The Last Of Us Episode 6 Director Admits Pedro Pascal’s Acting Made Her Cry During Filming

The director of HBO’s The Last of Us Episode 6, Jasmila Žbanić, revealed that the most emotional moment made her cry behind the camera. Warning: The following contains spoilers for Episode 6 of The Last of Us.

Speaking in a recent Variety interview, Žbanić discussed her first TV directorial debut and spoke about how certain pivotal moments in the episode were filmed. In particular, the scene where Joel confesses his fears to his brother Tommy and breaks down crying, while also explaining why Tommy needs to take his place in escorting Ellie across the country to the Fireflies. Žbanić said that the scene was “especially taken care of” and that it was “very deep” for both actors.

“It was so beautiful, because it’s a very long scene in the shoe shop,” the director said. “It’s a very emotional scene for Pedro. I was filming him as a second; first we filmed Gabriel, and then I noticed that each time we repeated, Pedro was crying. He was not on camera, but he was crying because he was giving his partner everything so that he can act. This is very special. It’s so generous of an actor to do this so deep. I was amazed by Pedro’s talent.

Another important narrative moment in the episode was Ellie’s confrontation with Joel, where both inadvertently confess their true feelings for each other. In the scene, Ellie brings up Joel’s daughter Sarah and tries to explain that she’s not her. When asked about filming that moment, specifically the line where Joel says, “I sure as hell ain’t your dad,” Žbanić said it was emotional behind the scenes.

“Sometimes I would be crying behind the camera because they were so truthful and beautiful,” she said. “This relationship is so touching. I really like that it’s changing from the beginning to the end. It’s just one episode, but it has so many changes of their relationship, which is really great.”