Borderlands Movie Will Feature the Games’ ‘Spirit’

While not too much is known about the upcoming Borderlands movie, director Eli Roth recently said that it will retain the “spirit” of the original games.

Speaking to ComingSoon, Roth was questioned about what type of humor the film would have and if it would be as reference-heavy as the original trilogy of games was. According to Roth, his goal was to “keep the spirit of the movie in the spirit of the games,” and Borderlands creator Randy Pitchford was on hand to help “every step of the way.”

“It’s bananas. I really wanted to keep the spirit of the movie in the spirit of the games,” said Roth. “Randy Pitchford, the creator, was there with me every step of the way. If I had my own idea for a joke that’s not part of Borderlands in the canon, he’s like, “Oh, that’s great. Claptrap would absolutely do this.” All the character stuff that I wanted them to do, I’m like, “Okay, would Lilith do something like this?” Or, “Is this a Tiny Tina move?” He’s like, “That is so fantastic. We should do that in the game. That’s really, really terrific.” So yeah, the film is fun. It is wild. It was a massive, massive undertaking — especially in Covid. People are going to have to wait a little longer for that one, but I’m really, really thrilled with it.

What do we know about the Borderlands movie?

The movie stars Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ariana Greenblatt, Florian Munteanu, Haley Bennett, Édgar Ramírez, Bobby Lee, Olivier Richters, Janina Gavankar, Gina Gershon, Cheyenne Jackson, Charles Babalola, Benjamin Byron Davis, Steven Boyer, Ryann Redmond, and Penn Jillette.

The film is directed by Roth from a screenplay written by Craig Mazin (who recently removed his name from the film and will be credited under a pseudonym). It also stars Haley Bennett, Janina Gavankar, Gina Gershon, Cheyenne Jackson, Charles Babalola, Benjamin Byron Davis, Steven Boyer, Ryann Redmond, and Bobby Lee.

Borderlands is being produced by Arad Productions’ Avi Arad and Ari Arad, along with Picturestart’s Erik Feig. It will be executive produced by Gearbox founder Randy Pitchford and CEO of Take-Two Interactive Strauss Zelnick. Lionsgate’s James Myers and Aaron Edmonds are overseeing the project along with Arad’s Emmy Yu and Picturestart’s Lucy Kitada and Royce Reeves-Darby.