Undoubtedly one of the most terrifying moments on "The Last of Us" so far happens in episode 5, when an underground population of Infected is released, igniting a deadly battle. The bloodthirsty brigade is led by a Bloater, a gargantuan, fungus-covered zombie with superhuman strength. The monster came to life thanks to 6'6" stuntman Adam Basil, an 80-pound costume, and post-production special effects. According to Gower, the team started by taking a cast of Basil's entire body and then used modelling clay to create the prosthetics.
"We cast it out of a foam rubber and foam latex, which is very lightweight," he told Variety. "It's almost like an upholstery foam, a very spongy sort of material. That was all moulded and cast in separate sections: top half, head, arms, legs. We had a team who fabricated all these parts together. We had a zipper up the back and around the waist that we could zip them together. He had all these pendulous folds of fungus which hid zippers and poppers."
In an Instagram caption, Gower elaborated on the process, which he says was "a happy marriage of digital and practical effects." The team, which consisted of sculptors, painters, and stitchers, were tasked with creating an authentic-looking character that would translate well with special effects added in later.
"To get the shapes to read, we had to cover them in a gloss," Gower said in his interview with Variety. "It was like a texture that we were building up, so we were constantly going in and slathering them in this gloss, just so the shapes would pick up in the silhouettes. We were repeatedly going in and gelling him up more, covering him in this lube so he was nice and shiny."
Along with Basil, "The Last of Us" features a slew of other essential stunt performers. Variety reported that the Bloater scene included 10 to 15 other stunt people (as well as up to 60 extras), all of whom had to be transformed into Clickers by the makeup team. The outlet says that the nighttime scene required five hours of prep by a team of 65 prosthetic artists.