Borderlands is one of the many highly anticipated live-action adaptations coming to theaters next year. The upcoming movie adaptation of the Gearbox Software’s popular video game series, which has been languishing in dev hell for years, received some promising news after a round of reshoots.
In an interview with Collider, reshoot director Tim Miller gave a new update for Borderlands. The director spoke positively about the reshoots and described the film as “a good ride.” Miller also shared why he joined the production, cherishing the opportunity to work with the ensemble cast. Of course, we wouldn’t expect the director to trash talk his own film on the press junket, but hey.
“It was an interesting experience to come in and do reshoots on a movie that’s not yours,” Miller said. “It’s a freeing experience where you feel like, I’m just here to help wherever I can. But my main reason, other than, you know, I have a huge affection for the video game industry, I want to see every video game adaption succeed is, I’ll be honest, I wanted to work with Cate Blanchett, and I wanted to work with Kevin [Hart] and Jamie Lee Curtis.”
He continues, “And Ariana Greenblatt, the young lady who plays Tiny Tina, is amazing, which everybody knows from the Barbie movie. So, it was a great experience all around. I was feeling a little rusty, so I was happy to get back in the saddle. The movie gets up and moves. It’s a good ride.”
Borderlands had key changes to its production team and release dates during development. The filming was originally helmed by director Eli Roth. However, the director was not available for the reshoots due to his commitment to another movie, Thanksgiving. Miller took over directorial duties for the two weeks of reshoots with Roth’s blessing.
Interestingly, HBO’s The Last of Us showrunner Craig Mazin removed his name from the project. Writer Joe Crombie is credited with the screenplay for Borderlands. Mazin has denied that Crombie is his pseudonym. Additionally, several writers were hired for the project during its development.
Borderlands features an ensemble cast that includes Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, and Jamie Lee Curtis alongside Édgar Ramírez, Ariana Greenblatt, Florian Munteanu, and Gina Gershon. Blanchett plays Lilith in the movie while Greenblatt is cast as Tiny Tina.
The live-action adaptation follows Lilith as she returns home to the planet Pandora where she discovers the missing daughter of Atlas. In her journey to find the missing girl, Lilith teams up with several characters fans will recognize from the games, including Roland (Hart), Tiny Tina, the mad scientist Tannis (Lee-Curtis), and the robot Claptrap (Black).
It will be interesting to see how the production team brings the much-loved video game series to life. We are also curious about what scenes were reshot and directed by Miller. Hopefully, Borderlands will live up to the source material it is based on.
Borderlands is coming to theaters on August 9, 2024.
