The Last of Us Producers Reveal Practical Effects Secrets
The Last of Us has some amazing practical effects on display, and the producers were sharing their secrets this week. Sony just unveiled the first part of their Creators to Creators series about the HBO mega-hit. In this conversation, Executive Producers Neil Druckmannn and Craig Mazin spoke to the stars of the show Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey. PlayStation's Head of Productions, Asad Qizilbash also asked how they managed to capture so much of the lived-in feel for the series' environments. According to Mazin and Druckmann, a lot of that was achieved through clever physical locations and the benevolence of Calgary and Edmonton. Here's what the creative team had to say down below!
"We had these physical locations. The real mountains, the real woods, the real river, the real snow. It was just like, very little left to the imagination in terms of having to fake it," Druckmann revealed.
Pascal would chime-in with, "You dressed entire areas of downtown, Calgary and Edmonton," before Ramsey interjected, "pissed off all the residents." Rest assured, the people of the towns did understand and were patient with such a big production. It probably also helps to have their city showcased in a massive property on HBO. As more projects head toward CGI, finding ways to still incorporate the real-world is something fans and viewers connect with!
Expect More Physical Locations In Season 2 of The Last of Us
After the movie released, the fan support was felt by Marvel and the entire creative team. In thanks, Coogler put out a letter to express his appreciation for all the viewers that backed his vision and went out to see Wakanda Forever.
"IP and expanding universes continue to be a big part of our business for sure, and I think a big part of everyone's business. I agree with you the PlayStation IP has become more and more important — The Last of Us was just renewed for season two — and we have a really close relationship with PlayStation and their creatives," Pope began.
"The way I view all of the IP here, whether it's Sony Music, PlayStation, legacy IP from either TV or film, it's all making Sony as a whole stronger. So there's a real focus, from Tokyo, through Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Tony [Vinciquerra], through [Sony Pictures' Chairman of Global TV Studios] Ravi [Ahuja]," she continued. "It's all about working on the internal levers that we have here to increase our standing in the entertainment community overall. There's been great cooperation that I've been really impressed with I'm happy to take advantage of and be a part of."
Do you love the practical effects on the HBO show?? Let us know down in the comments!
