Tom Holland wanted to build on Nolan North’s legendary Uncharted work

Iconic video game characters are often tied to the voice actors that perform them, and Nolan North’s performance as Nathan Drake in the Uncharted franchise might be one of the strongest bonds. North has voiced the character since the first game in 2007, and Drake’s trademark sarcasm is just as much a product of North’s signature performance as the series’ great writing. The star of the show is actually North. UnchartedFilm, Tom Holland believes so.

Talk to Polygon Uncharted director Ruben Fleischer explained how important North’s performance was for the movie, how the voice actor inspired Holland, and what it was like to have the original Nathan Drake on set for the movie.

“Tom, as a huge fan of the games, was really trying to harness the spirit of Nathan Drake that Nolan was responsible for,” Fleischer said. “At the same time, he wasn’t trying to do a Nolan North impression. He wanted to make the character his own.”

Fleischer says that one thing makes Uncharted special is how they blend treasure hunting and globe trotting, with humor and jokes. It was like an action movie, Fleischer said. Pirates of the CaribbeanOder National Treasure. But while those movies served as inspiration, it was North that provided the blueprint for the movie’s comedy.

“He’s an incredible improviser. He has great instincts,” said Fleischer. “Having Nolan on set was such an incredible experience because he was so generous and excited for this version of the character and telling of the story.”

A photo North shared on Twitter showed that fans were aware of his time spent on set. Uncharted Holland. It turned out, however that this was more than a brief stop.

“He and Tom had a great relationship and filming together was super fun. It was very memorable day in the south of Spain,” said Fleischer. “I think that there was this kind of passing the torch feeling. Observing the two of them together […]Nolan seemed to have handled Nolan’s character in the videogame version. […] and Tom would be responsible for the film adaptation of the character.”