Lionsgate is adapting the Borderlands video game franchise into a feature film and had been planning on shooting sometime this year before the pandemic paused multiple shoots and upcoming productions. Today there is casting news from Variety that Cate Blanchett is in talks with the studio to play one of the lead characters.
As Variety reported, the character in question is Lilith. She’s a woman with powerful alien abilities, operating as a Siren; one of the protagonists ever since the first game from 2009. Lionsgate did not confirm the casting or the talks.
Blanchett is not new to genre projects from making The Lord of The Rings/The Hobbit trilogies, Thor: Ragnarok, and the action flick Hanna. She recently was shooting the thriller Nightmare Alley for Guillermo del Toro in Toronto before production paused due to COVID-19 concerns.
The movie is going to be directed by Eli Roth (Hostel), who previously worked with Blanchett in The House with a Clock in Its Walls from 2018. The production is in the hands of Arad Prods and Picturestart by Erik Feig.
At one time, Upgrade and Invisible Man director Leigh Whannel had been attached to the project before Roth ultimately took the director’s chair.
The screenplay is the works from Craig Mazin (HBO’s Chernobyl, Pirates of The Caribbean 6).
Borderlands is set in the distant future when various mega-corporations seek control of planets to colonize and mine for their mineral wealth and resources. Prior to the events of the game one of the corps. uncovered an ancient alien vault filled with advanced weapons technology. There is another Vault on the planet Pandora and it is free for anyone to find.
Video game movies traditionally haven’t had the best luck with quality adaptations but a Borderlands film would hopefully skew a little more fun and entertaining.
