2016 may prove to be a banner year for video game adaptions, with Ratchet & Clank, Warcraft, and Assassin’s Creed promising to undo all the bad work done by nearly every other entry in the genre so far, and make a movie based on a pixelated property seem a worthwhile prospect. But the one game I think all fans want writ large on the big screen, The Last of Us, seems destined to remain trapped in development hell. Considered by many to be one of the greatest video games of all time, players were trust into role of Joel, a man trying to survive a post apocalyptic future where society broke down after a strain of mutant fungus turned most of the population into cannibalistic monsters, who must ferry the one person who seems immune to the fungus, a young girl named Ellie, across America. Praised for it’s deep and heartbreaking story, rich characters, and exploration of the human condition, it was ripe for a movie, and everything seemed to be going so well, but after a year or so of radio silence, the movie’s writer, and the games’ creative director, Neil Druckmann has revealed in an interview with IGN that the movies development has taken a turn for the worse:
I know I said in an interview a while back we had a table read, got the script to a good place and it kind of entered development hell like these things tend to do. There hasn’t been any work done on it in over a year and a half.”
In March of 2014, the movie was announced, and everything seemed to going well for it with Druckmann, Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra, co-presidents of the game’s developer Naughty Dog, game director Bruce Straley, and, considered by many as a mark of quality for the adaption, horror maestro Sam Raimi, set as producers. Game of Thrones Maisie Williams was eyed to play Ellie, but as Druckmann revealed work just stopped, and who knows if we will ever see it. Which is a shame, as it’s bold story and cinematic nature screams for an adaption, that would have further helped turn the genres fortunes for the better.
I know I said in an interview a while back we had a table read, got the script to a good place and it kind of entered development hell like these things tend to do. There hasn’t been any work done on it in over a year and a half.”
In March of 2014, the movie was announced, and everything seemed to going well for it with Druckmann, Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra, co-presidents of the game’s developer Naughty Dog, game director Bruce Straley, and, considered by many as a mark of quality for the adaption, horror maestro Sam Raimi, set as producers. Game of Thrones Maisie Williams was eyed to play Ellie, but as Druckmann revealed work just stopped, and who knows if we will ever see it. Which is a shame, as it’s bold story and cinematic nature screams for an adaption, that would have further helped turn the genres fortunes for the better.
