Borderlands star Ariana Greenblatt, who will play fan favorite, Tiny Tina, in the big-budget video game adaptation, recently shared a photo from the movie's set which confirms that filming has begun. The movie was first announced back in February of 2020. Eli Roth, who is perhaps best known for directing 2003's Cabin Fever and the Hostel film series, will direct the upcoming Borderlands film.
The Borderlands video game followed the open-world adventure of a Vault Hunter named Roland who ends up venturing on a crazy mission across a vast monster-filled wasteland to a distant planet named Pandora, with the goal of finding a mythical vault that holds the key to advanced alien technology. The movie boasts an impressive cast, with Kevin Hart stepping into the role of Roland, Jamie Lee Curtis playing archeologist Dr. Tannis, Jack Black voicing Roland's robot sidekick, Claptrap, and Oscar-winner, Cate Blanchett, taking on the epic role of Lilith.
13-year-old Greenblatt, who is the youngest of the bunch in Borderlands, posted an image of herself with Roth to Twitter, signifying the start of shooting, saying, "we out here, cameras rolling Day 1 #BorderlandsMovie." She is playing the character of Tiny Tina who first appeared in the Borderlands 2 video game before showing up again in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel and Borderlands 3. After five years in development, the big-budget adaptation of the Borderlands movie went camera-up in Budapest, Hungary, on April 1. Check out the tweet below:
By the looks of the image, even though they're masked up, Greenblatt, Roth, and the unknown third person are excited to be there. For Greenblatt, this is an exciting step on her journey to becoming a force to be reckoned with in Hollywood. She's at the start of her acting career, but Marvel fans should remember her as young Gamora in Avengers: Infinity War. As well, she appeared opposite Dylan O'Brien in the sci-fi action film, Love and Monsters, and will soon appear in the highly anticipated big screen musical adaptation of Lin Manuel-Miranda's broadway hit, In the Heights. Playing Tiny Tina in Borderlands feels like an awesome next role for the actress.
Roth directing Borderlands, a movie that isn't directly in the horror genre, may raise some eyebrows. However, the director has stepped away from the genre for more mainstream titles in recent years. He helmed the Amblin-esque, The House With a Clock In Its Walls, which featured Black and Blanchett in the starring roles. If his Borderlands movie is a hit, it's possible Lionsgate may have a franchise on its hands with more high-profile projects for Roth.
Borderlands has spawned three installments, loads of DLC content, a choose-your-own-adventure game from Tell-Tale Games, and has inspired fans the world over to cosplay as their favorite characters. Memorable characters, crazy locales, action-packed sequences, and a whole smattering of creative mythology have helped maintain the Borderlands games as a force to be reckoned with. While Roth may return to making horror in the near future, there's great potential, if the movie connects with fans, for a Borderlands cinematic universe to take shape.
Source: Ariana Greenblatt