The premiere of chapter 1 of the series “The last of us” on HBO Max it has been enough for them to call it “the best adaptation of a video game.” For the most knowledgeable, it is not surprising that Neil Druckman, the director and creator of the acclaimed PlayStation title, is the showrunner of this version. But, what if we told you that the screenwriter of “Scary Movie” himself was in charge of bringing the story about the Cordyceps fungus to the small screen?
Learn about the story of Craig Mazin, the co-creator of the new hit on the streaming platform, who went from writing comedies to creating “Chernobyl”, one of the best dramas based on real life.
Craig Mazin, an inveterate comedian
It was the year 1997 when a 26-year-old named Craig Mazin made his film debut with “RocketMan” (1997), his first job as a screenwriter. In 2000, he would direct “The Specials,” a bizarre superhero satire written by James Gunn.
It would not be until 2003 that his career would take off. “Scary Movie 3″ came to theaters, one of the parodies most remembered by comedy fans. For the fourth part he would remain only as a producer.
Influenced by that style, he wrote, directed and acted in “Superhero Movie” (2008), a film starring Drake Bell himself in which a story similar to that of Spider-Man was told, but with the parody element in front.
Three years later, he would demonstrate his talent as a comedy scriptwriter again with “What happened yesterday? Part II” (2011) and the closing of the trilogy “What happened yesterday? Part III” (2013).
An obsession that was not laughable
With such a track record behind it, it was strange to think that HBO would entrust a huge budget to a comedy writer, but that was just what happened. Mazin convinced the studio with his magnificent script for “Chernobyl”which in 2019 surprised the world with its dramatic way of portraying the nuclear accident that occurred in Ukraine.
“I discovered with horror the effects of the disaster, the human stories that surrounded the incident and, above all, how the former USSR tried to cover up the consequences of the events,” Mazin told Heraldo when asked about his leap from comedy to drama. .
The success of the miniseries, which was nominated and won several awards, it was enough for HBO to place its trust in another of his most important productions of 2023: “The last of us”.
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And the rest brings us to the present. Craig Mazin, as a great fan of the video game, worked together with the original creator, Neil Druckman, and together they wrote the scripts for the series that just premiered on HBO Max and aims to be one of the best of the year.
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