6 months ago
24
One change in Joel's costume design from "The Last of Us" Season 1 to Season 2 is that he tucks his shirts in now "like a dad would."
1. First, since clothing is such an important piece of how actors get into character, Ann said she considers the cast her "closest collaborators in creating these characters." Speaking about working with Pedro Pascal specifically, Ann added, "I love that Pedro has such great insight into who Joel is, and I relied on that wonderful knowledge from him to help him create the look for Joel in Season 2."
2. One change in Joel's costume design from Season 1 to Season 2 is that he tucks his shirts in now "like a dad would." Ann explained, "When Pedro and I were doing his fittings, we talked about this subtle change, like maybe Joel's tucking his shirts in to sort of be a dad, and he's also a pillar of the community. So it's trying to be a little more respectful and dressed up a little bit more."
3. The only costume piece that carried over between Season 1 and Season 2 was Joel's signature jacket because it became so important to his character. Ann said, "We needed the audience to connect with a piece of clothing, knowing what was going to be coming up in Episode 3. So I had a conversation with Pedro about it in the fitting."
4. Speaking more about the moment in Episode 3, when Ellie finds Joel's jacket in his closet following his death, Ann said, "We needed to match that moment in the game as closely as possible. And even for people who didn't play the game, they recognized that jacket. When Ellie went and grabbed it, it broke everyone. I mean, I worked on the show, and it broke me. That's what serves the story. And at the end of the day, that's what I do as a costume designer is I have to help tell the story of what's happening."
5. Episode 6, which features all the flashbacks between Joel and Ellie, was a perfect example of how costumes helped age Bella Ramsey up and down as Ellie. Ann explained, "At the beginning of that progression, you see Ellie in lighter colors and prints and baggier clothing, because we wanted to sort of show that 14-year-old silhouette in a way that helped physically." As Ellie gets older, the clothing gets shorter and more form-fitting.
6. In terms of dressing present-day Ellie, her style intentionally mirrors Joel's style in terms of the pieces of clothing she wears, but also the colors. Ann explained, "You'll see Ellie in more plaid like Joel, but also in this bluer palette, to sort of show this emotional place that they're both in that's a little bit darker. I kept that color palette for Ellie throughout the season. Very sort of blue and muted."
7. Ellie and Dina's color palettes were also intentionally meant to be very different, but complement each other. Dina wears much brighter colors, which Ann describes as "more fun and effervescent and full of life," and she wears patterns, which Ellie doesn't.
8. Ellie's signature black Converse were decorated by Bella. "I just gave Bella a pair of Converse and I said, 'I want you to doodle like Ellie would doodle in her journal, and do with these what you will,'" Ann explained. "Bella took them, and a month later, I got them back."
9. And, Ann never asked Bella what any of the doodles on Ellie's Converse meant. She said, "I never even asked Bella what it meant, because I felt like it was between Bella and Ellie. Those are Ellie's doodles, and that's just one of the small details that help inform the actors as to who the character is, and maybe the audience doesn't pick it up, but Bella knew was there."
10. Dina teasing Ellie about her Converse was a running joke that lent itself to the practicality of getting Ellie out of those sneakers for boots, which helped Bella while they were on location, filming stunts, and more. Ann said, "Ellie's a rebel, and she doesn't care, and she's going to do whatever she wants to, and she's always going to go against the norm. So it actually works in a really cool way with her wearing them and Dina calling her out."
11. Certain outfits from The Last of Us Part II were necessary to recreate as closely as possible. One of which is Ellie's outfit when she sings "Take On Me" to Dina in Episode 4. Ann said, "I felt it was important. Craig and Neil [Druckmann, who created the games and co-created the series] felt it was important, and so did Bella."
12. Meanwhile, the rust-colored shirt that Dina wears while in Seattle, notably in the "Take On Me" scene, is meant to be a nod to Dina's backpack color from the video game. Ann specifically took the color and put it into the shirt because it stays "true to the essence of the character."
13. Dina's bracelet, which she gives to Ellie in the game and also in the Season 2 finale, was a collaboration between the costume and props departments. The bracelet was custom-made, based on references from the game, and then the costume team "broke it down, aged it, and made it look like it could have been a vintage piece," because they wanted the feeling that it had maybe been in Dina's family for a long time.
14. Another costume piece that is a replica from the game is Ellie's striped shirt that she wears to the museum with Joel in Episode 6. Ann recalled, "I knew that T-shirt had to be that because that's such an important part of the game. I wanted that down to every last detail to be exactly like it was in the game. The only thing that I changed was that I changed it from a tank top to a T-shirt because I felt the tank top was too adult, and I felt the T-shirt would make her look more like a kid."
15. Dina's jacket was not custom-made but rather a jacket from Aviator Nation that Ann had on her mood board for Dina very early on when she started to think about costumes for Season 2. She said, "There is an air of effervescence and fun and just everything that Dina is, which is full of life, which is why I love that rainbow. Neil Druckmann was immediately drawn to it. He felt like this would be a very iconic Dina jacket, sort of like the jacket that Joel wore last season. When I put it on Isabela [Merced] in fitting, it just made sense."
16. Ellie's green jacket that she wears in Seattle involved numerous conversations between Ann, Craig Mazin, and Ksenia Sereda, who was the director of photography for Episode 3, because Ellie needed to stand out enough but also blend in with the forest and Seattle's landscape. "We went and looked at all of these different shades of green," Ann said.
English (US)