HBO’s The Last of Us is gaining immense popularity and the number on viewership is increasing every day, and as the series is progressing the fans of the game are showing their love for the series. One of them was Neil Druckmann, the co-creator of The Last of Us game was in tears when he saw the Clickers in real life and expressed that the show has got the concepts right.
What was Neil Druckmann’s First Impression of Seeing the Clickers?
On the Pilot podcast, Neil Druckmann recalls his emotional response when he was called on the sets of The Last of Us, where he saw the stunt performers in the Clicker prosthetics, the performers were moving and sounding similar to the video game, and he described the moment as “surreal”, and each time he saw the Clickers, he was blown away by it. Here’s what the co-creator of the game had to say:
“So, look, you’re approving concept art, then you’re forgetting about it and moving onto a million other things. And then one day, they’re like, “Oh, Neil, we need you to come look at something.” And it’s the first time they had two stunt actors in full Clicker prosthetics and they are all standing there and they’re waiting with their notepads to take notes of whatever I say. So I come in there, looking at them and they’re moving like Clickers and one of the guys we had, Sam, who was such a fan of the game, he could even make the Clicker sounds.”
“So they’re sounding and moving like Clickers. And I am seeing it in real life and everybody’s kinda looking at me and I am getting teary-eyed. Like I’m about to cry! It was such a surreal – and that happened to me multiple times in the making of the show, where I would walk on set and I’d just be blown away by what I’m seeing because it’s in real life. It’s not just on a 2D monitor, I’m standing in it or I’m looking right at it or I could touch it. It was a very strange, exciting feeling that is hard to articulate.”
The 2nd episode of The Last of Us was horrifying, and the accuracy of the Clickers from the game directly led to the increased popularity of the TV series. The Clickers from episode 2 stood out as one of the most horrifying and disturbing figures of the show and the game-like accuracy has added to the TV series’ visual frights.
How Did The Last of Us Series Recreate the Clickers Correctly?
The Last of Us series recreated the Clicker from the video accurately, making it the most disturbing creature in the game and in the series. The Cordyceps infection has several stages, where the Clickers tend to be the most horrifying, due to the fungal overgrowth the host’s palate has been split into two, the creature is blind but it can hear with extreme precision.
In the game, the Clicker tends to have twitchy movements, and spine-chilling vocalizations, which was also present in the show. Many people would be perplexed to learn that the accuracy of Clicker was achieved through prosthetic makeup, which immensely helped in achieving the minute details of the creature, and none of it could be achieved through CGI.
The fourth episode of The Last of Us will be available to stream on 5th February 2023, on HBO Max.
Source: Twitter
