LogInNeil Druckman believes that actors should not completely imitate the characters from the original source but instead should reinterpret them while "capturing the essence" of the characters.
Last week, Pedro Pascal who is starring as Joel in the upcoming HBO's The Last of Us adaptation shared that he believes that imitating the game character in a TV series might not be right, so he decided to create a "healthy distance" between Joel from the game and Joel on screen working on the character together with show co-writer Craig Mazin and game writer and show co-writer Neil Druckmann.
Druckman, a game director of The Last of Us Part II, who is also an executive producer of the series for HBO, has shared his opinion on the matter as well. He believes that the best images of well-known characters can be created only when actors reinterpret a character in their own ways without trying to imitate the original. Although, according to the game director, the crucial point here is to capture "the essence of the source material".
As an example, Druckmann mentioned the Jokers performed by Mark Hamill, Joaquin Phoenix, Heath Ledger, and Jack Nicholson, noting that they are all unique and special, but at the same time remain true to the original source.
It seems that the TV series version of Joel will indeed be very different from the one that we see in the game. No further details on the series based on The Last of Us video games including the exact date of the release were revealed.
To stay tuned, you can follow Neil Druckmann on Twitter. Also, you can find the original interview with Pedro Pascal here. Don't forget to join our new Reddit page, our new Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram and Twitter, where we are sharing breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.