The Last of Us movie is stuck at a "standstill," according to producer Sam Raimi.
Naughty Dog's The Last of Us is one of the greatest action-adventures games ever made. That inevitably marked it for a big-budget movie adaptation back in 2014. The project, which is being produced by famed director Sam Raimi for Sony Pictures' Screen Gems, has gone quiet since.
Last we heard, Naughty Dog creative director Neil Druckmann was penning the screenplay, which he described as making some "big changes" from the game's story. Rumor had it that Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams was up for the role of Ellie, one of the main characters from the game. Nothing has come of that, though.
IGN caught up with Raimi during a press event for the home release of horror film Don't Breathe. Raimi explained why we haven't heard much about The Last of Us movie since its initial announcement.
Well, unfortunately that one -- when we went to Neil with Ghost House Pictures we were hoping to get the rights like we do any project and then we'd take it out and sell it but we'd control the rights. With this one he went to Sony -- who I have a very good relationship with -- but they have their own plans for it and I think Neil's plan for it -- I'm not trying to be political -- Neil's plan for it is not the same as Sony's. And because my company doesn't have the rights, I actually can't help him too much. Even though I'm one of the producers on it the way he set it up, he sold his rights to Sony, Sony hired me as a producer by chance, and I can't get the rights free for him so I'm not in the driver's seat and I can't tell you what Sony and Neil together will decide on. If they do move forward I'd love to help them again.
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Druckmann confirmed as much as well in an earlier conversation with IGN, where he described the project as being "in development hell." Said Druckmann, "I know I said in an interview a while back we had a table read, got the script to a good place and it kind of entered development hell like these things tend to do. ... There hasn't been any work done on it in over a year and a half."
Raimi said that he's still attached to the film, although he didn't sound too optimistic about the project: "Yes, I'm attached to it. I'm not too sure what that means. Right now it's just sitting there. They don't want to move forward, and it's not my place to say why, and Neil, I think, is in a slight disagreement with them about how things should go so there's a standstill. And I don't have the power to move it."
So it seems lke The Last of Us movie is as doomed as its characters at the moment. We'll bring you more news on this as we learn it!
