The Last of Us co-creator Craig Mazin remembers the moment he knew for certain that casting Isabela Merced was the right choice.
It was Merced’s first scene with Ellie (Bella Ramsey) in the debut episode of season two. “Ellie opens the door and Izzy turns and goes, ‘Hiiiii,’ which is just awesome,” recalls the showrunner, who cast the 23-year-old actress after seeing her in Sicario: Day of the Soldado. “She just radiates.”
That word – “radiates” — is one that’s been used a lot to describe Merced as the rather sunny Dina, whose upbeat demeanor doesn’t get in the way of her otherwise well-honed survival instincts and moments of dark humor. Dina might be fairly cheerful for somebody living through an apocalyptic dystopia, but she’s no fool. Dina understands perfectly well the world she’s in.
Across the first four episodes, Dina’s relationship with Ellie has rapidly evolved as the duo have set off on a seemingly hopeless mission to Seattle to avenge the murder of their surrogate father figure, Joel (Pedro Pascal). During Sunday’s episode, “Day One,” [spoilers for the episode below] Dina discovered Ellie has immunity from the Cordyceps parasite, learned that she is pregnant from Jesse (Young Mazino) and became intimate with Ellie.
Below, Merced breaks down some of her big scenes from the episode, reveals what she learned in The Last of Us editing bay that changed her view of acting and tackles an online controversy surrounding her character.
Dina talks about loving Ellie’s bravery in this episode. Dina being so sunny, and Ellie being rather morose, what draws Dina to her in your mind?
Just like with any great couple, they are similar in the right ways and then they are different in the right ways. There are similarities that bring them together, but their differences keep them together because they compensate for what the other lacks. Dina is the brains and Ellie is the brawn, and this this operation wouldn’t work if they weren’t together. Also, what keeps them together is the need for vengeance for Joel’s death and there’s a lot of guilt there too.
Why would she feel guilty?
For Ellie, the feeling like “I could have gotten there sooner.” Or Dina, being like, “I could have done something else.” As much as we, in retrospect, might not have had any control over the situation, we like to replay things in our heads and exercising every potential outcome — that will drive us crazy. So we’re helping each other grieve, as well. I think Dina is projecting a lot of her grief onto Ellie, and by helping heal Ellie, she’s healing herself in a way.
Dina and Ellie getting intimate is obviously a key turning point their relationship and a scene that fans in the game have been waiting for. Instead of asking anything specific, what would you like to share about shooting that scene?
I think they did it really tastefully. The intimacy coordinator was phenomenal. But also, this is a really necessary step in their relationship. It’s also just like really hot to me because it’s like the culmination of all of these feelings and secrets all just being let out in one moment. It may seem passionate and in-the-moment, but it was really calculated, and we were really intentional about every single thing that was a part of that sequence, because we wanted to make sure none of the characters were doing anything that was out of character.
Dina talks about her sexuality afterwards. I read online that some criticized Dina saying in a previously episode she’s not gay, but is seemed just curious, that that’s “weakening her bisexuality.” Their conversation in this episode seems to address that more clearly, but what are your thoughts?
I think every baby gay should be allowed to be confused and should be allowed to be curious and figure it out. I don’t think Dina’s being explicitly manipulative. I think Dina really does have feelings for Ellie, and it’s just really confused about it. I think for me personally, that was a really relatable experience. So I was like, “Okay, that actually makes sense for me, and the way that I view Dina as a character.” It’s important because I think Ellie’s quite the opposite. Ellis has always known who she was and didn’t have that struggle of complicit heterosexuality — which is a new term that I learned, and is a very real. This was all calculated, too. Craig Mazin was like, “I know the gays are gonna hate me for like a week.”
There’s a hard decision Dina makes at the end — which becomes more of an issue as the season goes on, but it starts here — where Dina decides to continue on with the revenge quest despite being pregnant. I’m sure some will say: Dina should turn back at this point.
Up until this point, everyone was under the impression that Dina was doing this for Ellie and Joel. But in the next episode, you’re going to learn that Dina has her own personal reasons, as well. Once that motive is revealed, her decision makes more sense to me. At lot of times, I was looking towards my mom for this role. Knowing her, if she were able to somehow secure the safety of others and herself and her baby — nothing would really stop her. She would get even if she weren’t able to guarantee [that she would survive]. Whenever I would question an action or decision, I would be like, “How would [my mom] go about it?” Because I find her to be a very level headed individual, whereas I’m just super impulsive. I’m more Ellie-leaning. Also, there’s the way Dina is able to take charge, the way she’s able to assess situations with logic and emotion; she’s super balanced with that.
The sequence where Ellie plays guitar, you can see all these various emotions cycling across Dina’s face. What was that sequence like for you?
It was really emotional. That was my favorite scene from the video game. When I was walking around on the set, it was so beautiful. They literally built this music shop inside of the stage. And Bella was actually beautifully playing and singing. They told Bella to do it the way that they would, except worse, so it sounded more like a regular person picking up a guitar, and not like this talented individual that just emits beauty in all directions. So Bella had to kind of tone it down a little bit. Even then I was I was still mesmerized and emotional. I’m also always emotional, so it was actually hard for me to hold back. I wanted you to be able to see the changes in Dino’s face, from when she’s maybe thinking of Joel, or thinking how scared she is to fall in love. I just wanted to make sure that was coming across.
I found it interesting reading in another interview that you asked to join a VFX meeting. I don’t think most actors would necessarily want to do that. What made you want to and does this mean you have Hollywood career ambitions beyond acting?
I’ve always wanted to and I just hadn’t had the balls to ask. But Craig makes everyone feel so comfortable, and really brings out the best in people. It started with me asking to go into the editing room because I wanted to watch. That was hardest text I’ve ever had to write because it felt so weirdly entitled — like that’s such a sacred space and I wouldn’t expect him to let me be a part of it. But he did. I spent like five days watching them cut together scenes, and I learned more about acting then that I ever have in my whole career. And then I would join the VFX meetings and wouldn’t say anything. And then I would text Craig at the end, and he’d be like, “You were here the whole time?” The quietest I’ve ever been, is it those meetings. I became like this glorified intern.
What’s something you specifically learned about acting from sitting in the editing bay that you didn’t know before?
That there’s no such thing as doing too many takes. I learned how sacred and magical it is to get a perfect take. There are so many contributing factors. Like if there was just one little moment of something being out of focus, one head nod being wrong, something not matching another shot — the panic and disappointment and devastation that would ensue in the editing room when that happened. I was like, “All right, noted, I am never, ever going to complain ‘this is too many takes and too much coverage.’” It also taught me that in the future, when I direct my own projects, that I understand the importance of story boarding and planning a shot list.
Oh, also, watching Pedro. I learned his little micro idiosyncrasies and nuances in his performance. This man is such a special actor. I wasn’t able to really clock it when I was working with him, because I was really wrapped up in what I was doing and just getting my freaking lines right. But in the editing room, I was really able to appreciate his skills.
Is there any scene from this episode I didn’t ask about you wanted to talk about before we go?
The sequence [in the underground subway tunnel being attacked by the Infected] was so hard, and those rooms smelled like manure because somebody to wait the correct number of days to properly air it out. But during that time, [Bella and I] bonded the most. That was the sequence where we really got up close and ended up creating a secret language.
The Last of Us airs Sundays on HBO.
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