The Last of Usis a note-perfect adaptation of one of the most cinematic video games ever made. When the series was announced with a fair amount of shot-for-shot adaptation, many asked why one would bother to watch something they already played. The decision that changed many minds was the casting.
Typecasting is, like any filmmaking tool, used for both good and evil. When casting agents are unable to see a talented performer in any role besides the one that made them a household name, it can ruin someone’s career. However, when the world finds anactor in a rolethey never get enough of seeing, it can be powerful. Before Pedro Pascal was a reluctant guardian inThe MandalorianorThe Last of Us, he took that role inProspect.
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What isProspectabout?
Prospectwas written and directed by Zeek Earl and Chris Caldwell, a pair of filmmakers who formed the production company Shep Films after meeting at Seattle Public University. They worked in commercials before moving into theworld of short films. Their second notable short wasProspect, which they crafted in 2014 with a crowdfunded $21,000 budget. That short, staring Callie Harlow and Tony Doupe, made waves at SXSW and became a hit on Vimeo. Riding high off of their success, Earl and Caldwell set out to adapt their short into a feature. They secured $4 million from BRON Studios. With that budget, they hired a team of industrial designers who had never worked on a film and set to work turning land near Olympic National Park into a hostile alien planet. The new and improvedProspectalso premiered at SXSW before a brief theatrical run and a streaming release.
Prospectfollows Sophie Thatcher asteenage space explorer Cee, who travels with her father Damon (Jay Duplass) to a dangerous far-off moon. Though the surface of the moon is covered in poisonous spores, it holds a massive deposit of buried natural treasure. Damon is deep in debt, so he’s desperate for a big score. Unfortunately, he and Cee encounter a pair of mercenaries who want their bounty for themselves. Smooth-talkingEzra (Pedro Pascal) and hissilent companion gain the upper hand, leaving the father and daughter broke but alive. Damon is unable to give up his cash, leading to a tense standoff in which he and the unnamed merc die. Cee is left without a father, and Ezra is left with a bullet wound. In impossible conditions, they’ll have to rely on each other to survive.
Why does Pedro Pascal keep playing dads?
Prospectplaces Pedro Pascal in yet another role where he’ll have to act as a reluctant guardian for a young person in hostile conditions. Ezra,like Joel Miller andDin Djarin, is a capably violent loner who finds himself saddled with a child who he must lead to safety.Prospectis interesting as a piece in conversation withThe Last of Us. Ezra and Cee are the equal and opposite of Joel and Ellie. Their roles are the same, their personalities are reversed. Ezra is charismatic, comedic, smug, and consistently unwilling to take his conditions seriously. Even as he risks dying a gruesome death, he talks like he has the world in the palm of his hand. His sense of humor rubs serious overworked teen Cee the wrong way. He’s flawless in the role, as anyone who has seen Pascal’s most popular performances would already know.
As Din Djarin inThe Mandalorianand Joel Miller inThe Last of Us, audiences have fallen in lovewith Pedro Pascal’s slow transitionfrom an angry loner to a doting guardian. Oberyn Martell, his character inGame of Thrones, doesn’t go through the same gradual change, but with his small army of bastard daughters, he’s arguably one of the best fathers in Westeros. Pascal doesn’t have any kids, at least as far as the world knows. There’s a trend across multiple mediums of powerful older men doing whatever they have to do to defend kids. The glut of dad-focused action movies starring olderactors like Liam Neesonand Gerard Butler rarely make headlines, but Pascal seems to play the elevated version of a similar part. He’s intimidating, yet sensitive. He’s charming, but he can be a scoundrel. There’s something so identifiably human about his performances, even when the audience can’t see his face. He’s the rare movie star that can convey sympathy, even as he’s pulling off action scenes. That makes him the perfect poster boy for the dad action movement.
Prospectis arguably the first dad action film to make use of Pedro Pascal’s unique talents in the role. Fans who can’t getenough of Pedro Pascaljoking his way through tense relationships with his surrogate kids should check out this clever 2018 film.Prospectis available now on Hulu, and it’s a solid sci-fi adventure.
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