Video game adaptations are all the rage these days, ranging from The Last of Us and Fallout to The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Five Nights at Freddy’s. The newest addition is Borderlands, which is directed by Eli Roth and follows a ragtag group of misfits going on an adventure to protect a young girl (Ariana Greenblatt), who’s not nearly as sweet as she seems at first glance, and collect some keys to open a priceless vault along the way. The film primarily takes place on the planet Pandora, which has a whacky steampunk aesthetic and features enemies ranging from masked madmen to wild aliens.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a more stacked cast. Starring Oscar winners like Cate Blanchett and Jamie Lee Curtis and comedy legends like Kevin Hart and Jack Black, the film’s central group of misfits is packed with talent. Collider got a chance to speak to a few of the film’s stars, including Curtis and Hart, who play mad scientist Tannis and solider Roland, respectively. Rounding out the group is Roth, Florian Munteanu, who plays psycho meathead Krieg, and Édgar Ramírez, who takes on the role of business tycoon Atlas.
The cast spoke about which of the characters they’ve played would make the best and worst road trip companions, their favorite sets and props from the film, and the difference between gun sound effects across cultures.
The ‘Borderlands’ Cast Discusses Which of Their Famous Characters Would Make the Best — and Worst — Road Trip Companions
COLLIDER: This movie has such a fun, chaotic road trip element to it. I want to know, of all the iconic characters you’ve either played or written, who do you think would make the best and the worst Pandora road trip companion?
KEVIN HART: Eli’s the worst.
ELI ROTH: [Laughs] I’m not a character in the game — I’m a man. I’m a person.
HART: [Laughs] Sorry, man. Did I understand the question?
FLORIAN MUNTEANU: I think the Bear Jew would be the best.
ROTH: Yes.
MUNTEANU: Brutality.
JAMIE LEE CURTIS: Yeah, I would take Laurie Strode.
Of course.
CURTIS: Obvi. Because she would, like, do it.
So competent, yes.
CURTIS: I’m not sure who would annoy me.
MUNTEANU: I would choose Razorfist because he has that blade he can cut through stuff.
CURTIS: Yeah, smart.
MUNTEANU: I think he would do well.
HART: Well, I don’t really know.
Fair enough.
ROTH: [Imitating Hart] “Nashawn Wade is great. That’s a great role. Not sure if you saw Soul Plane. A lot of people didn’t pay to see it, but they didn’t see it, nonetheless.”
HART: [Laughs] If we were on Soul Plane, I would definitely take Nashawn Wade.
Kevin Hart Kept Making Sound Effects on the ‘Borderlands’ Set
Okay, let’s go back to Borderlands and the world because it’s such a fun and bold and immersive world. Was there either an environment you were most excited to sort of play in or a prop you were most excited to interact with from the game itself?
CURTIS: [Holds up ECHOnet]
Well, there you have it.
CURTIS: Mommy brought ECHOnet. For me, the entire relationship of the movie was ECHOnet because she’s in love with ECHOnet. And so Tannis has ECHOnet, and ECHOnet has Tannis. So for me, interacting with an inanimate object for four months was really interesting. [Laughs]
An interesting challenge.
HART: You know what’s funny? I’ll tell you, I went to see our weapons. Of course, we’re mirroring the weapons of the video game, so we had like the real versions of the video game weapons, and then you had the stuffies, which is — when we’re doing the stunts — [a version made of] foam. But in the beginning, I had a bad habit of, when we were picking up the weapons and it was time to shoot, going like, “Ch, ch, ch.” Because there was no kickback.
CURTIS: So you were making the noise.
HART: You’re doing a stunt, you get them, and you like, “Ch, ch, ch.” Eventually, I had to tell myself, like, “Stop making a noise. I need a reaction.” But playing with the weapons in the beginning was a lot of fun because it’s like, “Okay, here it is. I’ve been waiting to do the soldiers, and I got all the stuff on me.” So I can say dealing with the props, picking the props.
ROTH: Andy was our prop person, and he was amazing.
HART: Amazing. And in such a great spirit. Shoutout to Andy.
ROTH: Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful props.
ÉDGAR RAMÍREZ: So your shots go like, “Pew, pew, pew?” In every culture, it’s different. In Germany, how do you say?
MUNTEANU: “Ss, ss, ss.”
RAMÍREZ: We go like, “Pow, pow, pow!”
ROTH: That’s Venezuelan? We go, “Pew, pew, pew.”
[Group makes various gunshot sounds]
RAMÍREZ: I would think, like, “Bang.” But no bang.
HART: No bang. “Bang” is one.
Eli Roth Loved Filming in ‘Borderlands’ Sanctuary City
ROTH: Sanctuary City was fun. The tunnels were in an incredible location cinematically, but it was freezing and dank and gross and amazing. But by the end, when we got to be in Sanctuary City with all the extras and all the stand-ins when they go to Tannis’ lab and Moxxie’s bar, we built a city, so walking through it with all the people, with all the extras, was really, really satisfying.
