The Borderlands movie is sticking closely to the style of the bestselling video game series, according to actor Kevin Hart.
Hart, who has been cast as Roland, a character from the first two Borderlands games and The Pre-Sequel, recently spoke to Collider about Eli Roth’s upcoming film. He touched on the authenticity of the upcoming new entry in the Borderlands universe, as he reassured fans that the big-screen adaptation will definitely be taking a page from the games in terms of its visual style and overall appearance.
“The fanbase that follows the game is already huge and unreal, but I don’t think they even have a clear understanding of how close we’re coming to the game,” he said, teasing the team’s commitment to bringing the game to life for the live-action adaptation of Gearbox’s popular looter-shooter. “It looks like the game. It’s unbelievable, truly unbelievable.”
In the same interview, Hart discussed his role in the movie, portraying Roland, a character who was honorably discharged from the military unit known as the Crimson Lance in the games. He admitted that the role had been a change of pace for him, having switched gears from his frequent comedic performances to step into “action full speed ahead,” but he made sure he was fully prepared for the part.
Hart recounted an early conversation he had with Roth, in which Roth told him that he would land the role in the movie, so long as he showed up prepared and ready to knock it out at the casting stages. “So I went, I did some training with some Navy SEALS,” Hart revealed. “I got real good with weapons, I got real good with my hand-to-hand combat.”
Hart also praised Roth for bringing his own flair to the movie, saying, “I can say visually, it’s like nothing you’ve ever seen. Somehow I find myself in these spaces where you get a part of these IPs that are hitting the big screen and have the potential to become so much more… Borderlands, nobody knows what to expect, but if this thing comes and it smacks people correctly, you could be looking at Borderlands 2, Borderlands 3. It’s that good.”
The Borderlands movie centers around Cate Blanchett’s Lilith and her quest to return to the planet of Pandora to recover the missing daughter of “the universe’s most powerful S.O.B., Atlas.” Along the way, she’ll cross paths with Jamie Lee Curtis‘ Dr. Tannis, Gina Gershon’s Moxxi, Janina Gavankar’s Commander Knox, Jack Black’s Claptrap, and Florian Munteanu’s Krieg.
The movie, which is said to be loosely based on the games, is being directed by Eli Roth and scripted by Craig Mazin, and is due to be released in 2022.
Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.