Posted in: HBO, TV | Tagged: craig mazin, HBO, Murray Bartlett, nick offerman, Peter Hoar, steven spielberg, the last of us

The Last of Us: Spielberg Praised Episode 3 in Letter to Craig Mazin

The Last of Us director Peter Hoar discusses the time Steven Spielberg wrote a letter praising "Long Long Time" to showrunner Craig Mazin.

You know you've made it as a pop culture institution when one of your stories touches on the greatest in the industry, as The Last of Us co-creator Craig Mazin found out after confirming a letter from legendary director Steven Spielberg regarding the HBO series' third episode "Long, Long Time" which primarily focused on the lifelong love story between Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett) in the fungal apocalypse.

"Well, I didn't get it directly, but [an actual Spielberg letter] came to Craig Mazin, the writer of my episode on 'The Last of Us' — the writer of all the episodes," director Peter Hoar revealed to The Hollywood Reporter. "He shared it with myself, Nick Offerman, Murray Bartlett, and [cinematographer] Eben Bolter. Basically, a whole group of middle-aged men started squealing because their idol had realized who they were. I think he probably knew who everyone else was, but he didn't know who I was. And now he's probably forgotten."

Mazin and Hoar worked together to draft the story that the original 2013 game barely scratched the surface of Bill's life. "Craig may be straight, but he's got the warmest heart," Hoar said. "I think that's partly why it is so universal because his attention was on the love rather than the gender. I've had many conversations about the character of Bill. Everyone goes, 'Well, Bill's a gay man.' I was like, 'Well, is he? He could be. But he hasn't really defined himself in those words.' Craig wrote from what he knew, as he'd been in a marriage for some number of years. He knew the things that categorized the success or failure of a relationship, and that's what went in. They're universal. I didn't want it to feel that it was only one group of people's story. I think if it had been, it wouldn't have been as successful. It would've felt niche."

During the events of the original 2013 The Last of Us, Joel and Ellie try to track Bill down secluded in his town filled with booby traps. While it captured his survivalist attitude, players had to travel through a high school and a suburban neighborhood to track down a vehicle with a functioning battery. When they stumble upon their destination, they find Frank, who took his own life after being bitten with a note left behind as they find out the nature of their relationship. "Long, Long Time" rewrote the narrative to only show Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Tess (Anna Torv) interacting briefly as the spotlight showed Bill's life as he meets Frank awkwardly in one of his traps; the two fall in love over the Linda Ronstadt song of the same name, grow old and die together when Frank decides he's lived long enough with his deteriorating condition. When Joel and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) head their way into the present day, Bill leaves a suicide note while parting wisdom about life before the two drive off in his truck.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!