A Milton girl stole the show on episode five of the hit HBO-series ‘The Last of Us’.
10-year-old Skye Cowton had never played the video game before she was cast in the role of ‘Child Clicker’. In fact, she was born the year before it came out! That didn’t stop her from wowing the right people at HBO. She explains how she got the part:
She adds that it was an interesting audition process because they first had to confirm they could fly to Calgary for filming. The studio was looking for children who specialized in gymnastics and contortions. With Cowton’s background as a rhythmic gymnast, she was able to show off her skills. When she continued to move on to the next stages of the process, and she learned that it was for The Last of Us, she and her mom then looked into the video game to better understand the clicker’s movements.
The make-up for the role was practical. Cowton was tasked with sitting in the chair to be transformed into Child Clicker. Fortunately for her, the prosthetics were placed on a balaclava-like mask, which allowed Barry Gower and the makeup team to get her ready in roughly 30-minutes. She even got to keep a piece of the makeup!
*SPOILER*
The episode is titled ‘Endure and Survive’, and features the protagonists (Pedro Pascal as Joel and Bella Ramsey as Ellie) teaming up with brothers Henry and Sam as they try to escape a revolting post-apocalyptic Kansas City. In the episode prior, there are teases to the city crumbling from an infected outbreak taking place underground. In the climax of the episode, deus ex machina comes to fruition as the ground gives way to a hoard of infected, attacking the mutinous rebels and giving the main characters a chance at survival. Cowton’s Child Clicker then takes centre stage and follows Ellie into a locked SUV. The scene allows Cowton to display her gymnastics abilities as Ellie manages to escape. Her character reappears to attack Melanie Lynskey’s character as the protagonists flee to a nearby motel.
In The Last of Us universe, clickers are the third stage of infected and take roughly one year to transform. Cowton believes her character might have been a child in the underground daycare shown in the episode. She theorizes that, at some point, they were forced to flee the classroom, and the rest is history:
It was a fun experience being on set! She spent some time in a tent with Lynskey, who Cowton was a fan of from Two and a Half Men. She also enjoyed hanging out with Keivonn Woodard, who played Sam, and was fascinated by the actor who portrayed the bloater.
What does the future hold for the ten-year-old? Well, she was excited to also discuss her work on Gisele’s Mashup Adventures where she played an animated version of herself. Cowton would like to act more, and is constantly working on her gymnastics. That said, she says her dream job is less about entertainment and more about helping people… as a chiropractor or surgeon!
While she hasn’t played the video game yet, she has been following the show. Her mom does acknowledge that they have skipped the scary parts, but watched all of episode five because they knew everyone on screen. She’s pretty proud knowing millions of people around the world are scared of her because of her performance.
She’d like to give the game a try, but admits they’d need to buy a Playstation console. Maybe one day!
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