl.
It's not like a really coordinated,
well choreographed fight.
It just felt like a brawl,
which was really great to see.
- [Tom] It's a fine line because
you want to give the audiences
that exciting hand-to-hand combat.
Which is quick and exciting and intricate.
But then again,
Nate is not a trained fighter.
He's just someone who is incredibly capable.
There are moves in the film
which are stolen straight from the games.
You know, when you like get caught up?
You can like elbow them over the top
and then step under.
So there's stuff like that,
that we stole,
but the balance of trying to make it look really cool
while also being believable
was tricky.
And there's some creative freedom that we took.
- [Ruben] Yeah.
I think that that hand-to-hand stuff
is really, really cool,
but I mean,
it's interesting or at least worth talking about
the sequence out of the back of the plane,
'cause that's the one that's truly
where you just wanted to take a moment
that everyone would recognize from the games
and then try and bring it life.
- [Neil] It also-
'Cause I've been thinking about that sequence.
It's one of the most iconic from the Uncharted series.
I remember,
I was sitting next to Kurt Margenau
who was the designer in that sequence
and seeing it come to life
and little bits of mocap as they cut,
adding it more and more,
and by the time they were finished
it was so thrilling
and right when Nate hits that crate
and spins in the air,
I've never seen anything like that in the video game
and it's playable.
And I was like,
"Oh, you guys' challenge
is to remove the interactive part.
Now you gotta make it even more exciting visually
and kudos to you,
you've pulled it off."
You are gripping the seat
when you're watching that sequence.
Just the audio design of it.
Just like the way you hear wind
and the way the music cuts in and out.
It's brilliantly filmed.
- I remember us designing that sequence
and putting our heads together
and Scott Rogers did an incredible job
of figuring out the physics and logistics
of how we were gonna shoot that sequence.
And that's the hardest thing I've ever done on-screen.
(Nate struggling)
(Nate screaming)
(heavy winds blowing)
- [Asad] Shots like that are normally,
probably done on blue screen
or green screen.
The fact that you were using-
I think there was these big robot arms
that they used, probably car manufacturers.
The whole cargo plane scenes,
the crates moving.
I thought that was really impressive,
this is practically shot.
- Yeah.
It really scared me
because those Kuka arms
would have different levels.
So like some of them would rock like this,
or some of them would spin
and sometimes I would be attached to it-
I wasn't attached.
I was on wires and I had to hang on
and then they would spin it.
And like you do the first take
and you'd be at level four.
And you're like,
"I reckon I can go to level five",
and you do level five.
And you're like, "That wasn't that much harder.
Do you know what?
Do level eight."
And then they go and you are all of a sudden
hanging on for dear life.
And obviously the faster you spin,
the further you fly when you let go.
So then you're like,
really holding on 'cause you're afraid
of flying into a crane or something.
But you always know something's gonna be tough
when you see your double,
who's tested the stunt all morning
and they're like,
(everyone laughs)
"Good luck, mate!
Have a good day!"
- [Asad] It's not gonna be a good day.
Oh my gosh.
- [Ruben] I wanna recreate from the games,
and if we're lucky enough
to get to make another one of these,
the car chase,
I think the greatest car chase ever filmed
in any movie or anything was in
which Uncharted?
- [Everyone] Uncharted 4.
- When you're crashing through
all those peoples houses?
- [Ruben] You're jumping from car to car.
Like I've done plenty of car chases in my career
but that car chase is-
- [Tom] Yeah.
I remember playing that game,
shooting Spider-Man 1,
And them being like,
"You're not even on set",
and we're like,
"No, we doing this car chase,
leave us alone."
- [Neil] I remember that car chase
we kept like one-upping ourselves.
Okay, what if we add like a moment
where you jump and now you start driving
the Jeep next to it.
And then like,
what if Sam, the brother shows up,
and like now you jump on a motorcycle
and you're being chased by-
And we just kept going more and more
'cause we knew that might be our last bite
of the apple with Uncharted 4,
so this has to be the best set piece
we've ever made.
- [Ruben] Yeah.
I'm gunning for that one.
(car crashing)
- Maybe you can talk a little bit about
your contribution 'cause I want to give you credit
because so many of the moments,
great moments in the film
were things that you said,
we staged or rehearse it or whatever,
and you're like,
"Yeah, it's good
but we gotta make it better."
- [Tom] I just wanted to satisfy
the fans of the games.
Like there's even a moment,
I know it's not in the film,
but there was a moment where
Nate first gets into the boat
and he finds a note from Magellan.
And when I play these video games,
I like to be the person that explores everything.
I find every piece of paper and I read everything
and I like to know the whole thing.
And I always used to really love
the way that he would turn the paper over.
So I had you, I was like,
you need to do a shot over my shoulder
and just get me doing that.
- [Asad] That's great.
- And then putting it down again
and you were like, "Why?"
I was like,
"No, no, no,
that's what you do in the game.
Like that's a big part of the game."
And then I don't think it's in there
'cause it's just slow-
But it's just minor details like that for me.
- [Ruben] It will be a deleted scene in the film
for all the guys watching-
- That moment in that ship
where you see Nate in his outfit
like in his kind of familiar costume
and he's got the holster
and you hear Nate's theme playing
like as just a fan,
not even someone that worked on it,
I got the hairs in the back of my neck
standing up to that in that moment.
(dramatic music)
- [Asad] Obviously you worked
on some big existing franchises,
obviously, Spider-Man and now with Uncharted.
So how do you sort of tow that line between
trying to meet the expectation of fans
view of that character
versus trying to bring your own spin?
- It's interesting.
You have to kind of be unapologetic.
You know, you can't do it for other people
because otherwise you'll end up doing it
for the wrong reasons.
You know,
I was adamant that I would pay respects
and maintain the heart and soul of the character
to bring this refreshing version of this character,
that we all know and love,
to life.
So I try not to think about
the ramifications of changing stuff.
Because then you just are gonna do
a complete replica.
- It's an impression.
- It an impression.
Like if he wanted me to,
I could have gone away with Rick
and taken the time and learn
how to do Nolan's voice
and I could have figured it out,
but I'm not Nolan North.
That's not who I am.
And so I wanted to bring
what Tom Holland would bring to the character.
So you have to just be unapologetic
and trust that your instincts are right.
- Yeah, I think, just generally,
when you're adapting material
or at least my approach
with both Venom and Uncharted
was like,
it works as a comic book
or it works as a video game
but ultimately we're making a movie
so it has to work as a movie
and we're not just trying to recreate
what's already been done.
We have to make our own.
And while we have to be faithful
to the source material
we can't be faithful to a fault
where we're compromising the the success
of what we're trying to do,
which is the film.
(intense upbeat music)
(heavy footsteps)
(Nate screams)
- [Tom] It's one of those things
where I'm really excited
to show my friends and family this movie,
because as an actor,
all of my friends are carpenters
or like people the real world.
And when you try and say to them like,
"I made this movie and it nearly broke me",
they're like,
"I don't understand,
you do make-believe for a living."
So I'm really, really excited to share this movie
with my friends and family.
- It makes me think a lot about
when ww were making Uncharted 4
and really diving into
who Nathan Drake is,
and like he's trying to find his purpose in life
and he keeps finding these treasures
and it's not satisfying
to the degree that he imagined it should be.
And to me, that was always a parallel
to like the work that we do as artists,
whether it's a game or a movie,
you just pour your heart into it,
but there's always like some other component
that has to be there which is
sharing it with your friends or your family
and finding that balance.
- [Ruben] Getting to make this movie for me
was literally a dream come true,
just 'cause it's my favorite genre
and I'd walk around these sets
and just couldn't imagine that this was my job
and that I was lucky enough to do it.
Every aspect of it was a dream come true.
So I completely relate to that feeling
of greatness from small beginnings.
'Cause you know,
you sit there watching a movie as a kid
and then getting to actually make something
to the same effect.
Like it's pretty special.
(intense music)
- See you in hell, kid.
- [Nate] Whoo!
(Nate and Sam laughs)