/Film’s Ben Pearson attended a roundtable interview for “The Last of Us” in which Luna revealed his experience walking on the very large set as a fan of the original game:
“[Playing] Ghost Rider, obviously, [I had] dots all over my face, motorcycle shroud with lights on it, just a lot of green screens. [‘Terminator: Dark Fate’], definitely lots of green. Just living in a world of a pure imagination. And “The Last of Us,” to my absolute delight, was real, was there, was full 360 sets. I could walk for blocks and still be on our set. I could see and touch things that I’ve seen in the game. Details that –- I’m the kind of person that … is very exploratory when I experience these games. I mean, you can walk up to a wall and just stand there and look at the texture and the decomposition of the wood or the colors of the fungus. That’s me.“
Although visual effects will be used to bring the larger-scale elements to life (collapsed buildings, cities, etc.), it’s very exciting to hear real-life sets were used to fill out the immediate world. As a fan of the source material, examining the minute details while traveling through Boston and across the United States is an experience unlike no other. Truthfully, “The Last of Us” is at its best when it is able to transport us into an alternate reality through the surrounding environment.