The Last of Us, Naughty Dog’s phenomenal hit game about two survivors in a post-apocalyptic America, is getting a two-hour long movie adaptation. However, the movie will stray from the game in some places.
The game’s creative director, Neil Druckmann, who is also writing the movie, said in an interview with MCV. “In two hours you can’t tell the same kind of story that you can in a game like The Last of Us, which is 15 hours. I’m in the middle of it now, and it’s been super difficult because there’s so much that happens in The Last of Us – even just in the cinematics – that can’t fit in a film, let alone all the gameplay in-between and dialogue.”
“A film works really well when it’s laser-focused, so the first part of it was like: well, what is this story really about? It’s clearly about Joel and Ellie. What are the most important beats that we can’t lose? Start with those, and cut everything else out.” continued Druckmann. “Some parts will be similar to the game and some parts will be quite different, but it’s kind of interesting in helping me understand this other medium and its strengths compared to video games.”
So what can we take from this? Well, with Druckmann penning the film, I don’t think fans of the game need to be too concerned – he isn’t going to want to butcher his own project, and clearly knows what he’s doing. It’s likely the cutscenes in the game will be the familiar sections (though they themselves were of an arguably filmic quality anyway), while the actual gameplay segments will be the parts that actually need filling in.
The Last of Us Remastered has just launched on the PS4. Here’s our review.
Originally published August 9, 2014. Updated April 12, 2018.
