Shadowing Practice: Becoming Nathan Drake | Uncharted Behind The Scenes - Learn English Speaking with Video
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56 sentences
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Oh, crap!
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Oh, God!
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I actually was originally attached to playing Nathan Drake, and then as various filmmakers went on and off the film, I was always kind of still hanging around,
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hoping to make the film.
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Then I got the call from Sony saying, hey, we're making the movie.
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So I was like, okay, great, who's the other guy?
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And they were like, Tom Holland.
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I said, what do you mean Tom Holland?
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I was shooting Spider -Man Homecoming in Atlanta, and I would be playing Uncharted 4.
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But it wasn't until two years later where the idea of doing an origin story for Nathan Drake kind of came up.
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A little young for a bartender, aren't you?
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A little old for prom, aren't you?
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Tom Holland immediately started in our minds to occupy the young Nathan Drake character right from the get -go, because Nathan Drake is a physical character.
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One of the great things about Tom, you couldn't find a better young Nathan Drake,
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and we watch him evolve over the course of the film into the Nathan Drake of the game.
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Oh, well, well, well, if it isn't the late, great, and formally employed Nathan.
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Well, at least you got the great part, right?
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There are elements in this film that are direct comparisons to the game.
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You know, like when I climb up the boat and jump across to the cannon, that's something that I added in because I love moments like that in the game.
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Copying certain ways he would jump from rock to rock
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or things like that that we love from the games we definitely have in our film.
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Yeah, the jump looked great.
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While we do certainly borrow things from the game franchise, whether it's the tone, the humor...
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You've got a great ass, Sully.
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For me, it was really important to distinguish our story from the games
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and show a different layer of it that we hadn't seen before.
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That's cool.
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That worked well.
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There's always been a trepidation of taking something that's
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so perfect like Uncharted as a video game
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and trying to adapt it to film But I think the approach
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that we've taken is coming up with an original story I
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think what it'll do is it'll satisfy the fans who love
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the franchise to be able to see Nathan Drake in a
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way They haven't seen in games The neat thing about working with Tom was
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that he's such an avid fan of the games
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and like a real way It's not just lip service like
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he's played every one of them He knows them backwards and forwards.
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So he had a level of commitment to the character and to the franchise that even exceeded my own.
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There's like an ancient room.
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He has dialed, he has to spin around.
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You're not gonna give up, do you?
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Watch out!
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Ha -ha!
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Whoo!
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We had the privilege of getting to actually work with Nolan North, who obviously is the guy that, you know, started this whole thing and kind of brought Nathan Drake to life to begin with.
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I obviously developed my own way in which Nathan Drake speaks.
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So when I met him, I was trying not to copy him because his voice is so recognizable.
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Casting Tom, I think, is great because he's got that charm.
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He's got the same enthusiasm as an actor as Nathan Drake has in adventuring, so it's a good, good recipe.
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For us, the partnership between Naughty Dog, Sony, and then our creatives on set was really instrumental to the success of the movie,
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and I'm delighted to say that that partnership was very harmonious.
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We wanted to make sure that we brought Nathan Drake to life in a new
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and refreshing way while maintaining what the fans love about him from the game.
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And I think when people see this movie, they will be blown away by what we've achieved.
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Oh, come on!
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Becoming Nathan Drake”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: Nathan, Drake, Tom, film, Holland. This video has 56 sentences and 663 words to shadow. The speech runs for 3:35. The speaker talks fast, about 185 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. Only 81% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| harmonious adjective | /hɑɹˈmoʊni.əs/ | Showing accord in feeling or action. |
| recognizable adjective | Able to be recognized. | |
| trepidation noun | /ˌtɹɛp.ɪˈdeɪ.ʃən/ | Anxiety over the uncertain future or possible ill-occurrence. |
| bartender noun | /ˈbɑɹˌtɛndɚ/ | One who tends a bar or pub; a person preparing and serving drinks at a bar. |
| avid adjective | /ˈæv.ɪd/ | Enthusiastic; keen; eager; showing great interest in something or desire to do something. |
| filmmaker noun | A producer or director of films/movies. | |
| refresh verb | /ɹɪˈfɹɛʃ/ | To renew or revitalize. |
| backward adjective | /ˈbækwɚd/ | Situated toward or at the rear of something. |
| attach verb | /əˈtæt͡ʃ/ | To fasten, to join to (literally and figuratively). |
| prom noun | /pɹɑm/ | A promenade concert. |
| evolve verb | /ɪˈvɑlv/ | To move (something) in regular procession through a system. |
| humour noun | /ˈhjuːmɚ/ | The quality of being amusing, comical, funny. |
| distinguish verb | /dɪˈstɪŋ.ɡwɪʃ/ | To recognize someone or something as different from others based on its characteristics. |
| exceed verb | /ɪkˈsiːd/ | To be larger, greater than (something). |
| occupy verb | /ˈɑkjəpaɪ/ | To fill. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| blow away verb | To cause to go away by blowing, or by wind. |
| come up verb | To emerge or become known, especially unexpectedly. |
| come up with verb | To manage to produce, deliver, or present (something) by inventing, creating, thinking of, or obtaining it. |
| give up verb | To surrender (someone or something); to inform on (someone). |
| hang around verb | To stay, linger, or loiter. |
| watch out | Used to warn someone of an imminent danger. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- A little young for a bartender, aren't you?
- A little old for prom, aren't you?
- You're not gonna give up, do you?
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 16 contractions and reduced forms, such as aren't, it'll, we've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: trepidation /ˌtɹɛp.ɪˈdeɪ.ʃən/, refresh /ɹɪˈfɹɛʃ/, distinguish /dɪˈstɪŋ.ɡwɪʃ/
- Long words — get the stress right: harmonious /hɑɹˈmoʊni.əs/, trepidation /ˌtɹɛp.ɪˈdeɪ.ʃən/, instrumental /ɪnstɹəˈmɛntəl/, enthusiasm /ɪnˈθuziæzəm/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like harmonious, recognizable, trepidation.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.