The Last of Us is a truly remarkable game, but it hasn't gone down well with everyone. Actress Ellen Page — famous for her roles in Juno and Inception — has voiced her annoyance at the similarity between herself and lead character Ellie.
Speaking during a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" session, Page said:
I guess I should be flattered that they ripped off my likeness, but I am actually acting in a video game called Beyond Two Souls, so it was not appreciated.
Naughty Dog redesigned Ellie before the game was launched, although it insisted that the changes weren't related to her likeness to Page.
While we can understand Page's issue — especially when, as she points out, she's starring in her own video game this year — she's got it relatively easy. Poor old Arnold Schwarzenegger has been getting his likeness ripped off for decades.
[source thesixthaxis.com]
Comments 29
Seems like a bit of a snob.
@Gamer83 For having her likeness used without permission? Yeah, what a snob... Lets face it, every time you look at Ellie you see Ellen Page. Especially in promotional pictures, box art, etc. So I can completely understand why she's a bit miffed. The fact Naughty Dog had to redesign her shows they knew it may be a problem.
Dosent look like ellen page what so ever.. Girls just after attention to be honest
I see a little resemblance. I don't see why this has to be blown out of proportion.
Maybe my eye sights not what it used to be n I need to get some stronger lenses in my specs, But I just dont see much of a resemblance in the pictures. Its a vague one at best. Next we'll have Brad Pitt complaining of how Lazarus Jones in Ghosthunter on Ps2 bore a vague similarity to him...
I dont think it would have been much of an issue if it wasnt as much of a high profile release.
I don't know much about Ellen Page - haven't seen Juno or Inception - but I've always thought the girls in Last of Us, Beyond Two Souls, and the Kara tech demo looked way too similar.
If my job was getting paid to have my likeness used in a video game - Beyond Two Souls - and somebody released another video game in the same time frame only they don't pay me, yeah, I'ld be annoyed. ThIs is what she does for a living. But unless she's hired a lawyer to sue Naughty Dog she can say whatever she wants and it's a non-story.
You don't see me getting pissed for Naughty Dog ripping off my likeness for Nathan Drake.
Quit looking like a fourteen year old and grow up Ellen Page.
I'm an Ellen Page fan and can't wait for Beyond but get over yourself.
Ashley Johnson's performance as Ellie was just incredible and that's what people should be talking about.
Hell, I thought it WAS Ellen Page. ND are barbarians. Stealing girl's likeness is the worst thing ever.
The 'old' Ellie looked a lot like her, yes. 'New' Ellie looks no more similar than any other brown-haired young girl. They even changed her to look more like the voice/mo-cap actress Ashley Johnson.
Look at the pic of AJ here with brown hair, and tell me Ellie doesn't look much more like her than Ellen Page:
http://www.magmire.net/ashley-johnson-biography-1983.html
The original character design looked too much like Ellen Page. That should be obvious to anyone who can see. And I think she's in the right to be upset about them ripping off her likeness. She's an actress, which means that her likeness is literally how she makes a living.
It's also worth noting that she's not putting any blame on Johnson, as evidenced by this happening on Twitter:
@JayArr heh heh heh... I always thought she was unfortunate-looking. Like some kind of large child. And yeah, was Cameron Diaz gonna sue Konami for her likeness being used in Silent Hill 2? Mary/Maria admittedly was based on Diaz, and she probably wouldn't have had much of a chance of winning a lawsuit. Duh. Wonder what game will rip off Willem Dafoe's likeness but not really. Hmm.
I completely agree with her, her likeness is what actors and actresses have to sell, so in a way, they stole from her. I think Sony is going too much in a movie direction with their games as it is, but it is very obvious the character in game looks like her. There are tons of different looks they could have easy changed the character too. It's not like she's actually being a ***** about it
I honestly don't see it at all. Not even in the original pictures. Not even close really.
That's understandable. I'm glad she isn't taking this too seriously though
I can see it in the original version of Ellie but the final version, not so much. Seems like shes being rather nice about though which is good. Theres no telling if it was intentional on Naughty Dog's part but at least shes not lashing out at them over it.
Oh well,you as an actress/voice movie whatever don't have the right to tell the consumer how we should perseive you, that's our job, and if. You don't like it, find a new line of work
@Splat
Glad I'm not the only who feels this way. I will say Naughty Dog probably should've cleaned this up right at the beginning when the talk of the resemblance to Ellen Page started but it didn't, their mistake but at least the final design was altered. This also doesn't take away from it being an awesome game unfortunately it doesn't surprise me there'd be some sh*tstorm, happens with any game that gets popular and gets a lot of good press. The haters will come out of the woodwork now, no question. I just hope it doesn't hinder sales or hurt it when it comes to GOTY awards.
As somebody who studied a little bit of PR in college I'm actually looking forward to seeing how Sony tries to damage control this. Saying nothing won't help, but if they do the standard 'game speaks for itself' nonsense that I think they will, that's even worse. For now the haters and Ellen Page fans will be out in full force calling this 'the game that ripped off Ellen Page.' Some people will tell me I shouldn't care, if I like the game that's good enough but this isn't some halfa$$ed, mediocre game that was thrown out there to make a few bucks and I feel the people who worked hard and poured a ton of time into it deserve better. And that's what really annoys me about this whole situation.
I love how the Internet took one tiny, innocent line from the AMA and completely lost its collective shit over it. Slow news day, I guess.
@Ridien
It is a Monday.
Shut up Ellen Page
I think that there is a definite resemblance, and I don't really blame Ellen Page for being a bit annoyed. If it were your livelihood, wouldn't you? Anyway, it doesn't appear that she is THAT upset about it.
@bauckster
She's already made tons of money, this won't have an effect on her ability to get movie roles, Naughty Dog changed the character design and the way Sony is going to advertise Beyond (which I'm really looking forward to), it's not like The Last of Us was going to hurt it sales wise. It is pretty sickening to me that all the work that went into The Last of Us, not just by the developers but the actors, is now being discredited because of one comment. And since Sony doesn't seem to want to run damage control, I hope this doesn't have an adverse effect on sales or the end of the year awards, which The Last of Us should take the spot in several categories. But this crap may prevent that from happening.
@Gamer83
I wouldn't worry about that. I'm sure that Last of Us will get the props it deserves.
If anything I think it will help sales. People will want to see what all the fuss is about.
I have to honestly admit seeing the character on the cover of the game and scenes from the game I thought it was Ellen Page.
I remember telling my friend about tlou when I first heard about it and I had known about beyond two souls and I confused the games, I thought ellen page did look like the old ellie, The newer ellie I feel only resembles ellen page though. I don't understand what ellen page's problem is.
I think the problem is whether people want to admit it or not Ellen Page isn't exactly unique looking. I guess in the future the best decision is to just avoid making a regular looking teenage girl because that's exactly her look, apparently she's got the patent on it. Now people can say all they want that Naughty Dog blatantly ripped off her look, that there's no possible way anybody else looks like her, blah blah blah. People see what they want to see. A friend of mine sent a link to an article about this on IGN and some guy in the comments section said something along the lines of 'I think Punky Brewster has a case against the developers' and showed a picture of her. And there were people who seemed to agree with him. Bottomline is this. Yes, there was obviously a case of people getting confused when the initial trailer came out. Naughty Dog noticed, changed the character design and that should be that. I've got to admit this does kind of hurt my anticipation for the game she's actually in because to me, and I know I'm in the minority since everybody loves them some celebrities, she comes across as your typical, egotistical, Hollywood snob. And I'm actually not pissed at her for that because just like with athletes when you have millions of people telling you on a daily basis how wonderful and special you are it's going to lead to you having a big head. What does piss me off is her unneeded 'ripping off' statement makes it look like a company that, once again, changed the character design and went out of its way to let people know Ashley Johnson was the one doing the voice work, was purposely trying to make people think it was Ellen Page. And any good press the game was getting is now all gone. That's the real shame.
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