Jamie Lee Curtis has officially joined the cast of Eli Roth’s big screen adaptation of Borderlands. Curtis joins previously announced stars Cate Blanchett and Kevin Hart. The announcement was made by Nathan Kahane, president of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group earlier today. The two-time Golden Globe winning actress is set to play Tannis, an archeologist on Pandora who might have the key to finding the vault, but whose complicated history with Lilith (Blanchett) isn’t going to help.
Eli Roth is very excited to get the chance to work with Jamie Lee Curtis on Borderlands. “Working with the iconic Jamie Lee Curtis has been a lifelong dream of mine,” said the director. “I am so excited for her to bring her humor, warmth and brilliance to the role of Tannis. Curtis has been pretty busy over the last few years after returning to the Halloween franchise as the iconic Laurie Strode. Lionsgate’s Nathan Kahane had this to say about Curtis joining the cast.
“The kind of talent we’ve been able to bring together for Borderlands is a testament to the incredible script that Craig [Mazin] wrote and Eli’s vision for Pandora. Jamie is unique in that her characters have depth and gravitas, but are also always hugely entertaining – she commands the screen. At this point, Jamie is like family to us – after bringing so much to Knives Out and hosting last summer’s ‘Lionsgate Live’ fundraiser to help theater workers, we could not be more thrilled to be working with her again.”
Kevin Hart is set to play Roland, “a skilled ex-soldier turned mercenary.” In the video game franchise, Roland was a member of the highly trained private military force known as the Crimson Lance. He has expert training in a variety of weapons, but prefers to use his trusty shotgun for most of his battles. Eli Roth said, “I’m thrilled to be working with Kevin. Borderlands is a different kind of role for him, and we are excited to thrill audiences with a side of Kevin they’ve never seen before. He’s going to be an amazing Roland.”
The latest draft of the Borderlands screenplay is by the two-time Emmy-winning screenwriter Craig Mazin. Avi Arad and Ari Arad are producing through their Arad Productions banner, with Erik Feig also producing through Picturestart. The movie’s executive producers are Randy Pitchford, executive producer of the Borderlands video game franchise and founder of the Gearbox Entertainment Company, and Strauss Zelnick, chairman and CEO of Take-Two Interactive. James Myers and Aaron Edmonds are overseeing the project on behalf of Lionsgate. Emmy Yu is overseeing the film for Arad Productions. Lucy Kitada and Royce Reeves- Darby are overseeing the project for Picturestart.
The Borderlands movie is based on the best-selling PC and console gaming experience from developer Gearbox Software and publisher 2K, a wholly owned label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. The game is one of the world’s most successful franchises, with more than 66 million units sold-in worldwide, including over 24 million units of Borderlands 2, which is the highest-selling title in the history of 2K. The most recent installment, Borderlands 3, which launched in September 2019 and was recently released for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, has sold-in more than 11 million units worldwide and was honored with the award for Best Multiplayer Game at Gamescom 2019 and Best Ongoing Game at Gamescom 2020. Collider was the first to break the news of Jamie Lee Curtis joining the cast of Borderlands.