Gabriel Luna is a nice guy – and often in his movie and series roles. Unless action icon Arnold Schwarzenegger comes knocking and wants to cast him as the villain, as happened with “Terminator: Dark Fate” and most recently the Netflix series “FUBAR”. He also briefly tells us about this in the FILMSTARTS interview, which is mainly about his performance as Tommy, brother of main character Joel (Pedro Pascal), in the series hit “The Last Of Us”, which can also be seen on the Sky streaming service WOW and as a purchase VoD from today, July 20, 2023, also on Blu-ray, DVD and for the first time in 4K (and therefore the best possible picture and sound quality) is available.
Luna gives one Insight into his meticulous preparation for his part in the critically acclaimed video game adaptation narrates the healthy pressures of working at such a popular brand, as well as vaguely teasing what to expect from Tommy in the already confirmed second season…
Gabriel Luna: Oh thanks. Since that’s the core of the story right now, with all the possibilities, variations, and variables, it would be silly of me to say there’s absolutely no possibility for it. But I haven’t been in touch yet. That alone decides [Marvel-Studios-Chef] Kevin [Feige].
Gabriel Luna: Do that, let’s bombard him with calls from all over the world.
Gabriel Luna: That was a really exciting experience. I’ve applied a lot of what I learned on the set of Agents Of SHIELD to Terminator, especially when working with effects. I met so many wonderful people there and met one of my best friends in Los Angeles, the wonderful Arnold Schwarzenegger, who became a mentor to me and a very important part of my life. And I owe your part of the world to this man.
Gabriel Luna: Bad guys are less inhibited. There is a certain liberation in not having to think about the well-being of those around you. This way you can be completely yourself. However, I prefer to be the hero – and I always have been. Maybe it’s just because I want to make my grandmother proud, or maybe it’s because of the way people with my background have been portrayed in the film industry for decades, which is why I want to be heroic and lead by example.
But if the greatest action hero of all time asks you to play his protagonist’s opponent, go for it. The most interesting thing about villains is that they are people who choose to do terrible things. That’s scarier than a dinosaur or a werewolf or anything that has an uncontrollable rage. It is someone who makes conscious choices.
More sassy Tommy in The Last Of Us Season 2?
Gabriel Luna: Of course I can’t reveal much yet. But if we tell Tommy’s story from the game, I would be very happy because I know how important he is to the storyline. But I’m sure [die Showrunner] craig [Mazin] and Neil [Druckmann] again with the intention of continuing to grow and expand the characters, not only making them accessible and interesting to those unfamiliar with the story, but also enriching the experience we’ve had while playing.
I look forward to exploring aspects of Tommy’s experience that we may not have seen in-game. This is my hope, of course, but Craig and Neil have not let me down before and they won’t now. And I don’t intend to disappoint her either. And of course we don’t want to disappoint the public.
Gabriel Luna: I briefly played with a friend when the first game came out in 2013, but then didn’t get around to finishing the story. But when I was told they were interested in playing Tommy, I started playing well. For my first conversation with Craig, I came to Bill’s town. So I got a little taste of the characters and the events and that was really beneficial for the encounter. I got the job a few days later, so it was time to get to work. I grabbed the controller and continued playing. It took me two and a half months to finish both games and I fell in love with them.
Gabriel Luna: Tennis player Arthur Ashe once said that pressure is a privilege. That pressure only rests on people who are expected to do a lot. I appreciate that pressure, because just because people care so much about something, they don’t give a damn what we do. But that was nothing new to me either, since Ghost Rider and “Terminator” were already established and very popular.
But in the end it’s about how much of myself I can put into a character. Hopefully, the more I do that and the more sincere and natural I am about being no, the more successful I am in playing a character that people will connect with and stay true to what came before. I can still remember how excited I was about The Last Of Us. And then to see it take shape and finally get all the credit was just amazing.
A very special experience
Gabriel Luna: You don’t want to celebrate it the day before night, but even reading the scripts I knew it was special, especially reading episode 3 about Bill and Frank and episode 7 with brothers Tommy and Joel reuniting. Then you look around in production and see the talent in every department, everyone’s love for the source and how everyone works together to make the best series possible.
However, it only becomes clear on the day of the premiere whether it really works. But it started popping up ahead of time in this case when we saw how HBO positioned us and promoted the show in a way that felt meaningful. It was something to look forward to.
Gabriel Luna: I remember the first little preview at the end of a larger HBO preview. You see “White Lotus”, “House Of The Dragon” and more, then the screen goes black. When it picks up again comes the first glimpse of our series… and then there’s a dragon at the very end and everyone was wondering, are there dragons in The Last Of Us? (laughs) Anyway, we’re really happy that people love it so much.
Gabriel Luna: Jeffrey stood up for me from the start. I love him. I didn’t meet him in person until the premiere, but we’d been in constant online contact before that. I often get a backlash: “The Ghost Rider isn’t a Mexican-American guy. Tommy and Joel shouldn’t be Latino.” There’s always that kind of reaction. Hopefully that will change. But Jeffrey has always protected me, for which I am very grateful. Last Of Us fans are fanatics and they know what quality is because they’ve seen it firsthand in the games. To me, Jeffrey, Tommy and I are a connected soul. There’s a lot we have in common.