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How Bella Ramsey From The Last Of Us Is Dealing With Negative Reactions On Social Media

Ramsey originally avoided social media but has seen the negative comments.

113 Comments

The star of HBO's The Last Of Us Bella Ramsey has spoken about their experience of being cast as Ellie, as well as the public reception.

With only days to go until the premiere of The Last Of Us press is well underway, and stars Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal, who will be playing Joel, have both been discussing what it's been like bringing two video game characters to life for television.

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Ramsey, in particular, has received negative responses online for being cast as the 14-year-old protagonist, mainly because they don't look like Ellie. In various interviews, the actor has discussed the process of getting the role and what it was like for them to receive negative attention online for their casting, so soon following the announcement.

The 19-year-old originally responded by not going on social media to view the comments, but they did anyway. "It’s the first time I’ve ever had a negative reaction to something," Ramsey said in a New York Times interview, who was 17 at the time.

Ramsey opened up further saying, "There would be times I’d find it funny. Then I’d get to the end of a 10-minute scrolling session, put my phone down and realize: maybe that was a bad idea.

"It’s only recently I’ve accepted I am Ellie and I can do it and I am a good actor, but this will last for a few weeks and then I’ll think I’m terrible again," Ramsey added. "That’s just the process."

The Last Of Us premieres on HBO on January 15.

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m4a5

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Edited By m4a5

Why are people whining to her personally anyways? She didn't make the casting decision. And remember, she was told not to look into the source material by higher ups (I bet appearance played a role in that)...

That said, I wonder how many of the "acting > appearance" people were complaining about Chris Pratt's Mario? Complaining that it didn't sound exactly like the games?

At least the people who complained about both things here are consistent lol

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Akriel_Boulve

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@m4a5: She accepted the role though. We saw similar things from the other end when Scarlett Johansson played Makoto Kusanagi or when Tilda Swinton played the Ancient One in Doctor Strange. They claim (from a lefty perspective) that despite the casting call, that they shouldn't accept the role because they are the wrong race. That it "takes away roles" from their diversity quotas. I disagree with this narrative and think that an actor's primary responsibility is to act the part as best they can.

That said if they cast someone like John Goodman as little orphan Annie, I think he should probably turn it down, despite being a great actor.

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ticktockman1979

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Edited By ticktockman1979

@Akriel_Boulve: This is such an elementary viewpoint. Casting a young female to play source material depicting a young female is not exactly the same as casting a sixty year old man for a similar role. Your analogies are horribly skewed and not applicable. It just seems you’re against casting someone who does not meet your standards of beauty (or whatever reason you have against casting Bella Ramsay). Acting is about embodying the spirit of the character, not playing look-a-like to meet some internet nerd’s criteria for faithfulness. Time to grow up.

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Akriel_Boulve

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@ticktockman1979: You entirely miss the point. At the end of the day you are arguing against superficial differences being relevant to the casting of a character. I am pointing out that everyone has a line that they will accept. You wouldn't accept John Goodman playing little orphan Annie, not because he doesn't have the chops, but because he doesn't fit the role visually. As such it's all a matter of degree and opinion. You seem to have the opinion that any girl can play any girl character, others disagree. It's all opinion at the end of the day.

Again, I don't think that Ellie is a "beautiful" character, nor do I even think she's cute. I had the exact same problem with the original CGI for Sonic. It's about looking the part and convincing me that this form of a character actually looks the part. For me she doesn't.

Ok so you ARE ok with John Goodman playing little orphan Annie so long as he "embodies the spirit of the character"? Good to know.

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ticktockman1979

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Edited By ticktockman1979

@Akriel_Boulve: Would casting a 60 year old man in the role change the dynamics of the character and the entire story? Yes, so it doesn’t work. What about casting Bella Ramsay changes the dynamic of the story and character, other than her face not looking like the video game character’s face? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING other than living up to some video game nerd’s ideal as to what this make-believe CGI character should look like. Most of the 70 million HBO MAX viewers who have access to the show won’t have even played the game in the first place (and by judging most audience and critic reviews thus far, both her and the show are excellent).

It’s the most petty and superficial argument I think I have ever heard and affects no one other than a very small vocal minority of man-babies.

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Akriel_Boulve

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@ticktockman1979: The question is WHY does a 60 year old man in the role change the dynamics? If it's not his acting chops then what is it? The only answer is the superficial details of him being a man and over the hill.

What does the opinion of 70 million other people have over my opinion? They're ALL just opinions. Even if all 70 million people think Bella is the best Ellie EVER, that doesn't invalidate someone else's opinion. It's like arguing with a child...

And yet you are very obsessed with "correcting" that small vocal minority...funny how that works. Almost like you are intolerant of their opinions simply because you don't like that they have them. Where have I seen this one before? Hmmm...

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jinzo9988

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@Akriel_Boulve: The same people who are magically completely silent on the "wrong race" issue when they cast anybody other than a white person to play a white character. One standard will do just fine, thanks.

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Akriel_Boulve

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@jinzo9988: Exactly. All I want is consistency.

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faithxvoid

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Edited By faithxvoid

****this just in****

People on the internet hate everything.

****more breaking news on the hour****

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deactivated-64efdf49333c4

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Multiple grammar fails in this article.

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TreeChopper88

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@Barighm: Who cares?

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Akriel_Boulve

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@treechopper88: Obviously he does. When you're paid to write articles for a living, you should probably be good at writing proper grammar. Just saying.

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TreeChopper88

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@Akriel_Boulve: Why are the users of this site so fixated on other people's\companies' money? Weird.

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Akriel_Boulve

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@treechopper88: Maybe because we're consumers of the product they present? If I go to a store and all the displays are disheveled and the place is dirty, do I not have a right to point out that they did a sloppy job of maintaining their store? What is it with users on this site trying to stifle other's opinions....weird

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TreeChopper88

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@Akriel_Boulve: lol great comparison! You should write Op ed on some self help site! Youll get a ton of biters!

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Akriel_Boulve

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@treechopper88: I always find it pathetic when someone tries to white knight and say "yeah I don't see you doing better" as if that is a valid retort. One does not need to be the thing that they criticize, nor do they need to be above reproach to be critical. I don't have to be an actor before I can be critical of an actor's performance, and I don't have to be a writer before I can be critical of a writer's grammar.

Why are you so concerned with protecting this writer's bad grammar?

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TreeChopper88

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Edited By TreeChopper88

@Akriel_Boulve: I said, explicitly, "Who cares?" those were my words. I have just proven you have a problem lol.

*Good try tho sport. Maybe someday, when you turn 13, you can converse with the big boys.

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deactivated-64a3ced8b46b8

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H8rs gonna H8. As long as the performance is tight, I won't have any problem with them being cast as Ellie.

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Presidential

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Will all come down to her performance, seems a capable actress so I'm interested to see what she does with the role. No point casting aspersions before the shows even launched but people will always have something unpleasant/ disparaging to say, especially online.

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BoobyTrap

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She’s a fantastic actor! People are so literal: oh, this must look like that. What about some creative freedom and variety? Trolls will be trolls.

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Baconstrip78

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What could you possibly get from the opinions of comic or gamer hardcore nerds? I don’t even care what they think now and I’m not even in her position of being a famous millionaire.

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