Episode 5 of The Last of Us was arguably the most ambitious yet, moving the action to Kansas City and following Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) as they avoid scores of infected.
The action scenes were so intense, in fact, that shooting them left Ramsey with “a lot of bruises” and even a “real black eye”.
“At one point [un actor que interpreta a un Chasqueador] he was thrashing about dying…during one take the poor guy hit me in the eye…I was about to stop the take but didn’t”, recalls Ramsey in a new interview for IGN Fan Fest 2023.
In the episode, Joel and Ellie find themselves caught in the middle of a manhunt involving Henry and his little brother, Sam, as they flee from a revolutionary group that has recently conquered the town.
Filming lasted three weeks in Calgary and most of it took place at night. Ramsey was “chronically exhausted” for most of the shoot, which she described as “incredibly stressful in a way that felt amazing”. In the end, despite the exhaustion and the black eye, she remembers her period fondly.
“I was very proud of it,” says Ramsey. “I had a great time”.
“None of this was calculated.”
Pascal and Ramsey star in HBO’s adaptation of PlayStation’s popular post-apocalyptic action saga, which has been a hit since its release in January. The fifth episode takes place halfway through the first season, which spans the original game..
In the series, Joel, played by Pascal, is the surrogate father for Ellie, played by Ramsey, protecting her as they head to Wyoming. His chemistry on the show is evident in the interview, in which the two joke about stray horses, about whether or not Pascal would survive a mushroom apocalypse (Pascal: “Not me”) and practical jokes.
Recalling a scene where the group flees from a quarantine zone through a dark tunnel, Pascal talks about how he managed to “scare the hell out of” Ramsey.
“None of it was calculated, it was all very spontaneous,” recalls Pascal. “But one time I scared Bella to death…they were being little kids on the set while we were escaping from the Quarantine Zone and they were so scared and they had to go through the big tunnel…basically they were in there and They were like, ‘This is so creepy.’ And I took the opportunity to scare them to deathsays Pascal, demonstrating how he scared Ramsey with a yell. “I haven’t been this happy in my whole life.”
We praised his performances in our review of the first season of The Last of Us, commenting that Ramsey is “dynamite from the start” and “goes from strength to strength with Joel and Ellie’s relationship as the season progresses.” As for Pascal, he “fits the part perfectly; stoic in the face of adversity and able to be at each end of Joel’s emotional spectrum, from affectionate to ruthlessly violent.”
‘Oh, you play the guitar’
With three episodes to go until the end of the series (and with a second season already confirmed), there is still a lot to discover between the two characters. Ramsey made a point in particular when talking about auditioning for his role on the series..
“I made a point of putting my laptop in a spot where my guitar was hanging in the background. Just so you guys would know,” says Ramsey, “and [Neil Druckmann] He pointed to it on the Zoom and said, ‘Oh, you play the guitar’. And I said: ‘Maybe a little’“.
The guitar, of course, ends up having a prominent place in Ellie’s story. But even if Ramsey couldn’t play, believes that Druckmann and company would have found a solution.
“They’re so clever with what they can do nowadays that they could probably animate my fingers playing the guitar, so I don’t think that made much of a difference,” he says. He pauses, smiles, then adds, “Actually, [la guitarra] It’s probably the only reason I got the job, come to think of it.“.
We’ll have to wait a bit longer to see Ellie play her iconic guitar. But meanwhile, Ramsey says there’s a lot to look forward to as The Last of Us heads into the second half of its first season.including some of the most intense scenes to date.
“Moments of great physical intensity and emotion,” says Ramsey with a smile. “You are going to take a real pleasure.”
The Last of Us Episode 6 is now available on HBO Max.
