Movies
Why Naughty Dog Director Doesn’t Want Direct ‘The Last of Us’ Film Adaptation
A feature film adaptation of Naughty Dog’s survival-horror game The Last of Us has been talked about pretty much since the game came out back in 2013, with Screen Gems announcing that they were developing one less than a year after the cinematic game was released. At one point, Sam Raimi was even attached to the project as producer.
But we haven’t heard much about the planned adaptation in recent years. For the best, says Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann, who co-directed the video game. Druckmann himself had worked on the script for the Screen Gems project; reflecting on the project years later, however, he now hopes that the script never makes it to the screen.
Druckmann explained why at DICE Summit 2018, via Screen Daily.
“Even I worked on the script for The Last of Us film, which was a direct adaptation,” Druckmann explained. “And now, having some separation from it, I look back and [am] like, ‘I don’t want that movie to be made.’”
He continued, “Maybe there’s something that could be done in the world, either focusing on other characters or other time. But, for me, and I know for Naughty Dog and for a lot of our fans… Ashley Johnson is Ellie, Troy Baker is Joel. And it would be very disorienting to see someone else in [those roles].”
So it sounds like if Druckmann has his way, The Last of Us will get its own movie, though not one that’s a direct adaptation of the game… as originally planned.
Movies
’28 Years Later’ – Ralph Fiennes, Jodie Comer, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson Join Long Awaited Sequel
Danny Boyle and Alex Garland (Annihilation, Men), the director and writer behind 2002’s hit horror film 28 Days Later, are reteaming for the long-awaited sequel, 28 Years Later. THR reports that the sequel has cast Jodie Comer (Alone in the Dark, “Killing Eve”), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kraven the Hunter), and Ralph Fiennes (The Menu).
The plan is for Garland to write 28 Years Later and Boyle to direct, with Garland also planning on writing at least one more sequel to the franchise – director Nia DaCosta is currently in talks to helm the second installment.
No word on plot details as of this time, or who Comer, Taylor-Johnson, and Fiennes may play.
28 Days Later received a follow up in 2007 with 28 Weeks Later, which was executive produced by Boyle and Garland but directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. Now, the pair hope to launch a new trilogy with 28 Years Later. The plan is for Garland to write all three entries, with Boyle helming the first installment.
Boyle and Garland will also produce alongside original producer Andrew Macdonald and Peter Rice, the former head of Fox Searchlight Pictures, the division of one-time studio Twentieth Century Fox that originally backed the British-made movie and its sequel.
The original film starred Cillian Murphy “as a man who wakes up from a coma after a bicycle accident to find England now a desolate, post-apocalyptic collapse, thanks to a virus that turned its victims into raging killers. The man then navigates the landscape, meeting a survivor played by Naomie Harris and a maniacal army major, played by Christopher Eccleston.”
Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer) is on board as executive producer, though the actor isn’t set to appear in the film…yet.
Talks of a third installment in the franchise have been coming and going for the last several years now – at one point, it was going to be titled 28 Months Later – but it looks like this one is finally getting off the ground here in 2024 thanks to this casting news. Stay tuned for more updates soon!
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