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Borderlands’ filming has officially begun, as cast and production team members have recently revealed in behind-the-scenes pictures and videos shared through social media.
A film adaptation of “Borderlands” had been announced originally in 2015, by Lionsgate – its current production company, in partnership with Arad Productions and Picturestart -, however the project did not move forward in that occasion. At the beginning of 2020, there was a new official announcement stating that the film would start developing, and it would be directed by Eli Roth.
Roth is mostly known as a director for his horror films, such as “Cabin Fever” (2002) and the award-winning “Hostel” (2005), but he is also remembered for his iconic acting role in Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglorious Basterds” (2009), as “The Bear Jew”.
Randy Pitchford, CEO of Gearbox Software (the company that developed Borderlands video game) has shared a behind-the-scenes picture in his Twitter account. He had previously tweeted in March about his visit to Hungary to work on the “Borderlands” film adaptation, which assured fans of a close communication between the film’s producers and the game creators, but not much had been revealed back then.
On April 1st, he tweeted an image of himself with director Eli Roth and various producers, which he captioned “It’s happening, you guys. IT’S! EFFING! HAPPENING! Behind-the-scenes in Sound Stage 2 on Day 1 of principal photography for the “Borderlands” motion picture”.
The thirteen-year-old actress, Ariana Greenblatt, known for her part in “Avengers: Infinity War”, where she portrayed a young Gamora, will play the role of Tiny Tina, an unstable teenager who specializes in explosives. On April 1st, Greenblatt also shared through her Twitter account an on-set picture with Eli Roth, and wrote “we out here, cameras rolling”.
The young actress also tweeted a TikTok video, where she gives us a sneak peek of the set, but she warns us “if you’re watching this to get any spoilers, you are not getting any”. In the video we can see her wearing what looks like a green onesie and a white harness, which is explained later by Eli Roth, who declares they are doing “stunt rehearsals for “Borderlands”.
The project is being filmed at the Stern Film Studio in Budapest, Hungary, a country that was quick to act on Covid-19 protocols, in order to make it safe for cast and crew to work there. Other forthcoming adaptations, such as “Dune” (2021), were also filmed in Hungary, even during the pandemic, due to these high-level protective policies.
The film has secured some pretty big names from the film industry for its cast. Jack Black is confirmed to be the voice actor for Claptrap, the sarcastic robot. The beloved comedian has already performed as a voice actor in the “Kung Fu Panda” trilogy, where he played the main’s character voice (Po).
Another Hollywood star who will partake in the film is Cate Blanchett, who has been confirmed since 2020 to portray Lilith, nicknamed in the game “the Siren”, a human being with enormous powers. Blanchett is not new to the fantasy and sci-fi worlds: she has interpreted Lady Galadriel in “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, and, more recently, she incarnated Hera, Thor and Loki’s sister, in “Thor: Ragnarok” (2017).
The comedian Kevin Hart has also joined the “Borderlands” cast, in the part of Roland, a former soldier of the Crimson Lance. The renowned actress Jamie Lee Curtis will play the role of Dr. Patricia Tannis, a scientist an archeologist who has gone insane because of her stay in the planet Pandora, where the action takes place.
Florian Munteanu, the German professional boxer, known for his role in “Creed 2” (2018), will be playing Krieg, the “Psycho” mutant. Actress Hayley Bennet, who recently worked in Netflix’s adaptation, “The Devil All the Time” (2020), has been confirmed to have an acting role in the “Borderlands” film, but which character she will be interpreting is yet to be announced.
The film adaptation is scripted by Craig Mazin, who is also working on a TV series adaption of the successful video game franchise “The Last of Us” and who wrote HBO’s critically acclaimed mini-series “Chernobyl” (2019). He is joined by Aaron Berg, who is currently working on a third “G.I. Joe” film and on the upcoming thriller “Section 6”. “Borderlands” does not have an official release date yet, but it is estimated to reach the big screen in 2022.
