Good News, Gamers – ‘Borderlands’ Worked Closely With the Game’s Creator

The Big Picture

• Collider’s Taylor Gates chats with the
  Borderlands
  cast at SDCC 2024.
• The long-awaited Borderlands movie hits theaters on August 9, 2024, bringing the wild planet of Pandora to life.
• Benjamin Byron Davis, Janina Gavankar, and Bobby Lee discuss influences, who they play in the film, and working with the original video game creator on set.

Bombs away! The Borderlands movie is crashing into theaters on August 9, 2024, nine years after it first teased fans of the original video game series. Finally free from development hell, this explosive adaptation wastes no time bringing audiences to the mayhem of Pandora, the galaxy’s wildest planet, with co-writer and director Eli Roth at the helm

In the film, badass bounty hunter Lilith (Cate Blanchett) is on a mission to find the missing daughter of Atlas (Edgar Ramírez), the universe’s biggest bigwig. Joined by Roland (Kevin Hart), Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt), Krieg (Florian Munteanu), Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis), and Claptrap (Jack Black), this ragtag bunch battles aliens and bandits, all while discovering Pandora’s most shocking secrets.

With Borderlands coming to cinemas very soon, Collider’s Taylor Gates chatted with cast members Benjamin Byron Davis, who plays Marcus; Janina Gavankar, who plays Commander Knoxx; and Bobby Lee, who plays an all-original character written up just for him, Larry, at San Diego Comic-Con 2024. They discuss having the game creator on set, stepping into these characters, and more. Check out our interview with the cast in the player above, or read the full conversation below.

‘Borderlands’ Creator Kept the Adaptation Faithful to the Game’s Style

“Fans of the game are going to find a ton of stuff.”

COLLIDER: You mentioned in an interview a couple of years ago that game developers were walking around on set while you were filming. Did you ask them anything to help you get into character, or was it just out of curiosity?

JANINA GAVANKAR: Randy Pitchford, the creator of the game and Gearbox, was there the entire time. Having him around was a lot of, “Does this look right? Does that look right? Is this the right color red?” [Laughs] Pressure-testing everything against his opinion was fun.

BENJAMIN BYRON DAVIS: Randy was there every day, and his eye for detail… When he said it was proper, you took him at his word that it was. So, all the guns, all the vehicles—fans of the game are going to find a ton of stuff that they’re going to recognize.

There’s such an immersive environment, as we’ve been saying, from the video game itself. Was there a setting or prop that you were most excited to interact with?

GAVANKAR: I’m so glad you asked. [Laughs] My character, Commander Knoxx, is the daughter of General Knoxx. If you played the DLC, you probably killed him. So when I went there, I went to the props department, and I said, “Will you make my father’s eye patch and burn it?” Because that’s how he dies in the DLC. So they made me his eye patch, and they actually burned it, and then I wore it like a dog tag.

I’m obsessed.

BOBBY LEE: Wow, now it looks like beef jerky. It was great to work on the film. [Laughs] Let me tell you about Larry. I play a Crimson Lance soldier. I played the game a long time ago when it first came out, and then when I auditioned for the movie, I thought, “There’s no way I’m gonna get this.” That’s what I thought. But I got it, and then when I showed up, I was like, “Who’s Larry?” And Eli [Roth] goes, “I kind of wrote it for you.” So I just played myself in it. It was an incredible experience. And I never knew these two guys… [Laughs]

DAVIS: We met a long time ago.

LEE: Janina and I became friends, and it was just a very beautiful, artistic, creative environment.

Filming for ‘Borderlands’ Took Place during COVID in Budapest

You guys shot this during COVID in Budapest, I believe?

GAVANKAR: We shot this right after the vaccines were available and right before the first variant hit. We were in this perfect little moment where we could walk around and feel free after being terrified for so long.

LEE: I couldn’t believe it. In fact, I remember being on the plane, and [Janina] was on the plane. I was like, “Should I even say hi?” Because we all had to wear masks and stuff on the plane. It was the first time I was outside. It was incredible. To do a movie after being in the house for a couple of years felt like a miracle. I don’t believe in Jesus, but it was a god-blessing experience… Who else was in it? Cate Blanchett—what a tender skin. Her skin is so soft and tender. You know what I meant? She’s just a beautiful white person. And then Jamie Lee Curtis, what a beautiful lady.

GAVANKAR: Also, a beautiful white person.

LEE: Right. Kevin Hart—I’m taller than him. You can’t take that away. You know who I loved? Edgar Ramírez, dude!

DAVIS: The best.

GAVANKAR: We did escape rooms with Edgar. We did so many escape rooms.

Voicing Video Game Characters vs. Playing Them Live-Action

I know that you guys, [Janina and Benjamin], have voiced video game characters before.

GAVANKAR: We do full performance capture.

Did that influence how you played this character? Did it prepare you at all, since you’re bringing video game characters into live-action now?

GAVANKAR: The technique that you use for performance capture is much more like theater than what you do technique-wise on film. But my grandfather was a general, so I have a kind of military line through my family. The techniques are different, but playing Iden, she was a commander. So all the research I did for Iden Versio in Star Wars [Battlefront II] kind of applied in terms of the military regulation of how you would get that job and all of the background, etc. How about you?

DAVIS: To me, the responsibility was to the work that had come before, because Bruce DuBose plays Marcus so beautifully in so many titles. I recognized that was a responsibility I didn’t wanna screw up. I was very mindful that I was walking into the shoes of a character that somebody else had created, and I wanted to treat it with as much respect as I could.

Did you collaborate with them and ask them anything?

DAVIS: I didn’t really have the opportunity. I didn’t really know the protocol. I looked for him on social media and couldn’t find him, but I didn’t want to make too big of a deal. Bruce DuBose, I want to say thank you for all your work creating Marcus. I hope that you’re pleased with what we found in the film.

GAVANKAR: I hear you on that, though. Sometimes you don’t want to call the person who preceded you because it can fuck you in some ways.

DAVIS: You have to make it yours. The good news was that what had been established was close enough. I had to honor the work that was done, but I had to find a way to have ownership of it. And I think I did. I came to love Marcus a lot.

This movie has so many fun, eccentric characters.

DAVIS: It’s kind of a stacked cast!

Bobby Lee’s Larry Is a Cast Favorite in ‘Borderlands’

If you could play any other character in this movie, who would you most like to dive into?

DAVIS: Larry. I’d want to play Larry

GAVANKAR: Marcus.

LEE: Larry. I don’t know anybody else.

GAVANKAR: I don’t think Larry himself knows anybody else, either. When you watch it, he’s got a pretty unique point of view.

I really like the bunny aesthetic that Tiny Tina has going on.

LEE: Oh, she’s great. Ariana [Greenblatt].

DAVIS: Tremendous.

She’s great. What would your own personal aesthetic be? Maybe it’s another animal, maybe it’s not. What kind of grenades are you throwing?

GAVANKAR: Emotional ones, baby. [Laughs]

LEE: I’d be a koala. I’ll be on a tree all day like this.

GAVANKAR: Don’t they get high off eucalyptus? That’s what they do the whole day, and then they fall out of trees. I don’t want to disparage koalas, but it’s a pretty chill life.

DAVIS: I always identify with Ferdinand the bull. I’d be a bull looking at flowers on a hill.

GAVANKAR: You know what I would like to experience? We know so little about what’s happening deep oceans. We don’t know shit about what’s going on down there.

DAVIS: Shouldn’t we leave them alone? I think we should leave them alone.

GAVANKAR: There are probably some cosmic horrors going on down there, and if you’re a part of it, it’s not a horror. I’d like to be one of those things that knows what’s going on, so it’s less scary for me.

Borderlands opens in theaters on August 9.

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