Well, Page has a hunch.
Ellen Page, famous for her quirky off-beat performance in “Juno,” sees a little bit of herself in Last of Us’ miniature heroine, Ellie. Well actually, she sees a whole lot of herself.
“I guess I should be flattered that they ripped off my likeness,” Page said on Reddit Sunday night. “But I am actually acting in a videogame called Beyond: Two Souls, so it was not appreciated.”
Ouch. So let’s get this straight: Naughty Dog, the Last of Us game developer, creates a character that looks just like a virtual Ellen Page, and then in a moment of sheer brilliance, also names her, “Ellie.”
These aren’t new allegations. In June 2012, Naughty Dog announced that it was altering the original character of Ellie. The company said it was of no coincidence, but the announcement came right around the time that Page was announced to play “Jodie Holmes” in Beyond Two Souls, according to eurogamer.net.
Naughty Dog said at the time that the changes had the extra bonus of making Ellie look more like Ashley Johnson, who played the part.
It’s clear that while some changes were made, they were marginal at best.
The (many) problems here…
Ellie (top) and Jodie Holmes (bottom), two of gaming’s lookalikes of Ellen Page
For one, game developer Quantic Dream actually payed for Page’s likeness. Oh, and its character closely resembles Page as well, so now you’ve got the problem of two virtual doppelgangers in close proximity. Beyond: Two Souls is expected to release around October, while Last of Us was released on June 14.
Also, the two companies are both owned by Sony Online Entertainment (SOE), which means that if this moves past the cat-calling phase, there should be some good in-house brawling going on.
Paige has been remarkably gracious about the whole thing.
A fan, understandably mistaken by her “similarity” to Ellie in Last of Us, tweeted her to congratulate her. Of course, she sent him to the right direction.
