Talks about bringing in David O. Russell for the planned Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune movie have come to a close. Earlier this year the director who brought us the comedies Spanking the Monkey (1994) and Flirting With Disaster (1996) and I Heart Huckabees (2004) was in line for consideration of lead director but over the past few weeks negotiations have broken down.

Producers and the studio are starting over from scratch again as they have to find a new director (as well as a male and female lead) for the film that hasn’t even begun production yet. Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune follows Nathan Drake, a descendant of Sir Francis Drake on the chase for gold and fame by way of discovering El Dorado. The top selling Sony PlayStation 3 game mixes action and comedy in a vein familiar to the Indiana Jones movie line.

Currently, Russell has lined up a new project starring Vince Vaughn (Couples Retreat, The Wedding Crashers) and Chloe Moretz (Kick-Ass) titled Old St. Louis that tells the story of a travelling salesman (and absentee father) whose life takes a sudden change when his daughter enters his life. Russell’s latest project The Fighter (starring Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg) hits theaters this winter.

At one point, Sony had considered fast-tracking the movie for release next summer but this latest development for the ambitious title dashes hopes for a 2011 movie release.