HBO’s The Last of Us isn’t wall-to-wall action, but when we do get a fight scene, things can get pretty crazy. Take the climax of Episode 5, “Endure and Survive,” when a Bloater and other Infected burst out of the ground and wreak havoc in a cul-de-sac outside Kansas City. It doesn’t get more action-packed than that!
In terms of production, what you see is what you get. The filming process really was that chaotic. In fact, star Bella Ramsey even suffered a black eye and several bruises during the process. She was on the receiving end of an accidental knock by a person playing a Clicker in its death throes, as she told IGN: “At one point [an actor playing a Clicker] was flailing around dying…during a take the poor guy whacks me in the eye…I almost stopped the take, but I didn’t.”
The battle was filmed over a week in a freezing cole Calgary in Canada. It left Ramsey feeling “chronically exhausted.” But in hindsight, she thinks it was worth it. “I was so proud of it. I had a great time.”
Ramsey thinks she knows why she got the job on The Last of Us
Every week, Bella Ramsey puts in another outstanding performance as Ellie. The quips, her reactions to unfamiliar surroundings, the outpourings of emotion; she’s absolutely perfect. And she’s got one particular talent that she thinks was the key reason she got the gig: she’s a keen guitarist.
Anyone who’s played The Last of Us games from Naughty Dog knows that a guitar plays massively into Ellie’s story, particularly in the second game. During her audition, Ramsey placed a guitar in the background of her video call with creator Neil Druckmann. She knew exactly what she was doing… and it worked!
“I made a point of positioning my laptop in a place where my guitar was hanging up in the background. Just so they knew,” she explained. “And [Neil Druckmann] pointed it out in the Zoom and said, ‘Oh, you play a guitar.’ And I said, ‘Maybe a bit.'”
That said, Ramsey thinks the VFX team could easily edit the show in a way that would make anyone look like a master guitarist. “They’re so clever with what they can do these days that they can probably animate my fingers playing guitar so I don’t think it really made a difference,” she said, although she still likes to think her guitar skills played a part in her landing her the role. “Actually, [the guitar] is probably the only reason I got the job, thinking about it.”
The Last of Us continues Sundays on HBO. We’re getting close to the end now. Will Joel and Ellie finally reach safety and save the world?
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