The first day of filming only involved a few simple shots. Afterward, Gilbert and Tom Cruise were interviewed by reporters who had come to visit the set.
Tom Cruise rubbed his hands together excitedly. "I'm really looking forward to this collaboration. Gilbert and I are very good friends, and I'm happy he asked me to work with him again."
Gilbert said, "This time, we're telling a story about a father and daughter. Tom and I are both fathers ourselves, so we can truly understand the emotions that come with being a parent. I believe Tom can interpret the role perfectly, which is why I chose to work with him again."
Jude Law, who also starred in the film, said excitedly, "This is my first time working with Director Gilbert. For me, it's a great opportunity. Tom is amazing too—I play his younger brother in the movie, and I love this role."
Out of concern for her, Gilbert didn't let Saoirse Ronan accept interviews. These reporters were good at setting traps, and Saoirse lacked experience, making her vulnerable to falling for one.
However, that day would eventually come, because after all, she was starring in a Gilbert film.
There was one piece of data that proved her rising popularity—after it was revealed that Saoirse Ronan would be starring in The Last of Us, her name's search volume skyrocketed from zero to 150,000.
She even got her own page on Wikipedia.
Although there wasn't much information on it yet, Gilbert believed that over time, her page would fill out with plenty of new details.
After the media interview day ended, The Last of Us officially entered its closed filming phase. The first scenes to be shot were those depicting the father-daughter relationship between Joel and Sarah.
At first, when Charles Roven read the script and Gilbert's shooting plan, he asked whether Joel and Sarah's scenes could be shortened.
That section alone ran for over thirty minutes, and even after editing, it would still come out to around ten to fifteen minutes.
However, Gilbert firmly stated that this part could not be shortened under any circumstances.
That sequence was essential for helping the audience understand the emotional bond between Joel and Sarah. Only then could they fully grasp Joel's motivation for rescuing Ellie from the Firefly organization later in the film.
It was precisely because Joel had already experienced loss once that he could not bear to lose again.
Although The Last of Us contained many elements typical of zombie films, its core was driven by emotion.
Emotion is one of the most common elements in cinematic storytelling. Love has always been a timeless theme for artists, creators, and directors alike.
By comparison, depictions of family affection are less frequent, but when done well, they can be just as moving.
Gilbert made extensive adjustments to the game's original storyline but retained its emotional core and central theme, ensuring that sentimental viewers would still be moved to tears in the theater.
However, the crew soon encountered their first challenge—during filming, Dakota Fanning became so emotionally overwhelmed that she couldn't stop crying.
The lights in the room were dim. Sarah was asleep on the sofa, and at that moment, Joel had just come home.
"Tommy, Tommy, listen to me." Joel noticed Sarah was asleep and quickly lowered his voice. "He's the contractor, okay? I can't afford to lose this job."
"We understand. We'll talk about it tomorrow morning, alright?"
At that moment, Sarah yawned and woke up from the sofa.
"Hey!"
Joel hung up the phone and gestured for his daughter to scoot over as he sat down wearily beside her, rubbing his head.
Sarah asked, "How was work today?"
Joel clearly didn't want to talk about work, so he changed the subject. "It's late—you should be asleep by now. What are you still doing up?"
"Oh no, what time is it?" Sarah quickly looked at the clock.
"It's past your bedtime," Joel said.
"But it's not midnight yet!"
Sarah pulled a small gift box from under the sofa while Joel hadn't noticed. "Come on, honey, I don't have time for your games. Go to bed," he said.
But just as he finished speaking, Sarah handed him the gift box.
"What's this?"
"You're always complaining about your broken watch, so… you know… I just…" Sarah looked at her father. "Do you like it?"
"Sweetheart," Joel said, pretending to tap the watch, "I love it—but it looks like it's broken."
"No, it's not!" Sarah took it back and checked—sure enough, it was fine. She gave a playful laugh, annoyed by his teasing.
Joel asked, "Where'd you get the money for this?"
Sarah's answer was witty. "Drugs. I sell hardcore stuff to pay for it."
"Perfect," Joel said, turning on the TV. "You can start helping me with the mortgage now."
"In your dreams!"
This scene was made up of multiple takes filmed from different angles.
Anyone who's ever directed a movie knows that the hardest actors to manage on set aren't the big-name stars—it's the child actors.
These kids have no real sense of a famous director's authority, and if they get upset, they can cry or refuse to act at any moment.
These child actors have no real sense of what a "great director" means—if you make them unhappy, they'll go on strike or burst into tears at any moment.
However, even though Dakota Fanning was still very young, she had already worked with a top director like Steven Spielberg. With her rich acting experience, she didn't cause any trouble at all during filming.
For this particular scene, the crew spent more than half a day shooting it repeatedly. Dakota never once complained about being tired, and she even surprised everyone from time to time with small moments of unexpected brilliance.
But in the end, even such an experienced little actress couldn't hold back her tears and broke down crying on set.
The reason was simple—during the half month she spent working alongside Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, who played Sarah, really developed a genuine bond with him.
So when the moment came for Sarah to die in Joel's arms, and she saw Tom Cruise crying while feeling his grief and heartbreak, Dakota couldn't help but cry too.
"Sob… sob… I don't want to die! I'm not dead yet!" Dakota Fanning wiped her tears as she cried, making everyone on set feel both moved and amused.
After finishing that shot, Gilbert helplessly gestured for Tom Cruise to step in and comfort her.
Fortunately, Tom Cruise was no novice—he was already a father of two, after all.
He immediately picked Dakota up in his arms and said gently, "Come here, don't cry, Daddy's here! Be good, okay? Daddy will take you to get some dessert, how about that?"
With Tom Cruise's comforting, Dakota finally came out of the scene. And true to his word, Tom later took her out for dessert.
Saoirse Ronan hadn't had any scenes to shoot for the past half month, so she mostly spent her time on set observing how Dakota Fanning, the child star, performed.
Watching Dakota cry uncontrollably on set, Saoirse Ronan secretly made a promise to herself—she must hold it together.
She wanted to deliver a flawless performance and leave everyone with a great impression. She swore she would never cry.
But to be honest, that would be easier said than done.
Because with child actors, the few who can deliver strong performances without any formal acting training are usually those who rely on experiential acting. Saoirse Ronan could truly be called a natural-born actress, and she too followed that experiential method.
To better understand Ellie's character, she not only read the script more than a dozen times but also wrote over twenty pages of character notes for Ellie.
Not only that, but whenever she had free time, she would pester Gilbert with questions.
Of course, Gilbert was never stingy—he answered every one of her questions, helping Saoirse deepen her understanding of the role.
After Dakota Fanning finished her scenes, it was finally Saoirse Ronan's turn to step into the spotlight.
.....
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