‘The Last of Us’ Crew Was ‘Banned’ From Saying Zombie on Set: ‘We Weren’t Allowed to Say the Z Word’
variety.comZack Sharf Don’t even think about calling HBO’s “The Last of Us” a zombie show. Eben Bolter, the cinematographer who shot four episodes of the video game adaptation’s 10-episode first season, recently told The Credits that referring to the series as a zombie show or using the word zombie to refer to the undead characters was strictly not allowed on set. “We weren’t allowed to say the Z word on set,” Bolter said. “It was like a banned word.
They were the Infected. We weren’t a zombie show. Of course, there’s tension building and jump scares but the show’s really about our characters; The Infected are an obstacle they have to deal with.” “There’s a lot of things The Last of Us is not,” the cinematographer said earlier in the chat. “It’s not a cliché zombie movie, it’s not Hollywood backlit where everyone’s close-up is perfect.
It’s a world of organic cinematic naturalism, and that’s something I could just feel.” In the world of “The Last of Us,” the human population has been destroyed by a brain-eating fungus.
While the undead act similar to zombies, they have a completely different look due to the fungus transforming their bodies. The undead are referred to as “clickers” and “bloaters” depending on what stage of the infection they are in.
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