The Last Of Us Movie: 9 Crucial Things They Need To Get Right
8. Casting
As Warner Brothers know from dropping the Jesse Eisen-bomb; initial casting announcements are subject to being torn to shreds, only to be piled together as kindling for another boot to stomp through what's left. One of the biggest things to nail upfront is the quashing of any unwanted casting rumours, as many a gamer remembers the utter disgust at Mark Wahlberg being cast as Nathan Drake in the original pitch for that movie, only for him to take on Max Payne instead. Why can't Sony just get Nathan Fillion and be done with it? First up it's important to remember that anyone taking on the grizzled features of the cold-yet-somewhat loveable Joel, or the pugnacious foulmouthed-firecracker that is Ellie need to be able to convey incredibly powerful emotions stemming from an on-screen chemistry that has to be handled just right. Said chemistry was built up over many hours in the company of both characters, and we can assume under the banner of a 'video game movie' that it won't be some sprawling three-hour tension builder. Therefore meaningful relationships will have to lean more on feeding the audience enough to connect the dots themselves, conveying Joel and Ellie's relationship from thrown-together essentialist-survivors, to a loving father-daughter-carer combo. In our mock-up cover photo we've gone for Josh Brolin (something later confirmed as a solid choice by Joel's voice actor Troy Baker expressing the same sentiment), as there's just something so weighty and weathered about his features, that makes him perfect to convey Joel's earlier days as a hardy contractor, yet with enough emotion behind his eyes to crank up the intensity for any of the game's more dramatic and memorable scenes. That being said he's one of many that could bring the requisite power to the role, and that's the real beauty of this character; depending on your own interpretation of things such as the ending, or how you handled Joel around Ellie in combat, you may opt more for something like Hugh Jackman's incredibly ferocious performance in last year's Prisoners. With any luck Sony won't do this whole 'unexpected casting' thing though, and we can avoid a bearded Michael Cera-fronted zombie-apocalypse.
