'Uncharted': Why David O. Russell Left Columbia's Video Game Adaptation

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David O. Russell

Correction: Paramount was erroneously cited as the studio behind 'Uncharted.'

NEW YORK --  David O. Russell said here Monday that Columbia video game adaptation Uncharted simply didn't work out for him due to creative differences.

"What can I say, I waded into those waters of the tentpole movies, and I wrote what I wanted to write, and I feel like I wrote my vision," Russell told The Hollywood Reporter. "And the rest is up to those guys. I can't pick for those guys. I don't know what they want to do over there. It's just a parting of the ways creatively."

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The Oscar-nominated director of The Fighter spoke to THR at Monday night's Ghetto Film School 7th annual spring benefit. He was given the GFS Champion Award for his contribution and continued support to the organization that has awarded more than $320,000 in college scholarships and educational support in the past 11 years.

Asked about his next film, Russell reiterated that he is hoping to make The Silverlining's Playbook with Mark Wahlberg and also has two other projects in the works. "I was just speaking to Mr. [Robert] De Niro about that today," he said about Playbook.

He described the project as "a drama with comedy in it" and added: "It's like The Fighter - very emotional, very intense, but also probably more comedy in it. It's about a family dealing with a lot of issue - stuff I do good, that's in my wheelhouse."

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Russell also handed in a a romantic Western project called Two Guns, which, he said, "is really, really good, and I just finished writing that."

Plus, he said, he has a project with Lorenzo di Bonaventura called Mission. "It's very cool," Russell told THR. "It's sort of an action-drama."

He didn't predict though which project will move first. "We'll see what happens," Russell said. "You've got to see which movie goes out of the gate first."

The Ghetto Film School event at the Standard Hotel in Manhattan's Meatpacking District also drew other stars, including benefit host Soledad O'Brien from CNN, Ghetto Fim School founder Joe Hall and chairman Greg D'Alba, executive vp and COO of CNN, as well as scholarship presenters Blake Lively, Melissa Leo, Marisa Tomei, Sanaa Lathan, Anna Faris, CNN's Alina Cho, New York Education Chancellor Dennis Walcott, Luis Guzman and Sundance Channel and IFC president Evan Shapiro.

Asked about his nine-year involvement with the Ghetto Film School, Russell said: "To have a high school for cinema that is public is amazing," he said. "They have a chance to grow into filmmakers, they have a chance to grow into editors, producers or script supervisors."

Added Russell: "The best part of speaking to these kids is that when you give, you get. I get more from them than I give."