La Ron S. Readus
patreon
The Last of Us: Who I Would Cast As Ellie (VIDEO SCRIPT)
🕑 Added 2020-03-09 20:00:02 +0000 UTC
Ever since the news broke, I’ve just been hearing people repeat the question Who Should Play Ellie? Who Should Play Ellie? Who Should Play Ellie? Well, I have a couple of people in mind...
______
Readers, I think it's safe to say that with the success of Detective Pikachu, Sonic the Hedgehog, and the Tomb Raider reboot getting a sequel, we’ve finally reached the era of...good live-action video game adaptations.
Ah man, I hope I didn’t jynx it by saying that out loud.
/And I say that because on March the 5th 2020, it was revealed that HBO is working with Sony and the PlayStation video game developer Naughty Dog to turn their IP The Last of Us into a television series, bringing on board Chernobyl writer Craig Mazin on board to pen the season./
Now despite the Uncharted movie that has Tom Holland attached to it finally getting worked on despite constantly going in and out of Development Hell, this show will be under the PlayStation Productions initiative I talked about in a previous video I made on the matter
And while Uncharted definitely still counts as one of the first projects to come from the initial announcement, I was actually quite surprised to hear that live-action work on The Last of Us was gonna start so quickly.
Not surprised that it’s going to be a television show, though; I honestly believe that’s the perfect medium for it. Especially if you take into consideration shows like The Walking Dead still holding a strong audience
And you can only imagine how the INTERNET reacted when the announcement was made. Especially when it was revealed in the announcement tweet that Neil Druckmann -- the writer and director of both games -- is going to be co-writing the series WITH Craig Mazin
Then once everyone was assured that at least the writing on the future show was in good hands, the internet pretty much unleashed their fancasts of Joel and Ellie, within...seconds.
The most popular one being in the form of THIS picture, in which I saw it and went:
*sighs* No.
And that’s more specifically in regards to Nicolaj Coster-Waldau. I'm so tired of seeing his face.
Yes, I know he's an obvious choice for HBO because Game of Thrones, but his literal presence in anything he's in just sucks the energy out of me.
And I say that as an individual who was forced to watch Gods of Egypt against his will; I don't want him near anything I enjoy off pure osmosis alone.
It's a shame that it took the existence of one show and a horribly white-washed fantasy movie for me to be absolutely fine with never seeing an actor's face for as long as I live and breathe, but we here now.
So just accept the fact that you need to pay Josh Brolin whatever he wants. And to be honest, you should’ve realized that this was gonna be a thing the moment you bought the rights.
You knew what this was, is what I’m saying.
As far as Kaitlyn Dever as Ellie... I'd...honestly have something to say about it if I knew who she was.
No shade to her; she could be the perfect choice for Ellie acting-wise. But from what I see, she looks like she's more suited to play 19 year old Ellie that'll be present in The Last of Us Part 2.
/But according to Hollywood Reporter's exclusive on the announcement, the first season will be based on the story for the first game, in which Ellie was 14./
(Checks) Oh yeah, no. Kaityln's like, 23. That’s a stretch and a half, right there...
So while Dever is DEFINITELY old enough to portray 19 year old Ellie from part 2, we have to look for an actress that can not only act
But is also age-appropriate to the story of part 1
Has the ability to visually resemble Ellie at 14
And can transition to Ellie at 19 whenever they decide to adapt part 2.
And as far as I know, only 2 actresses come to mind if this collab between HBO and Sony doesn't take any creative liberties with the story they're trying to adapt.
The first one I have in mind is Dafne Keen
At the time of this recording, Keen is 15 years old
And not only are there visual similarities between her and Ellie from Part 1, but there are even more that show that she’ll resemble the way Ellie is when she’s 19 if HBO ever adapts the story for Part 2 later on down the line
And then there’s the factor of whether she’s able to properly portray 14-year old Ellie, and I’m absolutely sure her current fan-favorite roles proves that she can.
/The way she plays Lyra on the HBO/BBC series His Dark Materials shows that she’s capable of accurately depicting Ellie’s sense of wonder, fear and anxiety that’s displayed over the course of the first game./
/And while her portrayal of Laura in Logan is pretty much her audition tape for the show -- especially when Ellie becomes the main character in whatever season they use the story for Part 2 in -- the bonding moments between her and Logan also matter regarding the genesis of Ellie’s development shown in the first game./
And that makes this choice a bit tougher. Because I came to my second choice for the role -- Millie Bobby Brown -- for the exact same reasoning.
/Millie’s depiction of Eleven over the course of Stranger Things -- both in her badassness and her naivete -- makes her a prime fit for the role in my opinion, and shows that she can grow with the role in a way that’ll eventually match with the character’s development in the video game series. Especially if you factor in her relationship with Hopper/
But what initially made me think that she would be a good and faithful 14 year old Ellie wasn’t her role in Stranger Things. It was her role in Godzilla King of the Monsters
/Her as Madison gave off Ellie from Last of Us Part 1 vibes the moment I saw her meet Mothra in her larva state. And the entire arc her character took made me realize that I wouldn’t be mad if she ended up being cast as her if it were made into a live-action adaptation./
She’s also 16 years old at the time of this recording. And while she may not share as many of the same facial resemblances as Ellie in the first game, there are similarities to the point where no one can really say she doesn’t look anything like her.
Am I aware that these choices are boring and have possibly been made multiple times in the past? Yes. Do I care? Absolutely not.
Because to say that either of these two actresses wouldn’t knock it out of the park as Ellie -- regardless if they portray her at 14 or 19 -- would be a lie before whatever being exists out there that’s responsible for me being agnostic.
But that’s not to say that I’m not interested in any other individuals explanations. So Readers, your homework assignment for the day is to write in the description below, who YOU think would knock it out of the park as 14 year old Ellie in Sony and HBO’s upcoming television series adaptation of The Last of Us.
Are you also feeling my apparently generic choices? Do you have any idea of who else would be a good fit? I’d love to know your thoughts!
