♪ (INTENSE MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
PEDRO PASCAL:
getting this job.
I knew this was going to be the hardest and the best experience of my life.
And it all came true.
♪ (MELLOW MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
DIRECTOR: Okay. Ready and action!
PASCAL:
was the first three scripts of
and was immediately blown away.
CRAIG MAZIN:
that is an active participation form of art,
like a video game,
into a passive participation form of art,
like watching television,
you have to make quite a few changes.
NEIL DRUCKMANN:
it's like doubly difficult of a job.
You need to find someone
that can make it their own in a really interesting way,
so it doesn't feel like they're just duplicating
this other medium.
-CREW MEMBER: A marker. -(CLAPBOARD CRACKS)
-DIRECTOR: Action! -SHOOTER: I see you... (CENSORED)
PASCAL:
because, truthfully, so much is based on the original source material.
Troy Baker's performance, his movements, his sounds,
and discover what I can bring to it.
And ultimately realize it's a presence that Joel has,
which is specifically physical.
The essence to that presence is something
that is very shattered, and vulnerable, and afraid.
ELLIE WILLIAMS: How did it even start?
If you have to get bit to be infected,
then who bit the first person?
MAZIN:
Until we saw Bella's audition.
There is no actual Ellie.
Ellie is a combination of Ashley Johnson's amazing performance.
Ashley Johnson is an adult.
And the Ellie we see, of course, is animated.
It's a creation on a computer.
So, you're asking a human being, now,
to be both things at the same time
when there never was both things at the same time.
When you see somebody that possesses
the soul and spirit of a character,
then you might have something.
But possessing the soul and spirit of a character
also needs to be combined
with talent, and determination, and humor.
And we found the perfect actor.
BELLA RAMSEY:
is it's so dark, but also, there's so much humor.
There's so many light moments and, like, beautiful moments.
And I think the lightness and the humor
amplifies the darkness and the emotion of it even more.
Long way or short way?
I mean, it's the long way or the "We're (CENSORED) dead" way.
Well, I vote long way,
just based on that limited information.
MAZIN:
and there's quite a few differences.
Anna Torv is one of the best scene partners I've ever had.
ANNA TORV:
They've been working together for some time.
They have kind of a pretty close, you know,
unspoken relationship,
both a working one and also a personal one.
PASCAL:
out of the two of us.
Together as a duo, we find, you know,
our best ways to survive in this world.
DIRECTOR: And cut!
(LOADS RIFLE)
FRANK: I'm not infected!
Are you armed?
NICK OFFERMAN:
as an actor, to just get a job.
I mean, it's like winning the lottery to just get paid.
If you're lucky enough to come into writing like this writing,
it's so few and far between, it's such a rare occasion.
MURRAY BARTLETT:
He sort of exceeds the expectations
of what I thought Bill would be, in a way.
Like, he's just-- He falls into the Bill kind of mold so well.
BILL: We will never have friends
because there are no friends to be had.
I've actually been talking to a nice woman on the radio.
You what?!
OFFERMAN:
And just what a sweet guy.
I couldn't have concocted a--
a better person in a fantasy than that Australian gentleman.
MAZIN:
formed this perfect relationship as actors.
It's astonishing.
It's the same thing with the entire cast.
You have hopes, then you have high hopes,
and then you have these ridiculously high hopes.
And we got rewarded time and time again.