The Borderlands movie has cast Cheyenne Jackson, Gina Gershon, and several others. The upcoming adaptation of the popular video game series is from the minds of director Eli Roth and writer Craig Mazin (Chernobyl). Though Roth is best known for his collaborations with Quentin Tarantino in Inglourious Basterds and Death Proof, and for directing horror films such as Cabin Fever and Hostel, he will be helming the upcoming Borderlands adaptation for Lionsgate.
Like the hit video game series on which it is based, Borderlands will likely follow four vault hunters who must travel across a vast monster-filled wasteland to a distant abandoned planet called Pandora in search of a mythical vault that contains advanced alien technology and other treasures. The film has already cast a few of its vault hunters, including Cate Blanchett as Lilith, Kevin Hart as Roland, and Creed 2’s Florian Munteanu (Viktor Drago) as Kreig. A few of the world’s other colorful characters have been cast in fan-favorite Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt), Jack Black as the sarcastic robot Claptrap, Jamie Lee Curtis as Dr. Tannis, and Edgar Ramirez as Atlas. Borderlands has clearly assembled an impressive ensemble, and now more actors are being added to the list.
Per Deadline, the Borderlands movie is rounding out its cast with seven more names. They are Gina Gershon as the oft-cosplayed barmaid Moxxi, Cheyenne Jackson as the weapons manufacturer Jakobs, Charles Babalola as Sir Hammerlock, Benjamin Byron Davis as the arms dealer Marcus, and Steven Boyer and Ryann Redmond as mechanics Scooter and Ellie.
Those who have played Gearbox’s video game series will surely recognize a lot of these character’s names, but there have been some indications that Roth’s adaptation will not remain completely faithful to the games. Despite this, the potential of a film franchise will still likely draw a lot of interest from existing fans since Borderlands is one of the world’s most successful video game franchises.
Craig Mazin, who penned the Borderlands screenplay, is also acting as showrunner for HBO’s series The Last of Us, another video game adaptation currently in development. Though Borderlands sounds like it would make for an exciting action-adventure movie, video game adaptations are usually light on the story, and this is, of course, a concern for Roth’s upcoming film. The Borderlands games are, however, known for their wonderfully absurd characters, and hopefully the film’s cast can successfully bring them to life for the Borderlands movie.
Source: Deadline