Because of Mark Wahlberg, Tom Holland worked harder on Uncharted

Because of Mark Walberg, Tom Holland worked harder than ever for Uncharted. After numerous delays, Sony will finally release Uncharted next February.

For years, a cinematic adaptation of the popular video game franchise has been in the works, with a number of directors and screenwriters attempting to bring the plot to life.

Finally, Uncharted began filming last year following a final delay due to the coronavirus outbreak, and it is set to hit theatres in early 2022. Holland, who is a fan favorite as Spider-Man, will play adventurer Nathan Drake, while Walberg will play his mentor Sully.

Tom Holland worked harder

Uncharted the film serves as a sort of prequel to the video games, following a younger Drake on his first treasure quest with Sully, sans mustache. The film stars Tati Gabrielle, Sophia Ali, and Antonio Banderas as the primary villain, and is directed by Ruben Fleischer. Last month, the first Uncharted trailer debuted, giving fans a glimpse of some of the film’s action sequences, which Holland has described as “some of the largest he’s ever done.”

One may imagine Holland used his upcoming stunt work as motivation for his Uncharted training, but it turns out something else was more effective. Holland acknowledged to GQ in a recent profile that it was witnessing Walberg on set that motivated his hard training regimen.

He stated–

“I saw him walk onto set in his costume and I was like, ‘Fuck, he is twice my size.’ After the [COVID] lockdown, we had five months off, and I just ate and trained and ate and trained. When I got back on set, the first thing he said to me was, ‘Wow, somebody has been training.’”

Holland provided a glimpse of his physical transformation last year, just before filming on Uncharted began and hinted to the fact that it was brought on by Walberg.

One may question if the two actors had trained together, but Holland was clearly just trying to keep up with his co-star in terms of physical ability.

Holland is no stranger to getting in shape for a part, thanks to his experience in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but he pushed things to a new level for Uncharted. Fans who questioned whether Holland was the ideal choice for the role of Drake may acquire some newfound respect as a result of this.