HBO’s ‘The Last Of Us’ Loses ‘Chernobyl’ Director, Hires ‘Beanpole’ Filmmaker As Replacement
HBO’s highly anticipated television adaptation of the mega-hit video gameThe Last of Ushas made a change behind the camera.
Johan Renck, theChernobylandBreaking Baddirector who waspreviously hiredto helm the pilot for this series, apparently had to drop out due to a scheduling conflict. Now a new report says the show’s producers have found his replacement inKantemir Balagov, the director of the acclaimed Russian drama filmBeanpole.The Hollywood Reportersays that Renck, who was set to be reuniting with hisChernobylcollaboratorCraig Mazinon this series, had to drop out of the show due to a scheduling conflict. It’s worth noting that “scheduling conflict” and “creative differences” are the most oft-cited excuses used when a person steps away from a production, but Renck is legitimately an in-demand director who has worked onThe Walking Dead,Breaking Bad,Vikings,Bates Motel,Halt and Catch Fire,Bloodline, and many more shows. Last October, it was reported that he’s attached to directan Adam Sandler science fictin moviecalledThe Spaceman of Bohemia, so perhaps that’s the project that’s causing the conflict here.
Mazin, who created the Emmy-winningChernobyland previously wroteThe Hangoversequels, is serving as a writer and showrunner onThe Last of UsTV series, where he’ll work alongsideNeil Druckmann, the writer and creative director of bothThe Last of UsandThe Last of Us Part II.
The Last of Usis a “tale of the post-apocalypse, centering on the relationship between Joel, a smuggler in this new world, and Ellie, a teenager who may be key to a cure for a deadly pandemic. Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle the 14-year-old girl out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey as they traverse the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.” The first game, which was released in 2013, took on a surreal resonance last year when a real-life pandemic swept the globe, so I imagine the series, which is set decades after a disease ravages humanity, will feel just as odd when this show finally premieres.
I haven’t seen any of Kantemir Balagov’s films myself, but the 30-year-old filmmaker has earned praise for his sobering and bleak movies that have a tactile, grounded approach, so it seems like he’ll be able to perfectly capture the broken, desperate society that’s found at the heart of this story. Here’s the trailer forBeanpole, whichwe reviewed from Cannes in 2019:
