Doing it his way
Pedro Pascal says he’s keeping a ‘healthy distance’ from The Last of Us hero Joel
PEDRO Pascal is currently basking in the overwhelming acclaim for his new comedy action film The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, but is also preparing to switch to a more sombre performance as Joel Miller, in the upcoming live-action adaptation of the popular video game series The Last of Us, which is due to premiere on HBO sometime in 2023.
While many acknowledge that Pascal has all the ability to portray a dark, brooding hero – as seen during his recent performance in the Star Wars original television series The Mandalorian – the actor may be at a slight disadvantage in getting the nuances of the video game character down, as he admits that he never really played the game.
In a recent interview with GQ magazine, Pascal stated: “It’s so sad, I haven’t any skill. I tried, you know. And then it was only a matter of minutes before I had to hand it over to my nephew. It really takes a specific kind of skill, and I don’t have it.”
Fortunatey, Pascal can count on some help in bringing Joel to life on the small screen. The series has brought on the video game’s creative director Neil Druckman, who created the character and knows him better than everyone else.
The actor also told
GQ that he tries to keep a “healthy distance” from the protagonist so as to not imitate him for the show.
He explained: “I found Joel so impressive – I found the whole of it such a visually impressive experience.
And then I got worried that I
would want to imitate too much, which I think could be right in some circumstances, and then a mistake in others. So I just wanted to create a healthy distance, and leave it in
the hands of [the showrunners].
“There’s a very, very creative way of honouring what’s important and also preserving what is iconic to the video game, and also [to include] things that you wouldn’t necessarily expect And then directions that you would expect it to go, and it might not … they’re doing some really smart things, is all I can say.”