The 2013 game of the year (sorry GTA 5) is officially getting the movie treatment.
Screen Gems, the same studio behind the Resident Evil films, announced today that they have signed a deal with Naughty Dog to turn “The Last of Us” into a full length live action film. In addition to that, they have also brought in the legendary Sam Raimi to produce.
Neil Druckmann, who was the creative director behind the game, will penn the screenplay and join game director Bruce Straley, Naughty Dog Presidents Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra, and Raimi as a producer under the Evil Dead genius’ Ghost House Pictures company.
For those living under a rock, “The Last of Us” details a decimated post-apocalyptic world where some unknown strain of fungus has turned most of the earth’s population into horrifying zombie-like creatures. The story features Joel, an aged and gruff smuggler, who must escort a 14-year old girl by the name of Ellie through the treacherous and monstrous terrain. Think of it as cross between Cormac McCarthy’s The Road and “The Walking Dead.”
And for those who are like me and have become too emotionally attached to the game, this news is a bit ambivalent. On one hand, Sam Raimi is backing this and I mean come on, “The Last of Us” gave us one of the most boss storylines of any game in the last ten years. On the other hand, the movie will be coming out of the same studio as the Resident Evil franchise…
All we can do now is put our faith in Naughty Dog and hope that Paul W.S. Anderson isn’t within an inch of this project. But hey, at least we can all play the casting game.
Here are my choices. Oh, and I opted out of the blatantly obvious Ellen Page as Ellie.
Chloe Grace Moretz as Ellie and Josh Brolin as Joel.
