‘Borderlands’ Producers Really Tried to Make the Movie Look Like the Game
Borderlands is an upcoming film based on the Gearbox and 2K’s popular looter shooter video game. The filmmakers nailed the casting with a star-studded ensemble. And according to actor and gamer Janina Gavankar, producers are also going above and beyond to make the movie look just like the game.
The ‘Borderlands’ cast includes Cate Blanchett and Jamie Lee Curtis
Video gamers know Borderlands as the action-packed role-playing franchise created by Gearbox Software. The first-person looter shooter fantasy game centers on four Vault Hunters who go on an intergalactic mission to find the Vault before the corrupt Atlas Corporation.
The film comes from director Eli Roth and features a notable cast, including award-winning actors like Cate Blanchett and Jamie Lee Curtis. The official synopsis offers casting details and hints at the larger story created for the movie:
Lilith (Cate Blanchett), an infamous outlaw with a mysterious past, reluctantly returns to her home planet of Pandora to find the missing daughter of the universe’s most powerful S.O.B., Atlas (Edgar Ramirez).
Lilith forms an alliance with an unexpected team— Roland (Kevin Hart), a former elite mercenary, now desperate for redemption; Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt), a feral pre-teen demolitionist; Krieg (Florian Munteanu), Tina’s musclebound, rhetorically challenged protector; Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis), the scientist with a tenuous grip on sanity; and Claptrap (Jack Black), a persistently wisea** robot.
These unlikely heroes must battle alien monsters and dangerous bandits to find and protect the missing girl, who may hold the key to unimaginable power. The fate of the universe could be in their hands—but they’ll be fighting for something more: each other.
‘Borderlands’ star Janina Gavankar reveals producers are trying to make the movie look as close to the game as possible
From the synopsis alone, it looks like the Borderlands movie is taking liberties with the overall story. But according to Gavankar, who plays a character created for the film called Commander Knoxx, producers are trying their best to make the project look like the video game.
“The production design and the art direction alone is so close to the game,” she told Collider. “You can’t believe they put this much love and attention into the details.”
“I came in with my arms crossed like, ‘You better do it right because I’m here to call bullsh*t,’” Gavankar continued. “And it’s like, they went hard. They really meant it. Even down to our costumes, just getting the colors of everything right. There’s a lot of love that went into the production.”
Gearbox developers were on set
While the Borderlands movie was filming, Gavankar told Collider that she met several Gearbox developers on set. And she noted that as they held tangible versions of their creations, the developers looked thrilled.
“And then a lot of people from Gearbox got to be there, so the thing that’s wonderful is when you get to see a dev walk around and pick up something that they created digitally? I mean, come on. That’s the kind of really special stuff that I just love watching come to fruition.”
Borderlands does not have an official release date. But the film is expected to premiere sometime in 2022.
