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I am pretty sure some of you guys know at least some of these things, but something here might be new to you.

Emily Rose didn’t initially get the part of Elena Fisher

But thank goodness she did in the end, right? When Emily first auditioned, although she wasn’t selected, she was asked to come back and read lines for other auditions; for other characters. So when Nolan North was auditioning for the part of Nathan, Elena was filling in the lines, and Amy was so impressed that she asked Emily to audition for Elena once again. And this time she won the role.

There are several ‘nods’ to other Naughty Dog games throughout Uncharted

For example, in the very first scene of Drake’s Fortune, Nathan and Elena have been scuba diving for Sir Francis Drake’s coffin. The wetsuits they are wearing bear the name ‘OTTSEL’ which is the species of fictional mammal that Daxter is turned into. And the Strange Relic that you win a trophy for finding is in fact a Precursor Orb; one of the most important items in the world of Jak and Daxter. The later games are littered with references to earlier games in the series – names of hotels, shops etc. And some of the developers even get their faces in the games on wanted posters, newspapers and paintings in the château in France. In the pub in Uncharted 3; Drake’s Deception we see the face of Josh Scherr on a newspaper, which also carries an Easter Egg for The Last of Us*. (I once asked Josh why this picture was used, and I seem to recall his response was he had no idea.) This tradition is continued in The Last of Us, in which we see a few references to both Jak & Daxter and Uncharted.

*Incidentally, that newspaper was meant to have been removed, but they kinda forgot about it. Luckily it didn’t blow their reveal of The Last of Us, although people did have suspicions.

Charlie Cutter was in Uncharted 3; Drake’s Deception more than was initially planned

Graham McTavish was always going to play the part of Charlie Cutter, (he was Zoran Lazarevic in Uncharted 2, you know), but he was also cast to play Dwalin in The Hobbit. Initially it was not certain that he would have enough time in LA to be in the story beyond London, but Peter Jackson had to delay the start of filming as he had surgery. So Graham was free for longer than previously thought, so he accompanied Chloe to Syria. This also had the knock on effect of not only giving Nate and Sully ‘alone-time’ in France, but also it gave us the chance to spend some more time with a fantastic character. Goodness, I hope he makes into Uncharted 4.

The ‘MacDuff’ exchange in Uncharted 3; Drake’s Deception was part scripted, part improv and part insult

One of the very best exchanges of dialogue, in my humble opinion, takes place in the Underground of London.

Sully; [to Charlie] Lead on, MacDuff.

Charlie; It’s ‘lay on, MacDuff’.

Nathan; Who the hell is MacDuff?

Charlie; Is there no bottom to your ignorance?

Amy Hennig wrote the initial exchange between Charlie and Sully, which Nolan North added to to make the other actors laugh. However, at a different VO session, Graham McTavish added the final line, but it was directed at Nolan North, not Nathan Drake. But they were recording, and Amy Hennig chose to leave it in as it added another layer to the characters of Nathan and Charlie and their relationship.

 There are many disused stations on the London Underground. North Atwood is not one of them.

A long time ago we asked Amy Hennig why they didn’t feature a real station, and this was her (as yet unpublished) reply;

We try to avoid being *too* specific with the places we visit.  Like, I obviously don’t mind naming the country, or even the city per se, but I don’t want to nail it down too specifically.  Partly because I want the freedom to invent our own version of reality, partly to avoid being called out on inaccuracies, or to avoid unintentionally offending anyone.

For instance, we didn’t name our city in Yemen, just said that we were in Yemen… same with the fortress in Syria, or our precise location in France.  Ditto for U2.  Obviously we’re drawing our inspiration from pretty specific places, but then we deviate from the reference and invent our own version of it.  Gives us more creative freedom.

If you are interested in abandoned tube stations, there are many excellent resources on the web.

It took 30 days on the soundstage to record everything for Uncharted 2

 We spent over 30 days on our soundstage recording motion capture performances which resulted in over 90 minutes of cinematics — along with a ton of in-game animations.

There are a few more facts, given by Community Guy, Arne Meyer here at PlayStation Lifestyle.

Desert Nate doesn’t wear the ring!

Despite all the promo pictures containing Nate in the desert with Sir Francis Drake’s ring sticking out of the front of his shirt, in Uncharted 3; Drake’s Deception, the ring is never worn with the desert clothes. Spoiler…. Nate has the ring taken from him in Yemen, before he goes all Rambo on the world, and he never gets it back. Katherine Marlowe offers it to him, but it is sucked away in the sinkhole that consumes Iram of the Pillars.

Whether the inclusion of the ring in the promo art is deliberate, in an attempt to throw us off course in terms of the story; whether the art was done prior to the finalising of the story; or whether it was a flat out mistake I don’t know. I suspect it was the second option, but it has lead to a whole host of slightly incorrect cosplaying, and a twitchy eye for a pedant like me.