Druckmann And Pascal On How The Last Of Us Changed For TV

The Last of Us is not the first adaptation from video game to film and it certainly won’t be the last. However, perhaps the Last of Us has been more suited than any other property for making this transition. Joel and Ellie’s story is an emotional and cinematic one that does not rely on player choice.

Ahead of the show’s premiere we spoke with some of the actors about the adaptation, as well as Neil Druckmann, co-creator of The Last of Us, who was heavily involved in writing the show and directed a few episodes.

Druckmann has experience directing actors. “There is a certain luxury we have in video games that when we capture a performance, we have every camera angle under the sun. We don’t have to worry about coverage because we have all the coverage in the world,” Druckmann said in a round-table interview about working in the show. “We can after-the-fact decide – the way that line was delivered? That’s going to be a close-up. How did they fight over there? It should be wide. What they’re wearing? Let’s try different outfits and we can figure that out after the fact. We can change the weather, we can change the setting – we can do all these things after the fact.”

It is much easier to plan for television. It is important to plan ahead, ensure everything runs smoothly, and then hope for the best. “What happens is you have all these different departments: the actors, the costumes – everything has to come together for this moment where you say, ‘Action!’ And you hold your breath and hope all the pieces kind of come together,” Druckmann says, “And usually they don’t the first time, so you make some adjustments and you say it again. And when it does work, it’s this high. It’s a thrill. You feel like you are performing a circus act. I get the addiction people might get to this process.”

The majority of work is done before the film and television shoots, rather than after. However, Druckmann found the entire process to be very familiar. “Giving art direction is giving art direction, except you’re doing it in real life instead of on a screen,” Druckmann says of both the surprising and unsurprising similarities. “Working with actors is working with actors. Writing it is a lot of the same conversations – just trying to make it authentic and honest.”

Druckmann said that he enjoys the creative process of making television, as well as the work of adapting his works. However, video games remain his favorite medium. “I love all forms of storytelling. At this point I’ve gotten to do a little bit in comics, a lot in video games, and a little bit in TV and I think there is always something to learn from all of them, and help improve all of them by having a better understanding,” Druckmann says. “My love for games will never go away, but this was a thrilling experience, as well.”

We’ve watched the early episodes of the show, and at least in the first few it seems like a faithful adaptation of the source material, but with additional context to establish the world and the chance to spend more time with characters we may have only met briefly in the game. The actors still have a lot of room for improvement despite the fact that they are trying to be as close as possible to the original game.

Pedro Pascal spoke to us about his role as Joel on the TV show. We were particularly interested in how he approaches the accent. It is pared back for the TV show compared to Troy Baker’s more southern-flavored voice. “I think it was more a matter of kind of composing a quality amongst many other ones. It was all of these different pieces that were part of a puzzle,” Pascal told us in a round-table discussion with the creators. “Joel’s from Austin, so a thick Texas accent, isn’t technically applicable. San Antonio is where I was born. When I was 2 years old, my family moved to San Antonio. There, I lived until the age of 12. It was more matter of playing with, what’s in my system already. What’s the sound that shapes the words that are on the page. It is a sound that refers to something we already know, but which is not from the games. Is there any music to it? A bit of a twang was definitely part of it.”

Last of UsThe show will begin airing on HBO January 15. The show will air on HBO starting January 15.