Ellen Page upset with The Last of Us for ripping off her likeness

Ellie and EllenIf you've played Sony’s critically-acclaimed PS3 game The Last of Us and noticed that Ellie, the 14-year-old girl you have to escort across a dangerous land, bears a strong resemblance to actress Ellen Page, you're not alone.

Page has noticed it, too -- and she's not too happy about it.

In a Reddit Ask Me Anything, the star of "Juno" and "Inception" was asked about the resemblance and whether she would have been interested in the role had Sony offered it to her. Her answer was pretty direct.

"I guess I should be flattered that they ripped off my likeness, but I am actually acting in a video game called Beyond: Two Souls, so it was not appreciated," she said.

Beyond, like The Last of Us, is a PlayStation 3 exclusive, which puts Sony in something of an uncomfortable position.


Ellie was actually portrayed by actress Ashley Johnson (who, many, many years ago played Chrissy Seaver on "Growing Pains"). Neil Druckman, creative director at The Last of Us developer Naughty Dog, not only stands by his choice, but responded to Page’s gripe via Twitter:

It’s a fair point -- Johnson is absolutely fantastic in the game -- but the similarities between Ellie and Ellen run pretty deep. Early images of Ellie bore a much more striking resemblance to Page. Eventually, her hairstyle was altered, the scar over her right eyebrow became much more pronounced and she took on a stronger overall look.

At the time, Druckman told IGN the reason for the changes was to better sync her with Johnson.

"After delving further into the game’s narrative over the past few months, we decided to modify Ellie’s model to better reflect Ashley’s personality, and also resemble a slightly younger teen more fitting to the story," he said.

Despite the kerfuffle, Page isn't writing off games. She happily talked up Beyond: Two Souls in her AMA, calling the upcoming adventure game an "incredible experience” that helped prompt her to rediscover her gaming roots.

"I played video games more when I was a kid," she said. "I had Sega Genesis and was a HUGE Sonic fan. I also love the NHL games and played them with my brother all time. Then I was super into PlayStation and loved the FIFA games. I recently played my first video game in a while. I played the latest Tomb Raider and really enjoyed it, finished in about 12 hours."