Character Analysis and Casting Wishlist for "The Last of Us"

This Casting Breakdown will contain heavy spoilers. Do yourself a favor and don't ruin this game for yourself if you have not completed it. This is your spoiler alert. 

Alright, so if you couldn't figure out, I am in love with The Last of Us. It's the best video game of all time. Hands down. I wrote an entire breakdown on Tuesday about how not to screw up the film adaptation for this movie, so if you're interested, feel free to check that out. I over analyze everything about video game adaptations and how to make this movie as perfect as can be.

Before I start off my casting wish-list, I want to discuss something that I left out in my Last of Us "How To Make the Movie" discussion. I left out the beautiful score. In the game, the soundtrack is so serene. It fits perfectly. The score that it reminded me of was Trent Reznor's Social Network. Then that got me thinking directors and David Fincher. Fincher would be a great fit for this film. Everything the guy does is perfect. From what I know, Fincher is unbelievably busy with future projects as well as Season 2 of the fantastic Netflix series "House of Cards", so it's unlikely he would have the availability for this project.

I said that I was going to review this game sometime this week...well...this is going to serve as my review of the game. I think it is the only way to talk about it. You can't talk about how good this game is and not go spoiler heavy. Every review I've read, listened to, or watched just isn't very good. But it's not the fault of the reviewer at all; I don't blame them. It's really hard to talk about everything that's good about this game and not talk about everything that happens in it and the gameplay. So, you'll easily be able to tell how I feel about this game in better detail through this breakdown.

Also, as I alluded to in my "How To..." discussion, I did indeed begin adapting a screenplay. I told you that wasn't a joke. I knew I'd do it, too. I've got a few of the scenes done. It's a long way away from completion and this is going to take some time. I doubt it gets any mileage, but it's something I care about and enjoy doing so fuck it, I'm going to keep working on it. If you're interested in reading it, just let me know. I want to release a few scenes to see what the reaction is. There are a few scenes that I'm changing and adding, as well as shifting some of the plot little bit. I know that it's risky to slightly stray away from the game, but I think the Last of Us does such a good job with its plot that it allows for creative input. It's also not that big of a plot shift or change. There are just certain things that would be done differently in order for a film version to be made. Anyways, I'm really straying away from the point here....

Lets get to some wish listing. Now, I was going to break this up into two parts and release them at different times, but I decided fuck it. If I'm doing this I'm going all out. I'm going to do this in order of supporting characters all the way to Ellie and Joel. For the supporting characters, I'm probably only going to dish out 1 or 2 suggestions, but for Ellie and especially Joel, there will definitely be many more options. So lets get started with one of the key supporting characters:

Marlene

Marlene in 'The Last of Us'

Analysis: Marlene is an interesting supporting character. It's unclear whether you're supposed to like Marlene or not. The way I took it was she became obsessed with trying to find a vaccine. In fact, all the Fireflies did. I think that she had her heart in the right place. Although she is not infected, I believe the game intended for you to think that she was infected in a metaphorical sense. Let me explain. Ellie and Sam discuss whether the infected people still can feel alive, only, they can't control what they do. Going off of that belief, I think in a weird way that's what happened to Marlene. She became so infected with this obsession over finding a cure that she was willing to kill Ellie for a chance at a vaccine. Quick point on this: Ellie's immunity did not guarantee a cure or a vaccine. As you find out through listening to the audio tapes left behind, they've found other immune people on the earth, and have completed failed research on those people. A lot of people who played the game missed that for some reason. Joel evaluated that risking Ellie's life for the uncertainty of a vaccine wasn't worth it (as well as the fact that he loves Ellie as a daughter). I think Marlene has her heart in the right spot. She is the mother figure for Ellie in a lot of ways, and took it upon herself to raise her and look after her. However, she is a full on contrast to Joel, the father figure. She wants to kill Ellie for the vaccine and Joel wants to protect her from that. Marlene is barely in the game, but she is a huge character when analyzing the outcome, as well as what can happen to a non-infected human being in a post-apocalyptic world.

Paula Patton

Casting Breakdown: The casting for her is tough. I think that if a movie does get made, the actress who plays her will generally be an unknown actress since she's barely in the story at all. She did remind me of a Michelle Rodriguez-type of actress. I don't believe Rodriguez is the right choice whatsoever. People have also been talking about Zoe Saldana. I just am not a big Saldana fan. I think that Paula Patton would be a great choice. Marlene is African-American, so the skin tone obviously can't change. That'd bother and confuse fans if they made her white. Other than Paula Patton, I can't really think of anybody who could play her. Like I said, it would be more likely and probably better for the film if they go with a relatively unknown actress. But since this is a casting wishlist, well there ya go. Paula Patton.

My Take: Paula Patton as Marlene

Tess

Tess is a crucial supporting character

Analysis: Tess is another character who is only in the game for a few portions, but carries a huge impact on Joel and Ellie. Discussing this game with a friend of mine, we realized that without Tess, the entire mission of bringing Ellie across the country to Fireflies probably wouldn't have even happened. Joel had his doubts about Ellie's immunity, and it took Tess to believe in her to get Joel believing in her, too. It's unclear whether there was any romantic history with Tess and Joel, but I would say there wasn't. I think that they were just business partners and they definitely know the risks of carrying a romantic relationship in a post-apocalyptic world. It's also unclear how long they actually worked together, but it can be assumed that it was at least a few years. Tess is a badass. She definitely knows how to get what she wants and knows how to use her power to her advantage. I think something that goes unnoticed is the parallel between Tess and Ellie. Obviously Ellie is much, much younger, but Ellie isn't afraid of much. She's very mature for being just a 14 year old. Ellie is a badass and eventually learns how to get what she wants and is confident in her surviving ability. I think Joel began seeing a few similarities between the two, whether the game made that clear or not. I think that played a small part in Joel beginning to open up to Ellie and having their relationship develop. When Tess's fate arrives, her goodbye to Joel made it pretty clear that there was not any romantic history with the two, yet they love each other as companions.

Cobie Smulders in 'The Avengers'

Casting: Much like Marlene, I think Tess will eventually be played by an unknown actress. She's barely in the game and story, but her character hugely impacts Joel. I think that depending on how the screenplay and film develops, they could get creative and maybe keep her in the film for a little longer. But in order to avoid making the premise too long (since it is Tess's death and reveal that she's been bitten that catalyzes the mission to smuggle Ellie), Tess's screen time could be cut pretty short. I'm going to go with a pretty risky name, and go with Cobie Smulders. I think she proved she can be an action actress in the Avengers, and as she's proven many times in How I Met Your Mother, she certainly is a badass. I do worry that maybe her acting capability hinders the performance and emotion, yet I think she could be good. I think an actress like a Jodie Foster or a Jennifer Connelly could work, too. I just think that in order to get those caliber of actresses, the role can't be a 10 minute long cameo.

My Take: Cobie Smulders as Tess

Bill

Bill plays a small supporting role

Analysis: Bill is one of the most interesting characters in the game. He truly and certainly believes that living on your own is the only way to survive in this type of world. He used to have a partner, but it's unclear what went down between the two of them. In a cutscene, Bill says that he used to have someone he had to take care of and look after but he "wisened the fuck up" and that it's "gotta be just me". He doesn't like that Joel is taking care of Ellie and risking all of their lives just for a human being. Bill has some sort of past history with Joel and Tess that's unclear, but obviously they know each other. The important thing here is that Bill has his own thing going on, and he doesn't like that Joel is changing it up.

Hoffman in 'The Ides of March'

Casting: In my "How To..." write-up, I wrote that Bill is more than likely going to get cut out of the movie. I feel like his presence is unnecessary for the movie plot. I think that they should shoot the entire movie with all of the characters, and maybe include Bill on an extended edition or something. I just think that the movie will be much, much better off not having Bill in it at all. With that said though, I did think of an actor who would be fantastic as Bill. Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Hoffman is one of my favorite actors in the game right now. I think that for Bill, Hoffman's portrayal in The Ides of March and Almost Famous would be great foundations for his character. But like I said, if the studio was smart, they'd cut Bill out of the movie for the betterment of the final product. Another actor who looks like Bill that could be an interesting cast-Nick Frost.

My Take: Leave him out entirely. But if he has to be in the film: Hoffman

Henry and Sam
Analysis: These are two of the most interesting characters in the game in the sense that they seem like some of the only humans that have good intentions and mean well. They're just surviving. They have a brother dynamic that is key to their survival and they parallel Joel and Ellie (how they will do anything to protect each other and survive). I really like Henry's character. I think something that can be further developed is how Sam is terrified of the world they live in. Something that doesn't even get brought up, is that Sam seems annoyed that Henry doesn't think he is capable of much. There's a scene between Ellie and Sam, where Sam asks Ellie if Henry sent her to see if Sam was "fucking up somehow". I think that's important. I think Sam wants to be responsible for more things and is capable of doing more things, it's just that Henry doesn't want to risk his life.

Henry in 'The Last of Us'

The relationship between Henry and Joel is an interesting dynamic as well because Joel actually opens up to Henry a little. Until this point, Joel was incredibly reserved around everybody he knew. It says a lot about Henry and that he has his heart in the right spot. Henry and Sam are easily the most likeable characters you encounter in the game (other than Tommy). When Henry leaves Joel and Ellie behind for his own safety, only to end up coming back to save them, it asks an interesting question. Would Joel have done the same thing for them? And the answer is no. He wouldn't. I think they would have left Henry and Sam, and they wouldn't have saved them either. Based on Joel's character throughout the game (at this point), he never stops to help people and is very quick to leave people behind. It redeems Henry and Sam.

The relationship between Ellie and Sam is interesting, too. People think Ellie and Sam start to develop teen crushes on each other, but honestly it's mostly just the fact that their ages are similar. Think about the world they live in. It's survival of the fittest. It's mostly all experienced mature adults and the fact that there are two teenagers within the same age range allows for Ellie and Sam to open up to each other and enjoy each other's presence. It allows them to act as children again. In order to survive in this world, they have to act much older than they do. With Sam around, Ellie doesn't have to pretend to be older than her age, and there is a genuine happiness to her when she's with Sam. When I said that Sam is capable of doing more, but Henry doesn't want to risk his life-I think Ellie feels that way too (at this point in the game). Joel doesn't let Ellie do very much, and he doesn't let her carry a gun. I think that Ellie understands how Sam feels, and she relates to him on a larger level than what's presented.

Their time in the game is cut short due to the tragic events of Sam turning infected and Henry shooting himself. Another thing that is interesting about that scene is that Joel legitimately is concerned and worried about Henry when Sam dies. His face is concerned and it's unlike anything Joel usually expresses. Henry and Sam most definitely need to be in the film adaptation, due to their impact on Joel and Ellie.

Casting:

Actor Michael B. Jordan

I have two great suggestions for Henry that I think would work tremendously. One of them I mentioned in the write-up was Michael B. Jordan. He's my top choice for Henry. I think he is really starting to make a name for himself, and if you're doubting his acting ability, here's a trailer for a movie coming out this year that people are saying is Oscar worthy. This guy is on the rise for actors. It would not surprise me to see him start getting larger roles. Like this one. I feel like that's where I should stop my casting suggestions, but I'm going to throw out another name. Jesse Williams. I like Williams, I think he's a good actor, too. I think Jordan is a much better option than Jesse Williams but I do think that Williams has what it takes for this kind of role.

For Sam, I have a few names. Most of them are controversial. As I have said many of times, I think this movie could thrive off of unknown actors and actresses in supporting roles. This is definitely the case for Sam. I think you have to look at Jaden Smith. I know that's a stupid choice. I just think that Sam needs to be likeable, and Will Smith's kid is definitely likeable. People have been throwing around Bobb'e J Thompson's name and I guess I'll go along with that endorsement. Now, here's easily my most controversial suggestion: Quvenzhané Wallis. I know, that's a female. But I think if they can't find the right actor for Sam, why not change the character? I think that ultimately the character needs to stay as close to the video game representation as possible because fans will riot if they change it completely. I think that the movie could benefit from having a brother/sister dynamic rather than a brother/brother. It's risky, I know. It seems unneccesary, too. While that might be right, I do truly believe that if they aren't getting the right casting for Sam, they should look at changing over the character. I think it's a big change, but it's not big enough to ruin the movie. And Michael B. Jordan playing Q. Wallis's older brother? That sounds intriguing to me. I'll probably get plenty of hate for it but who cares. This movie probably isn't even happening.

My Take: Michael B. Jordan as Henry, Unknown Actor as Sam (it's a cop out, I know. But did any of those names I listed jump off the page to you? I hope not...)


Tommy

Tommy was fantastic as Joel's brother

Analysis: At first it's unclear whether Tommy is Joel's older or younger brother. He carries the dynamic of an older brother, but it's actually Joel's younger brother. I love Tommy. Tommy was my favorite character in the whole game besides Ellie/Joel. He's incredible. He was a former Firefly that figured out his own way and has found a nice living situation. They live in a very peaceful area in Wyoming, and if it were me, I would've just stayed with Tommy the rest of my life. There is an unknown backstory between Joel and Tommy that I wish was explained in the game better. While discussing what they should do with Ellie, Tommy says that surviving with Joel were the "worst years" of his life and that "it wasn't worth" it. Meaning, he'd rather have died than have the nightmares of the years they spent surviving together. I honestly don't even know where to start speculating on what this could mean. It is never clear, but Joel also alludes to Tommy saying that the last time they saw each other, he said "I never want to see your goddamn face again". There were serious altercations in the past between these two, but they definitely seem to have gotten over it. Which is good. It keeps Tommy likeable.

Cooper can look the part and play the part

Casting: Right after I got done writing my "How To..." on Tuesday and saying that I have no idea who could play Tommy, I literally thought of about 8 or so actors who'd fit pretty well. So here we go. I'm going to list these off in reverse order, so that we end with the actor that I want to play Tommy the most. So here we go...First up is Matthew McConaughey. I know, I know. He seems like an odd choice. But look at what he's done recently. He's really starting to become one of the better actors out there right now. He has 3 movies this year that are all in discussions to make him nominated in an acting category (Dallas Buyer's Club, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Mud). He's really became a great actor, and I think with his hair and his voice, he fits Tommy pretty well. Next up is Tom Hardy. He doesn't exactly look the part right now, but in this picture of him, it definitely shows he potentially could look the part. Hardy is one of the best actors in the game right now. Everything this guy does great. He could play the little brother with the chip on his shoulder (as he did in Warrior). He could very easily be one of the best supporting characters in this movie. Then we have Sam Rockwell. Another guy who doesn't look like Tommy, but definitely is capable of looking the part. Rockwell is the most underrated actor in Hollywood. He can do anything. He can be loveable, he can be the dopy friend, he can be evil. He can honestly do anything. He's a great actor, and would make a fantastic Tommy. I had a few other names in mind that weren't really great suggestions, but my top three goes 3) Guy Pearce 2) Brad Pitt 1) Bradley Cooper. I don't see Pitt ever doing a supporting role like this. He has to be the lead guy. But after seeing what he did in World War Z, and having the long hair like Tommy does, he potentially would be great. I put Bradley Cooper number 1 because he essentially is a better Matthew McConaughey right now. He's done some stupid roles in the past, but he's really starting to cement himself as a great dramatic actor. I think with is long hair he'd look just like Tommy, and I think that dramatically, he's the best option for Tommy.

My Take: Bradley Cooper as Tommy 

David

David plays a menacing villain

Analysis: David is an extremely riveting, complex character. At first when I played the game, I thought he was going to be this nice good guy that was going to help Ellie out until Joel was healthy again. But man was I wrong. I was really, really wrong. He's the ultimate villain in this game. He turns into a psychotic man that really tests Ellie's emotional and mental stability. I think that David had a good heart initially. I think deep down he did want Ellie to become a part of his clan. She certainly was deserving of it; she took down almost his entire squad. When Ellie turns down David's offer to join the team, that's where David switches into this evil-psychotic character in The Last of Us. Leading up to David's demise, he was planning on raping Ellie and one of the members of his clan referred to Ellie as "David's newest pet". Creepy. Quick shout out to Nolan North for voicing this character and playing such a convincing villain that honestly had me more terrified than the infected. With the infected, you just have a physical challenge and they run after you, but there isn't much of a threat most times. David is a huge mental challenge, and that's why he's a perfect villain, and a perfect villian for Ellie specifically. An important thing to remember too: this is a kill or be killed world. David is looking out for what's best for him as well as his members of his clan. My favorite David moment: when he's hiding out with Ellie and he says that quip about "a crazy man and a little girl". It's so intense. And you're like "HOLY SHIT! THAT'S JOEL AND ELLIE! RUN ELLIE!".

Ben Mendelsohn

Gary Oldman

Casting: These are easily my two most exciting cast choices. I think that the Winter portion of the game is where the bulk of the 2nd half of the movie should be, and that means that David will have a large role. Which he should; he essentially is the main individual villain of the game (I mean, you have the infected obviously, but that's a group thing as well as the fact they've been surviving from these things for years. They've gotten the hang of it by now). Lets get to the casting. My first choice would be Gary Oldman. He can play a terrifying villain. He fits the role fantastically. I think he would perfect the "kind-of-nice-until-I-turn-into-a-huge-psychopath" role. Something interesting about Oldman: I could see him playing any of the male characters in this game. I could see him as Joel. I could see him as Tommy. I could see him as Robert (who probably will get cut from the film as well). I could see him as David. I could even see him as Bill. What I'm getting at is that Oldman needs to be in this movie. He just needs to. The other option is Ben Mendelsohn. I really like what he did in Place Beyond the Pines, and I think he's a fantastic actor. He really knows how to be a villain, in my opinion, and I would love for either one of these guys to be cast as David.

My Take: Tie between Gary Oldman and Ben Mendelsohn as David

Ellie
Analysis: Man oh man, where do I even begin? First off, I'm almost guaranteed to leave something out when writing this up. There are so many different elements to Ellie that it cannot be fully discussed in writing. I could talk about Ellie's character complexity for hours. I'm going to start off by saying something that as far as I know, almost no one has realized yet. In the game, there is absolutely NO mention of a father for Ellie. There is a brief mention of her mother, and there's Marlene who kind of served as her mother. It may not have been intentional (I think it was), but it's important when discussing her relationship with Joel. At the end when she's talking about the people she's lost she listed off Riley (her childhood friend), Tess, and Sam. She doesn't mention her mother, Marlene, or a father. I think that is very important. She's never had a father that was there for her.

Ellie seems very held together and confident, yet it's almost an irrational confidence. She proves to be pretty vulnerable emotionally in many of the cutscenes. People are saying that Joel is very reserved, but it's actually Ellie who is far more reserved than Joel. You don't find out about her friend Riley until the very last scene in the game. She reveals she's lost some people, and had to overcome a lot in her past, but the specifics aren't really mentioned. Easily the most emotional and impactful cutscene in the entire game is when Ellie steals the horse from Tommy's and runs away to an abandoned cabin. She reveals Maria shared some information about Joel and his past. She then gets very upset that Joel wants to abandon her, and says that "everyone has either died or left [her]. Everyone-fucking except for you!". "You" is referring to Joel. I think that was the turning point for Joel. I think at that moment he awoke and realized what he means to this girl. She then continues on to say "so don't tell me that I'd be better off with someone else, when I'd really just be more scared". The most important part is that people keep leaving her with other people, like she's some burden who doesn't carry any emotional impact on people. She herself has to deal with this survivor's guilt that she never turned, and it really has started to impact her. More on Ellie's fear of being left alone: when Ellie and Sam are discussing why Ellie doesn't seem phased by all the madness in the Earth, Ellie reveals that her biggest fear is being left alone and being by herself.

Ellie can hold her own in 'The Last of Us'

In the "Winter" season (where the plot really starts to get intense, and was personally my favorite portion of the game), Ellie is forced to be alone for a good portion of it, due to Joel's health. She has to fight to keep Joel alive and fight David and his team of cannibals. She's completely alone while doing this. She's conquering her fear in order to keep Joel alive and fight for her life. David proposes to Ellie that she can be apart of their team. I think this is a key moment-Ellie loves and cares more about Joel than she fears ending up alone. She keeps her loyalty to Joel and essentially tells David to fuck off. This is a great example of her irrational confidence. She's locked up in a jail, talking shit to David. I loved everything about it. Easily the coolest part of the game is when you kill David with Ellie, and it goes to a cutscene of Ellie just stabbing the shit out of David. Joel comes to her and gives her a hug, and the scene goes from the most badass epic scene in the game, to arguably the most emotional moment in the game. It completes the bridge between Joel and Ellie. Joel hugs Ellie, and calls her "baby girl", which as many people have pointed out, is what he called his daughter Sarah at the beginning of the game. Now something interesting happens here. Some people have called it a glitch-it's clearly not. The mouths of Joel and Ellie keep moving, but the captions turn off and the only thing you can hear is the soundtrack. Ellie is clearly disturbed, and Joel is treating her just like he would treat his daughter. The thing that really matters isn't what they are saying to each other, but it's that Joel has officially accepted Ellie as his daughter, and he never will let anything happen to her. He was worried about her.

When it's spring, she's acting different. You can tell that Ellie has changed. Everything that went down with David is impacting her. She's starting to be more afraid of what's out there. Not only that, she's constantly afraid of being alone. I think also she's starting to realize that maybe she will die in the hospital in order to get a vaccine. Not only does she want Joel in her life, she needs him. The part with the giraffes was one of the coolest moments in the game. It was such a heart warming moment. For the whole game, both Joel and Ellie were carrying such emotional baggage that they never really had the time to be happy. I think it was perfect. They realized that there still is beauty left on the planet that has begun to dissolve and change into this terrifying post-apocalyptic land. But I think it meant a lot to Ellie, and it really meant a lot to Joel. I think if that happened earlier in the game, he wouldn't, even for a second, have stopped to enjoy the giraffes. Touching moment.

Last point before moving on: the end. Ellie stops Joel and asks him if he lied to her about the Fireflies giving up on finding a cure and that they decided not to operate on Ellie. Ellie says "swear to me that everything you say about the fireflies is true". And Joel does. What's important here isn't that Joel is lying, but the fact that Ellie knows he's lying. She's been able to call out Joel on his bullshit and read him very well throughout the game. Why now would she not be able to read Joel? He isn't exactly selling it very well either. Her biggest fear, again is being left alone. I think it was made very clear that after Ellie ran away, she never wants Joel to abandon her. I think Ellie realizes that Joel cares a lot about her. He's lying to protect her. And that makes Ellie feel safe. More on this discussion will occur during Joel's write up. But lets move on to casting, or else I'm just going to babel on for hours of writing about Ellie.

Chloe Moretz is the best bet for 'Ellie'

Casting: This is one of the most difficult casting suggestions out there. To find a very young actress that will succeed in this role as Ellie will be nearly impossible. The video game character is so fantastic that the live action performer can only match what Ashley Johnson did for Ellie in the game. There's no beating that. At least I don't think so. If some young actress out there can do it, I'd love to see it. I honestly have no clue about this casting selection. The one that I think could work alright is Elle Fanning. I thought she was great in Super 8, and she clearly comes from a pretty talented family. It just worries me that she hasn't really been in much since Super 8, and I don't think she's capable (right now, at least) of taking on a character of this magnitude. Someone who I think is capable, and someone who I think should be seriously looked at is Chloe Moretz. Honestly, I thought her first movie was Kick-Ass. And she was fantastic in that movie. After looking her up, she's been in the business since she was 8! That's incredible for a child actress these days to stick around and really evolve. Most of these young actresses kind of disappear. Two things on Moretz before a few other suggestions: She can look a lot like Ellie. I don't know where this picture is from or how old it is, but it certainly looks quite a bit like Ellie. Also, since voices really matter in video games, if the voice is WAY different than the character, it can really take you out of a movie. Luckily, Chloe Moretz actually sounds almost exactly like Ellie and reminds me a lot of her. I was amazed by it. Anyway, some other suggestions are Hailee Steinfeld from True Grit and then of course, my girl, Abigal Breslin. I think Abigal Breslin is even behind Elle Fanning in my opinion for casting. I love Breslin, but I don't think she'd be right for this role. Of course, there's always the option of an unknown actress. The problem with that is the risk you take. Ellie is the make or break character. If the people don't like Ellie, the movie will suck. No matter what. Joel could be fantastic, the effects could be great. Everything could be great. But if Ellie sucks, the movie sucks. And honestly, the game is like that, too. Honestly, if the film were to start shooting tomorrow, it'd be a toss up between Steinfeld and Moretz. I just think Moretz would own the role, and have that gritty, vulgar, over-confidence to her. She has a ton of range, and I think this girl is the next big thing. I really do.

My Pick: Chloe Moretz as Ellie

Joel
Analysis: 

Joel is a damaged character with a haunting past

Ah, the big one. I think that Joel is such a fantastic character. Honestly, Ellie is so great and she does everything she needs to do so well and Ashley Johnson is getting a ton of praise for her work in providing motion capture for Ellie, but Joel. Man...he is one damaged character. But he's also a giant badass. He's like Woody Harrelson in Zombieland meets Liam Neeson from Taken (the first one. I've already put the 2nd one completely out of my head. Dragged that shit to the trash icon in my brain) meets Denzel Washington from Man on Fire and also a tad bit of John Q. I'm going to pause and just let you soak all that in...

...and were back! Okay so if you couldn't tell Joel is a fucking badass. Joel is justifiably forced to the side when talking about the Last of Us because ultimately, the Last of Us turns into Ellie's game. She owns it. But I'm going to give credit where credit is due. Joel has dealt with so much from the past. All of a sudden, the only thing he cares about in life (his daughter) is taken away from him. It's the perfect build up to a game because it lets you in on the horror of Joel's past. It's what makes him keep himself detached from other people and what he eventually turns into. I think it says a lot about his character that he made it 20 years past his daughters death. That takes a lot of mental toughness, as well as the physical toughness that is required to survive. Very early on, you can tell he doesn't open up to anybody. Even Tess. He's all business and no play. Ellie tries to talk to him about Tess's death and Joel immediately shuts her up. He doesn't want to talk about Tess, or his daughter. To anybody. He tries to move on. Ultimately, Joel is on the run from his past. He's on the run from Sarah's death and also the backstory with Tommy that is unknown. He shuts off all connection to the people that he's known and he's started a new life. At least as far as we know.

Joel never thanks people, and he doesn't exactly mourn people either. It's not because he has a hard time appreciating things, or dealing with loss. It's because he doesn't want to show emotion. He doesn't want to start getting attached to somebody. When Tess dies, he's barely even affected by it. I think there's a lot that goes into that, like the fact that she was going to turn infected regardless. But man, he really holds strong. That's what makes his dynamic with Ellie so impressive. Ellie saves Joel's life multiple times in this game, and he never really thanks her or repays her. It's not that he doesn't want to, and I think, too, that Ellie knows he truly is thankful. He just doesn't know how to express that. Once the game starts developing and he cares more for Ellie, he starts to appreciate her more and show her much more love.

The scene in the abandoned cabin that I discussed earlier really hits Joel hard. I think that he realized not only what he meant to Ellie, but what Ellie means to him. He is so worried about business and doing what's right. He wants to dump Ellie off with Tommy, but Ellie tries to tell him that she doesn't want to go with Tommy. She doesn't know Tommy. Tommy didn't cross the whole country with her like Joel did. I think that it's very important that Joel actually says the following line: "You're right. You're not my daughter. And I'm certainly not your father". The emotion behind him when he says that is more than the lines he speaks. He's mad that Ellie brought up his past. He's trying to deny that aspect of Ellie's relationship with him. He's starting to realize that he's not the only person that has dealt with horrors in his life. I love that he ends up taking Ellie on the journey himself because it shows that he's accepted Ellie as his own, and he would protect her over anything.

Quick point that has nothing to do with his analysis: I knew Joel wasn't going to die when he was impaled at the University of Eastern Colorado (which, I believe is supposed to be the Colorado State University campus. I have no proof of that, I'm just from Colorado. And that sure as hell looks a lot like CSU. The "Big Horns" were the mascot (Rams are CSU) and the colors were Green and Gold. I'm convinced it was supposed to be CSU. It might just be a coincidence though). I knew he wasn't going to die because of the emotional impact that the entire game had up to that point. They cut away from Joel falling off the horse, and then it was the Winter season. Why wouldn't they have a huge emotional Ellie moment. Well, because he didn't die. That's why.

Now that that's been over-analyzed, it's time for the big impactful Joel moments. The first is when he saves Ellie from David (kind of, he was already dead). He comes in and acts like a real father would to Ellie. He grabs her and hugs her and gives her so much affection and reassurance that it's going to be okay. As I brought up earlier, he calls her "baby girl", officially making Ellie a daughter to Joel. He wasn't going to let anything happen to her.

The end now. He saves Ellie from drowning, he saves her from her death, and then lies to her to protect her. Honestly, I can't stand the people who hate the ending to this game. It was fucking perfect. He lies to her to protect her. He loves her. You think losing 2 daughters would be easy? No, especially if you had the opportunity to do something about it. He wasn't going to willingly lose his second daughter. After everything he went through to save this girl and everything they went through together and building their relationship. It wasn't about finding the cure, it was about Joel moving on. It was about Joel finding his new family. He starts opening up to Ellie. Ellie hands him a picture of him and his daughter, the same one Tommy tried to give him earlier. Only this time he takes it. He says "you can't always run away from the past". He's accepted his past. He's moved on. He has Ellie now. He's happy. He has a new love. And lying to Ellie reassures her that he was never going to let anything happen to her. He wasn't going to let her die, he wasn't going to let her out of his sight, and he wasn't going to let anybody try to rape her. He wasn't going to let her be alone. As stated earlier in the game, Ellie has her doubts about heaven (she discusses this with Sam). If she died, I don't believe she would've went to heaven to rejoin her mother and her best friend, Riley. She would've ended up a lonely soul. He is the perfect video game character. He has this girl that he cares so much about. Nothing is going to stop Joel from being with her. (I know that entire paragraph was pretty poorly written grammatically. I chose to keep it that way because it's genuine. It's how I feel about Joel and Ellie and the ending.)

(For a really cool, fun read about how the ending was crafted and differences in production, click here)

If you didn't cry during this game, I don't know what to say to you. I played this game with a good friend of mine because I don't have a PS3 and we played through it together. The first 15 minutes, both of us were crying. The cabin scene with Ellie, waterfalls. The entire last 15 minutes of the game, yep. Crying for sure. There are only a few movies that I've cried harder at than this. It's so moving. And honestly, that's my biggest reason for endorsing this movie idea so hard. I just want people who didn't play the game and didn't feel what all of us fans felt, to feel something like this. To get attached to these characters. To love Ellie as we do and as Joel does. It's such a good story that everyone needs to have told to them. Alright. Lets get to the casting

Casting: I have so many different names for Joel. I'm glad that I really let this sink so that I could think of other actors to play Joel. On Tuesday, the best idea I came up with was Joel Edgerton, and I didn't really have any other names either. Edgerton is great but I have much better options today. Here's the thing, too: there are so many great older actors out there right now. There could be at least 50 actors that you could convince me to play Joel. But anyway, lets get to my picks. Reverse order as always. Here we go. First off. Woody Harrelson. He doesn't look anything like Joel, but I think that he could be great. The world is always ready for more Woody Harrelson. Another guy that I mentioned briefly in my post on Monday is Russell Crowe. Crowe always plays a great action star. He wasn't my problem with the recent Robin Hood film, he was fantastic. He always is. He's got that great beard. He'd be great.

These are 2 guys that are probably going to bring the same thing to the role: Matthew Fox and Ben Affleck. I mentioned that if Ben Affleck were to direct the film, he tends to cast himself in his movies these days. Which, so far, hasn't been a bad thing. I put Matthew Fox on here because I've been watching Lost a lot recently and I just think he's pretty underrated. I could see him playing Joel, too. Another guy that fits kind of into this category, but I think could be good as Joel (as well as Tommy or David, for that matter...) is Jason Clarke. This dude was menacing in Zero Dark Thirty. I thought he deserved a Best Supporting Actor nomination. He was my favorite part of that movie. I think he looks the part, and clearly is capable of playing the part. I'm going to throw Joel Edgerton into this tier of actors, but more towards the next group. I think that he's the most talented (actingwise) of this bunch. He looks a lot like Joel and I love the way he portrayed Brendan in Warrior.

EDIT: I just was shown a picture of Chris Evans in the upcoming film "Snowpiercer". And I know this sounds crazy. Chris Evans. Joel. But look at this picture of Chris Evans in the film's poster. Whoa. Certainly he isn't capable of playing Joel's character. But wow he looks very much like Joel. His acting and age immediately removes him from this conversation but man. That's generally what Joel would look like.

Now we're starting to get into more of the heavy hitters. This next guy is a guy that kind of played this role already, and that's George Clooney. This is going to sound weird at first, but his character in Up in the Air is actually a very accurate representation of what Joel is in this game. He gets this girl (Anna Kendrick) that he doesn't want, journeying around the country with him. He has to teach her a lot. He's very to himself. He doesn't like opening up to Anna Kendrick. I just think there's a lot of comparisons. And Clooney is awesome. He inspired my "Clooney-Zone" styled ranking system for actors (if you're unfamiliar, it's a ranking of the current actors in hollywood based off of how badly women want to sleep with him, combined with how badly guys want to be him, and combined with his respect around the industry). These next two guys remind me a lot of each other. They look a lot a like, and I think both could be fantastic and that's Jeff Bridges and Kurt Russell. I think that Bridges is always fantastic, as is Russell. Russell's portrayal as Coach Herb Brooks in Miracle to this day is my all-time most underrated acting performance. That dude deserved some sort of nomination. He was unreal. Jeff Bridges is Jeff Bridges. I mean what else do you want me to say.

And this leads me to my ultimate casting choice. Bryan Cranston. I think he perfectly fits the mold for what Joel is. I love Cranston. I think he's fantastic. Honestly, I'd take Cranston for Joel over everybody else I just listed. It just fits. Sometimes, it just fits. I can't say anything else about it. Seriously, look at this picture. That's fucking Joel in real life. He obviously is badass enough from his Breaking Bad days. Cranston would be fantastic.

My Take: Bryan Cranston (but lets be real, everyone I listed and even more would be unbelievable and would more than live up to Joel's character)

Well, that's it. That's all there is. I'm almost 100% certain that there is something I forgot to add in these analyses, particularly with Joel and Ellie. There's just so much to talk about. I mean, I've studied this game as close as anybody has since its release, so I'm sure there's something I'm forgetting. Anyway, this game is a perfect 10 out of 10. If somehow you made it through this far and haven't played the game, I'd still recommend playing it. It certainly will be less impactful, since, well I told you everything that happens in explicit detail. But I think this is a game everybody deserves to experience. It's my favorite video game of all time. I don't think there ever will be anything that beats it. I hope I'm wrong because The Last of Us raised the video gaming bar about 50 levels higher than where it was before this game came out. Thank you so much for reading. If you stuck it out and made it this far, please feel free to let me know who you think should play these characters. Also, if you want me to start releasing some of my scenes from the adaptation I'm doing, please let me know so I can get a public opinion on it.

You can follow Will Harmon at @willharmon8 on Twitter

How Not to Screw Up "The Last of Us" Movie

Let me just start off by saying that "The Last of Us" is without a doubt the best video game I've ever played. I may do a full "The Last of Us" review at some point, maybe not. But, I will say that I don't think there has ever been a game like this. Ever. (Warning: Proceed at your own caution. This contains very few minor spoilers. Definitely nothing major at all. I wouldn't ruin this masterpiece of a game for you. If you're worried about a very small portion of the plot points or characters being ruined, just stop reading this and come back to it later after you're done playing the game. It's too good to be ruined for you, even barely.)

First off let me say that I'm not even a big gamer. I haven't played a non-FIFA or NHL video game in a couple of years now. This game hit me like a freight train. In a good way. And if a non-gamer feels that way about the Last of Us, it's amazing to think about how a hardcore gamer feels about this game. I mean, shit, I'm writing a huge breakdown of how to make a successful movie out of it because even I care that much. There are two games that I will compare it to that stylistically and plot wise don't align with The Last of Us at all. What is similar, though, is the effect it had on people. By no means at all am I saying these games are on par with The Last of Us. If the games I'm comparing it to start making you mad, refer back to the first sentence in this write-up.

The first game I'm comparing it to is Halo. When Halo first came out, it was a revolution in the gaming world. It was one of the first games where people would go over to a friend's house just to play it. It was the coolest game to have. Everyone was talking about it. It was a game you had to have. It was a game that you stepped back and just marveled at what could technologically be done. That magic slightly reoccurred when Halo 2 and 3 came out, but all the people who were playing those games played the first Halo, too. So, it wasn't as magical then-they'd already experienced it. Halo has gotten its film plans scrapped in pre-production phases many times, so hopefully if they tease a Last of Us movie, they actually make it.

For a while, there never really was a game quite as revolutionary as Halo until Call of Duty Modern Warfare. The first one. And none of the rest. It was one of the first games that really took the online play to a new level. It was a game, again like Halo, that if your friend had it, you were jealous. You would beg your Mom to let you buy it. It revolutionized the gaming industry and certainly brought online gaming to a new level. It was something that was unparalleled. I mean, Halo 1, 2 and 3 had online features, but they never really are/were as popular as Modern Warfare ever was. In my opinion, no game at all has ever had a more popular and entertaining online play than COD 4 did.

I'm not the only one that believes the Last of Us is the Game of the Year. It's perfect in my opinion. As much as I'd like to talk about the gaming aspect of The Last of Us, I'll save that for if I do a full review of the game itself. But it is rather important that I discussed what I just did, in the way that this game already means so much to people. Let me say that one more time because this is the most important part. This game means so much to people. What that can mean, is that if a film for The Last of Us does indeed get green-lit, it needs to be just as perfect. The fans need to love it. It's been out for a little over 2 weeks and it already has a cult-following. That is pretty unprecedented.

Now, there has never been a movie that has successfully drawn its story from a video game layout before (cough...Silent Hill...cough...Resident Evil). In fact, no movie has even came close to successfully creating a story based off a video game. That's the issue here. If they make this a movie, the chances of it being terrible and pissing off the cult fans are basically 100%. You know, based on history.

I've been back and forth on if it should be made into a film since I first played this game. Let me just say, too, that as far as I've heard, there are no plans of creating a movie out of this game. I just love the idea of this and I've been talking about it a lot with a friend of mine. I love hypotheticals. I already know I'm going to over-analyze something that won't even happen. I'm sure I'm going to get carried away, too. But, I think that if done right, its full potential is an Oscar Best Picture, Best Actor, and certainly above all else, a Best Supporting Actress (I'll get to that in a minute). So how is it that the film gets done right, if they decide to do so? Well here are some of my suggestions:

1) Make sure Joel and Ellie are perfectly cast.
Joel and Ellie's dynamic has become widely acclaimed. It's without a doubt the best part of the game. Ellie in particular has been called "the best supporting video game character ever" by multiple sources. People who love this game mostly love it because of Ellie and the emotional plot (among plenty of other things. But mostly Ellie. Ellie's awesome). This is easily the part that scares me the most about adapting this game into a film-Ellie needs to be perfectly cast. She's 14 in the game. Fans will riot if the actress they get is older than that because that's just how fans are these days. The film being good weighs heavily on if Ellie is good. Quick sidebar: remember the outstanding Dead Island trailer? Then do you remember how shitty of a game it was? It let everybody down. It was such a disappointment. And for something that had so much hope, it almost was saddening what the game turned out to be. That's how this would be on a scale a million times larger. Anyways, if this movie gets made, the first thing people are going to want to know is A) Who's playing Ellie and B) Who's playing Joel.

It's funny, I couldn't put my finger on who should play Joel until I realized that the name "Joel" aimed me in the best option I've thought of so far, which is Joel Edgerton. The actor from Zero Dark Thirty, Warrior, and Animal Kingdom. What's weird is that Edgerton kind of looks like Joel (you tell me that picture doesn't look like Joel). He's definitely got the acting chops, as shown from his riveting take in Warrior, and he certainly has the "Badass-ness" necessary to play Joel. Just for kicks, another actor who could fit as Joel: Russell Crowe.

Ellie from The Last of Us

Ellie's casting is where things get complicated. I haven't exactly put my finger on anyone in particular. It seems extremely risky to take some unknown actress and throw her into what would be one of the most important roles in movie history. Abigal Breslin was a name that came to mind, but as you'll see later, she's not a good choice. Honestly, I don't even care if Ellie is hot. She just needs to have the grit, humor, and kick-ass elements that she does in the game and I'll love her just the same. It's impossible to talk about a possible cast for Ellie and not discuss the Ellen Page situation. It's a weird thing to me-I never noticed it that much while playing it, but after reading articles and comparisons, I couldn't help but think about how closely they resemble each other. This bridge seems burned for good since Page seems pretty pissed about it, not that I think Page would be rightfully cast anyway. Ellie would easily be the best character in the film, much like the game. As I said before, Ellie's character has the best shot at any critical success as a Best Supporting Actress. Which makes the role coveted, as well as the most important role in the film.

2) Thrill of the Stealth
With a film that would seem slow at times with all the necessary adventuring, it without a doubt would need some good shootout scenes. But what helps make the Last of Us a stellar game is its stealth sequences. It gives you a certain adrenaline rush. The thrill of getting caught, to me, is higher than any thrill while being chased by the infected. Going back to Zero Dark Thirty quickly-remember how much adrenaline is rushing through your body when they storm Bin Laden's hideout? You know his fate. You know how the movie ends. You know what happens. But still, your heart is racing and pounding. That's what this film would need. It could thrive off of some of these scenes. There could be a few outstanding scenes with some Clickers. I think that would be awesome.

3) Study Up on the Walking Dead, The Road, and The Grey
I'll explain this better. I know at first that seems like an odd statement. Obviously there are a lot of things the Walking Dead does right and has in common with The Last of Us. But there are also a lot of people who have complained about some episodes being really slow. In some episodes, not much action happens and the fans don't like it that much. This movie's best parts would be the parts that are slower. The writer and director need to figure out how to keep the dialogue and the adventure entertaining and intriguing. What the writers and director should do is study the scenes of The Walking Dead that don't work, and establish why they don't work. And then avoid those elements. I mean, it is a "zombie" game (well, infected nonetheless). Same goes for the film/book The Road and the film The Grey. Study the problems of some of the similar plot points in each of these films, and stay away from them. I don't think these are the only three movies or television shows that producers should study up on by any means, I was just kind of listing off different films with elements similar to The Last of Us. Certainly films like I Am Legend or shows like Revolution could use some studying as well.

4) Emotional Tug
Rarely are there games that I am more excited about the cutscenes than the actual gameplay. Most games I'm like "Alright, I get it. Let me fuck some shit up now!". But this was one of those games where I just wanted to hurry through the gameplay in order to see where the plot goes. Let me clarify, too, by saying that the gameplay is nothing short of spectacular. It's nothing against anything involving the gameplay, it's just that the cutscenes and plot elements are just that damn good. This film needs to carry the same amount of emotional weight the game does. Joel needs to be damaged emotionally. Ellie needs to show her rare signs of vulnerability, and mental instability. The supporting characters need to be emotionally driven. Very much like the game-if the emotion isn't there, it just wouldn't work. 

5) Don't Make the Film for at Least 5 Years
In other words: don't rush it. This is for the benefit of everybody. It benefits Naughty Dog, it benefits the film, and it benefits the fans. If they force a sequel to this game or a spin off of some kind (please don't), by the time this film would come out, I'm sure the sequel would be out by then, too. It would go well together. It would let people who didn't get to experience it the first time, experience it again. Game sales for The Last of Us would increase. People will hear the news and want to study up on the plot and source material. Naughty Dog likes it for those reasons, but most importantly-the film can take its time to develop. It needs to be just as perfect of a movie as it is a game. I cannot stress that enough. Regardless of if it achieves the Oscar rewards I predicted earlier, it at least needs to be good. PS- This is what I meant earlier by the Abigal Breslin casting. She would look around the age if the film was being made right now. But in order for the film to work, it shouldn't be made for many years to come. Which, obviously means that Breslin would be in her mid-twenties when the film begins production. Certainly that won't work.

6) Get the Right Writer and Director
Duh. This seems really obvious. But I just want to make two points that will make this seems less obvious. Two films have been done before that should help educate the producers on what not to do. The Last Airbender was a horrid adaptation from the Nickelodeon anime by M. Night Shyamalan. Obviously, any movie-let alone the Last of Us-would be doomed from the start by hiring Shyamalan. But I'm just using him as an example for what can go wrong when A) The wrong director gets his hands on a project and B) A director with very little knowledge of the source material gets his hands on a project. He shit all over what was a very well done anime show that had a cult following. It angered fans more than any film I've ever seen. I saw the film at the midnight premiere, and 10 minutes in, people were booing and throwing sodas and popcorn at the screen. I'm not even kidding. That actually happened. I couldn't hear what was happening in the film because of overbearing boos. Which, might have been a blessing in disguise now that I think about it.

Another film like Sam Raimi's Spider Man, shows what happens when a director who is such a big fan of the source material can actually be toxic for the film. I think that they need to find a director who is aware of the game, aware of the plot, but is not necessarily a hardcore fan of The Last of Us. He does need to know, though, what this game means to people. I've honestly never seen a game carry this much impact on its gamers before, and an inexperienced director who's unaware of the circumstances could prove disastrous.

My suggestion for a screenwriter is Michael Arndt. He's got his hands tied pretty tight with the Hunger Games and JJ Abrams' Star Wars right now, but if he does those two things well, he should be looked at extremely closely to produce a Last of Us script. He took a film in Toy Story 3, knew what the previous films meant to people, and then delivered a spectacular film. If he succeeds with Star Wars and especially the Hunger Games sequel, he'll definitely know how to write a post-apocolyptic survival film.

As for a director, I honestly don't know. It's a big project. These days people want Christopher Nolan to direct everything. If he was announced for it I'd be overjoyed. However, I'm going to go more of a ballsy route and go with David O. Russell. Say what you want about his controversial directing style, but it is proven to work. He's a very accomplished director, and he gets the most out of every scene and every actor. I doubt he would ever do a project like this, but in order to get the best performances from Joel and Ellie, David O. Russell could be the guy. Another director who has recently done a great job adapting source material to screen is Ben Affleck. Who knows, maybe he casts himself as Joel. Which I wouldn't complain about at all.

EDIT: Wow. I just went with my gut on David O. Russell and turns out he was signed on to write and direct Uncharted. I don't know how things went down when he left the project. They claim it was amicable, but you never know with Russell. If went down badly, no way Naughty Dog and the production company OK's O. Russell for Last of Us. Unfortunate. Let's hope it's not like Halo and just keeps getting shelved and eventually disappears.
 
7) Great Supporting Cast
I really like what Michael B. Jordan has done for himself and his career. He's really become a skilled dramatic actor. I think he could be great as Henry. He's proven that he has the acting chops and Henry is a pretty key role. Other smaller characters like Tess, Sarah, and Tommy all need to be great-specifically Tommy. Tommy is Joel's brother who could strongly factor into whether or not the movie would be good or not, much like Ellie. His casting scares me because there's not a lot of actors out there who remind me of him. Also, just as important as a great supporting cast is choosing who stays in the plot and who doesn't. There are so many minor supporting characters in this game that if the film tries to keep them all, it would suffer. I think that they need to really think long and hard about who stays and who bites the dust. Certainly Henry, Tommy, and Tess need to be in the film. I think characters like Bill could get cut out completely and just be involved in the extended version on DVD or something.

8) Special Effects and the Infected

This is a video game screenshot you're looking at. Simply beautiful.

One of the biggest praises this game is getting is the way it looks and feels. Visually, it's fantastic. It handles great and the zombies look intense. Killing scenes feel real. The whole game feels real. If all of those things could be done for a video-game, picture how incredible it could be with the effects of a film. It could look incredible. But, it also would have a lot of potential to be overdone. I think that the infected need to play a key role, obviously. Same with the hunters and the military and the rest of the enemies in this game. In this day and age, it is nearly impossible to make battle sequences and peril sequences look bad. Look at Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters. That movie was atrocious, but the fight scenes were at the very least mediocre. Obviously you aren't looking for battle sequences to be mediocre, but it shows how easily it can be done these days. It's just a matter of not overdoing it. And like I said earlier, the game thrives off of stealth sequences and the emotional plot. Don't make the highlight of the film the battle sequences with the Infected. Not that they shouldn't be great.

9) Don't stick 100% to the Source Material
All of these are extremely important, but this might be the most important one next to the casting of Joel and Ellie. The beauty of what the Last of Us did, and what all video games should do, is that it laid down a perfect foundation for the plot line. There are no rules or specifics to what a director needs to keep in the film adaptation. There is plenty of creative freedom with certain scenes whether that's extending them or changing them up a bit. I think that the first half of the game needs to happen within the first 40 minutes, and that's at the very longest. You don't want an adventure-survival film to be too long (that was one of my only problems with the film adaptation of Into the Wild-way, way too long). But, as I said, there is so much depth to the plot and the characters that cutting out too much would be suicidal to the film. The introduction to Joel within the first 10 minutes is so riveting. I think that it needs to be kept intact as much as possible. There are few ways it could go about doing this. Let's break it down:

1) Clearly Joel is handling a lot of emotional baggage with what happened in his past. It may be an interesting route to use it as a flashback, or a nightmare sequence. Maybe right off the bat you don't get his backstory, you get a sequence with Joel and Tess in the quarantine zone. Then as the story progresses, cut in different scenes from the outbreak. I think that Man of Steel showed what happens when the emotional backstory gets meshed into the main plot. It didn't go well for me, though I enjoyed Man of Steel much more than a lot of people did. For the record, I don't like this idea. I'm just presenting it as an option.

2) Don't bring up Joel's past at all until about halfway through the plot or so. Minor spoiler alert here: there's a scene where someone shows Joel a picture of him and his daughter, which could be used as the first reveal to an average movie goer of Joel's past. Obviously having played the game and seeing what his backstory was with the outbreak, you know the baggage Joel is carrying. I think with a movie like this, though, an average viewer may have never played the game before. So playing it off like there's some baggage with Joel that you can't exactly figure out until it's revealed could be intriguing. I'm going to go back to the film The Grey here for a second. The beginning of the Grey establishes that Liam Neeson's character is going through some major depression and dealing with a lot of different problems. I think that it perfectly set up what his character was. I think the same could be done for Joel. Also, it keeps an emotional scene with Ellie on the board. They easily could bond over Joel's past, and maybe she tells a story or two about her past. It could be a beautiful moment, and I think this is the best option.

3) Keep it 100% the same. I don't like this idea too much. Don't get me wrong-the introduction to the Last of Us was the best character and plot introduction to any game that I think I've ever played before. It hooks you in. I do think, though, that if the film were to copy this 100% and keep it right at the beginning of the film, it could suffer. It would be cut down much shorter than it ever should be, which would detract from the sweeping emotional elements of the introduction in the game. If you haven't noticed, I strongly believe the film version of the Last of Us will make or break itself on emotional, relatable moments.

4) A combination of 1, 2, and 3. This could be dangerous when looking at the length of a film like this. But if done right, this is the best option. Maybe do a shorter introduction where you don't get all of what happened right away, and then maybe throughout the adventure, Joel starts having trouble sleeping or keeping his head on straight. While that's happening the audience is getting flashbacks revealing a little more of what happened. For an average audience that hasn't played the game, they wouldn't know all of what's behind Joel, but they certainly understand how he got to where he is and to be how he is. And then it would all build up to a big emotional scene or two with Ellie and Joel.

This leads me to my final point...

10) Don't Make it Too Long, Don't Make it Too Short

Another incredible screenshot of the scenery.

I think 2 hours is the cap for this movie. An adventure movie at 2 hours can sometimes feel like 2 hours and 45 minutes if done incorrectly. Or even correctly, for that matter. It can get repetitive and sometimes you just want the characters and plot to get to where they're going. They have to make every second count. No second can go wasted. There is so much content and action in this game that if time isn't used wisely, it could get way too long. As I said earlier, movies like Into the Wild suffer from being way too long.

I can't remember where i saw it but there was already someone who took all the cutscenes in the Last of Us and put them together in order. The thing was 93 minutes long I'm pretty sure. It would be a good foundation to watch all the cutscenes and decide what stays and what goes. Then fill in the rest of the gaps with some action sequences (it is a dangerous post-apocalyptic infected world, which can't fall 2nd to the emotional moments) and maybe some original story lines.

A few things to sum it all up quickly. There probably will never even be a movie. Hell, there probably won't even be talk of a script or more than a draft or two of a script. But it is fun to think about. I mean shit, I've basically convinced myself to at least start writing an adaptation. I'm serious. I probably will.

Something I didn't do a full write-up on is that they need to make it rated R. If they go for the cash grab and rate it PG-13 and take out Ellie's vulgarity and some of the action scenes and blood, it's not even worth making. Films that are adapted from video games usually have people throwing up red flags these days. A lot of people are beginning to say that there never will be a good movie that comes from a video game. I don't agree. I don't disagree, either though. I think that there are still many games coming out that have potential. Like this game. It's just a matter of getting directors interested.

Here's something no one really thinks about: most accomplished directors aren't playing these games. Which makes these projects easier to pass up, and then allows guys like Christophe Gans and Michael J. Bassett (Silent Hill movies) to get their hands on it. Most directors are worrying about their films and scripts, and not a video game adaptation. They aren't getting attached to games like The Last of Us. The closest to a big director getting a video-game-to-film adaptation was Peter Jackson and Halo. Then things didn't work out, and Blomkamp ended up just doing District 9 instead.

I just think people are skeptical. I have a feeling most people's reactions to this is "No. They can't ruin this game". The thing is though, was Silent Hill ruined from the film? No. The games are still incredible. Silent Hill 2 was one of my favorite games ever. I think people are just over protective of what means a lot to them. People are worried that a project will get in the wrong hands. Which, odds are it probably will. And who knows, maybe the Assassin's Creed movie gets things going for the video game adaptation genre. I'll tell you what, a film that has Michael Fassbender attached to it makes me very confident. It also is shocking to me the amount of reservations towards video-game adapted films. Obviously we've learned our lesson with Resident Evil and Silent Hill. But if someone told you there was going to be a Halo movie or a Last of Us movie, you're telling me you wouldn't be excited to see it? Really? I would love it. The success of the Assassin's Creed film will heavily impact what's to come for video-game adapted films. If it fails, maybe people give up trying for good. In my opinion though, this certainly is the biggest adaptation yet. Please be good, Assassin's Creed.

I have to say that about halfway through the game, I actually said out loud, "they should make a movie out of this". I've never said that ever while playing a game. Secretly, I always wanted a Deadrising movie, but when you stop and think about it, you understand why it would never work. I really do truly believe that the Last of Us could someday become a fantastic movie.

Well, what do you think? Do you have any reservations about a Last of Us movie? Is there anyone you could see cast as Joel, Ellie, or anyone else? What do you think they need to do to make a successful Last of Us movie? Leave a SPOILER FREE comment, and let me know!

You can follow Will Harmon on Twitter at @willharmon8.

Running-Diary: Little Miss Sunshine

0:00- This is one of the all time best movies out there. I love this movie so much. There will certainly be several mentions of: Devotchka's score, Alan Arkin's slightly overrated performance, and the adorableness of Abigal Breslin. Let's get to it.

0:01- Olive's (Abigal Breslin) eyes. Devotchka's song "The Winner Is..." (which is my all time favorite movie soundtrack song ever). And the Miss America pageant. Great start.

0:02- Richard (Kinnear), presents his "Refuse To Lose!" program, quickly starting the Winning/Losing motif that will prominently be featured throughout the film. At the end of his speech, he says "I want all of you to go out and be winners!". It's then revealed that he is only presenting to a few people who aren't that interested in him. Certainly a contrast between Winning/Losing. Kinnear is a loser.

0:03- More character introductions: Dwayne (who looks like if Mitchell Musso knew how to act) doesn't talk. He works out in his room, keeps to himself. Edwin (Arkin) does a line of heroin in the bathroom. Brief introduction to Sheryl, who is driving while smoking. Then there's Frank (Steve Carell) sitting in the hospital. And with that the words "Little Miss Sunshine" appear on screen, while Sheryl walks into the hospital. Until I saw Place Beyond the Pines this year, there has never been a more captivating opening sequence in my opinion. Devotchka's "The Winner Is..." perfectly lays the foundation for the whole introduction, and we will certainly be hearing more of that song. Thankfully. Love it.

0:06- Sheryl takes Frank home and moves him in with Dwayne. Both don't seem too happy about it. I love Steve Carell in this movie. Everyone is fantastic in this movie, but Carell is just so perfect.

0:09- Hectic house, Richard comes home, Dwayne's setting the table, and then when he tells Frank that dinner is ready, it's revealed that Dwayne chooses not to talk. At all. One of the best characters that has ever been put to screen.

0:10- Frank asks Dwayne who he hangs out with, and he grabs a pen and paper and scribbles "I Hate Everyone" on a piece of paper. When asked "What about your family?", he grabs the pen and underlines "Everyone" harshly. Such great interactions between Frank and Dwayne. Some of the best parts of the movie involves them two. More to come on this later.

0:13- The awkward family dynamic begins, Arkin makes a loud appearance, and though there were obvious signs to it, it's finally revealed that Frank tried to kill himself and that is why he was in the hospital. Olive quickly starts her "most adorable child actor ever" campaign here. Carell is still fantastic.

0:14- Olive responds "That's silly!" when Frank says he was in love with another man and that Frank is gay. Just as adorable as always.

0:16- Change of topic to Olive being a pageant girl. Little Miss Chili Pepper and Little Miss Sunshine are brought up. Tension rises between Frank and Richard. Quick note on Greg Kinnear's performance: I think his performance goes completely under the radar for a few reasons. One is that his character isn't exactly likeable, and the other is the the entire cast is brilliant. I really think Kinnear is brilliant in this movie, and he almost gets no mentions.

0:18- I love every single thing about this scene. Olive's running around screaming Little Miss Sunshine. Richard and Sheryl are fighting about how to get to Little Miss Sunshine. I don't really know what Edwin is doing, but he's active as well. And all of this is going on while Frank and Dwayne have the same somber face on, still sitting at the dinner table. Such a grand scene.

0:20- It's been twenty minutes. The only scene has been at a dinner table. And it was captivating. What a great script from Michael Arndt. Quick note on Dwayne: the acting that this kid does for most of the movie is beyond tough to do. He can only show emotions with his face and eyes, and he can't say anything at all. Yet, you feel what he feels. Brilliant. Oh yeah, they're all going to the Little Miss Sunshine contest in a VW Bus.

0:22- This is some of the best dialogue ever.

0:24- Arkin is killing it. This is the reason why he won. Although, it's not like he's the only guy that could have done this. This was a character that was heavily created by the script, and not the performance.

0:28- Olive orders A La Mode and Richard gives her a hard time. A great scene again, as Dwayne, Frank, and Edwin all reach for the ice cream after Olive offers it up. Then Olive stops them and says not to eat it all, and she starts to eat some. Wonderful scene.

0:29- "The Winner Is..." makes its second appearance, with more xylophone in it.

0:32- They have to push the VW bus in order for it to get started and moving because the bus is old and shitty. They all push and then run into the car 1 at a time. After they all make it into the bus, Frank and Dwayne actually show some sign of happiness for the first time in the entire film. Particularly Frank.

0:33- "The Winner Is..." makes its third appearance, more trumpets this time. I'm pretty sure that this is the only version that varies from the original that is it's own song on the soundtrack. God I love this score so fucking much.

0:36- They stop at a gas station so that Richard can make a phone call regarding his book. Just before this, he and Frank had a hilarious back-and-forth about how stupid his "9 steps to success" were. Frank goes inside to get a drink, as well as some "non-airbrush shit" porn for Edwin. The guy that Frank loves that caused him to attempt suicide happens to be in the gas station. He sees that Frank is buying porn, and it's super awkward and hilarious.

0:40- They forgot Olive at the gas station. People think this scene is really stupid. Which, in a broad perspective, yes it seems pointless. But the fact that everybody was so caught up in their own shit that they forgot Olive, the one person that they are even making this trip for, thematically means that they're all so worried about their own lives and don't give a shit about anyone else's. Particularly Olive's.

0:42- "The Winner Is..." 4th appearance. Though this time, it's much more accordion.

0:44- Richard and Sheryl are fighting in the hotel room next door to Dwayne/Frank. Dwayne can hear the fight through the wall. The camera zooms in on Dwayne's face and he begins to smile. I think that Dwayne is exactly who Duncan from The Way, Way Back should have been. I liked Duncan just fine, but had he had more Dwayne inside him, I think he could have been the best part of TWWB. (My full The Way, Way Back review)

0:45- Hands down the best scene in the movie and without a doubt the "And the nominees are..." scene for Abigal Breslin. I know it's impressive when actors cry and stuff, but sometimes you can tell that they aren't genuinely sad, they're just playing a character who's crying. Maybe throw some eye drops in there and call it a day. But Breslin, man. She killed it in this scene. I don't know how she did that. She legitimately was crying in this scene. You could tell she was so afraid of being a loser and letting down her dad. So great. Arkin was fine in it, but this was Breslin's scene. Anytime you out-act Alan Arkin in a scene is impressive, and she did it at age 6.

0:49- Richard goes all the way to Scottsdale to meet up with Stan, who was supposed to get his book situation figured out. Stan is played by Bryan Cranston. Cranston has like 3 minutes of screen time, which is never enough Cranston.

0:52- Olive wakes up the family and says that Grandpa won't wake up. Sheryl starts to cry, says that "we're a family" and that she loves them all. Dwayne gets out his pad, and writes "Go Hug Mom" and shows it to Olive. One of my favorite scenes. A doctor then informs the family that Edwin indeed passed away.

0:58- The family goes to see Edwin, and they come up with a plan to sneak his body out of the hospital, so that they can get to the Little Miss Sunshine pageant in time. Very underrated performance from both Collette and Kinnear in the entire hospital scene. More motifs of "Winners vs. Losers".

1:01- The motif of "Heaven and Hell" comes up again, when Olive asks what's going to happen to grandpa. The car horn then gets stuck and it is continuously honking. A police man pulls them over, and they're freaking out because, well they have a dead body in the back. Kind of worthy of freaking out about.

1:04- The cop opens the trunk, and Edwin's porn falls out of the trunk. This scene is so awkwardly funny. It's even funnier when you think about how the rest of the family is sitting in the car thinking that they're talking about the dead body. One of the best lines in the entire movie: "Everybody...just...pretend to be normal!".

1:06- Olive is being a typical little kid when asking Dwayne to do eye-tests, when they figure out that he's color blind, which means, he can't fly a plane. There are so many different things that this means metaphorically, it might have to become its own blog. Well here goes a few:

Dwayne is color blind, which is ironic. The entire film he seems like he's the kind of guy who sees the beauty in life that no one else can see. It's troubling that he can't see color. Although, in its own weird way, it's like saying that he sees the world and everything a different way than everybody else.

The fact that he can't fly a plane is weird when given the Winners/Losers theory that his dad holds. His dad believes that if you give up on anything in life, that makes you a loser. Well, it's not that Dwayne is giving up on it, it's just that he just can't physically do it. Which puts him in a weird middle-ground between "winning" and "losing". He's just kind of there. Later in the film, he says he will find a way to fly, so technically he's not giving up.

Back to the plot real quick, his first word in months is "Fuck!". It's weird, the first time I saw this movie I thought he was going to throw up everywhere. Your heart just breaks for this kid. This is one of those movies that you just get so involved with all of the characters and you just feel for each and every one of them.

1:09-Dwayne and Sheryl are out in the field, which is metaphoric as well, since there isn't really any color to be seen. It's just plain and boring. Dwayne calls them all "losers", and that he just wants to be alone and not continue the ride.

1:11- Olive goes down to talk to Dwayne, and she just puts her arm around him. This girl is metaphorically and figuratively "Little Miss Sunshine" in the sense that she makes everybody around her happy and brighter. If you haven't figured that out by now.

1:13- They make it to the hotel barely in time for the pageant. Lots of metaphorical dialogue "I'm not turning around it's a One Way Street! I'm not turning back." Devotchka's score is my favorite part right here. What is this the 6th appearance of "The Winner Is..."? I think it is. It's much more upbeat and fast paced, to support the hectic nature of this scene.

1:15- The satire on pageants and pageant families begins. These are some of my favorite parts. Also, do you notice how I keep saying "these are my favorite parts"? Where is Alan Arkin? Oh that's right, he hasn't had any screen time since the 45 minute mark with Olive in the hotel, remember? When Breslin out-acted him? Look I know it seems like I hate his performance. I don't. He's brilliant. I just think it's one of the most overrated supporting acting performances of all time. It's all dialogue, and some of the most emotional, crucial moments of the film happen when he's not even on screen. Also, he's the 4th best supporting character in this entire film (shots fired). Kinnear's performance is vastly underrated because his character is so unlikeable, Carell is brilliant, and Dwayne didn't say a word until about 5 minutes ago, and yet, when it was revealed he couldn't fly a plane, your heart tugged. You felt emotionally attached to a character who couldn't even say anything for more than half of the film. That's how brilliant Dwayne is in Little Miss Sunshine. Look, nothing to take away from Arkin, he's a legend. He's had a hell of a career. But the fact he was nominated over all of these guys from Sunshine, and then BEAT Djimon Hounsou for Blood Diamond (a future Running Diary film, for sure) was just mind blowing to me. Alright, I'm done. I know that there are plenty of people who support Arkin and what he did in this movie, so I'm sure I'm going to get blasted for it if this article gets as many viewers as my Top-10 Cameos list did. Moving on.

1:16- Another great scene where Olive talks to Miss California and she reveals that she eats ice cream. I love it. Also, Dwayne is starting to notice how weird everybody is in the pageant environment.

1:20- The pageant starts, and right off the bat you can tell Olive just doesn't fit in with the rest of the group. You start getting some heart from Richard, as he shows a smile and claps. He looks very proud of her.

1:22- More satire about the pageant environment. I don't remember where I read this, but it was around the time Little Miss Sunshine came out and it was talking about how pageant families were really upset with how they were portrayed in this film. The thing is: I've actually been to a couple of pageants. It really is this weird. And like a lot of people, particularly males, I remember feeling the same thing Dwayne feels when he says "Let's get out of here" to Frank. Also, they make this singer guy super creepy when he's singing "America the Beautiful" to all the contestants. Seriously, what is that? Obviously that's how they wanted it, but it was just overboard creepiness. Olive's face when reacting to him singing right in her face is just priceless.

1:24- An awesome, just flat out awesome scene between Dwayne and Frank. Great dialogue discussing suffering. And some fantastic lines too: "Fuck beauty contests, life's just one big beauty contest" and "Do what you love and fuck the rest".

1:27- Richard realizes they don't want Olive to go on to do her talent and that she will embarrass herself. The funny thing is, this is the first time that Richard turns his back on the "losers quit" and "never stop trying" thing. It makes sense, though. Dwayne comes in and agrees with Richard, setting up one of the best scenes in film history.

1:30- Olive goes on. And she dances very controversially. And very unladylike, to put it nicely. This is such a great scene. It essentially is throwing middle fingers at the entire system of a beauty pageant and the entire lifestyle of getting kids involved way too early. I love everything about this, wait it gets better.

1:33- The thing with this entire scene, is that it's supposed to be laugh-out-loud hilarious. Which it definitely is, I love everything about it. It's just that it's so heartfelt at the same time. I don't know if I'm the only person that feels this way about the ending, I just think it's so beautiful how the family comes together. It brings a tear to my eye, more than makes me laugh. You know that scene in Silver Linings Playbook (most DEFINITELY a future Running Diary, by the way) at the end where Jennifer Lawrence runs up to Bradley Cooper for the big move, and then they don't get it, and her crotch is right in his face and he's carrying her around and everyone in the audience is laughing? That's what this reminds me of. But then, there is a scene right in the middle of all that, where it cuts to Jacki Weaver (Cooper's Mom in the film) for a brief second, and she's not laughing, she's crying and smiling. And it's tears of happiness. You can tell she's so proud of her son. That's what this is like. It reminds me so much of that. I'm the mom from Silver Linings Playbook (PS: don't be mad I just ruined one of the funniest parts of Silver Linings Playbook, you should have seen that masterpiece by now, it's your fault if you get mad about that).

1:34- Back to the scene, the director wants Richard to get her daughter off stage, but he sees how happy she is, and instead joins in and dances with her. On stage. In front of everybody. Then Frank, and then Dwayne, and finally Sheryl. It's such a beautiful scene; they all are happy, and they all are kicking ass. Yeah, all of the losers and weirdos are on stage together, but they're happy. And that's what matters.

1:36- One more "The Winner Is..." because fuck it, why not?

END CREDITS: I love this movie so god damn much. It pains me that this movie came out the same year that The Departed came out, otherwise it could've easily won Best Picture. The year before, Crash fucking won Best Picture. That's how down of a year 2006 was. 2008 would have been tougher, but I still think had it came out in 2008, it would've had a chance beat No Country for Old Men. But that's just me. There's a comparison going around that I will get to when I do my full The Way, Way Back review that it's is the next Little Miss Sunshine. It's not. It's certainly not after doing this running diary. It just isn't it. This kind of movie only comes along once every 10, 20 years. I truly believe that. I definitely touched on Devotchka's score plenty of times. It's my favorite movie soundtrack of all-time. I did a detailed breakdown of why Alan Arkin was overrated in this film, but I didn't get as many opportunites to say that Abigal Breslin is absolutely adorable as Olive. Breslin is so adorable in every movie she's been in. It's such a shame that she's in her late teens now, and never will ever be able to be this adorable again. I just wish there was some way we could keep her in her prime. You know, the Little Miss Sunshine and Definitely, Maybe prime. There are so many deeper elements in this film that I didn't touch on and didn't go deep enough on. Certainly a ton of themes and motifs I didn't mention. I only half gave a breakdown of what Dwayne's color-blindness means thematically. But you can notice so many different metaphors and themes in this movie, and you don't really even have to be looking for them all that much. That's some of the beauty that came along with Little Miss Sunshine. Beautiful and near flawless picture.


You can follow Will Harmon on Twitter at @willharmon8