“Got me a six-pack and shoulders”: Kevin Hart’s ‘Borderlands’ Co-star Poured Blood, Sweat and Tears to Get in Shape For Her Role Only For the Film to Waste all of it

Kevin Hart is returning to the screens in his latest action/sci-fi Borderlands, bringing along with him actors among the likes of Ariana Greenblatt, Cate Blanchett, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Janina Gavankar. In a battle-filled piece that feels like a real-life video game, the star-studded cast will be embarking on the journey to uncover one of Pandora’s most explosive secrets.

But while the movie has some really promising action sequences lined up, it will still, seemingly, be holding back on the hard work Gavankar did to tone her body. This is because, while the actress poured her blood, sweat, and tears to get in shape for her role as Commander Knoxx in the upcoming movie, the film will be wasting it all by having her in full costume throughout.

Janina Gavankar Worked Really, Really Hard for Her Borderlands Role

Based on the best-selling video game of the same name by Gearbox Software, Borderlands sees Janina Gavankar don the role of Commander Knoxx, and most epically so. And since this was an action role, the 43-year-old actress didn’t hesitate to prepare for it as tremendously as possible.

During a recent interview with Deadline, she expressed the same, sharing how she had “six and a half weeks to get ready,” and she decided to use that time wisely. Calling up her friend Tommy Walker, whom she “fascinatingly” considers a “workout dork,” she started her physical preparation for her role.

Since it was an action role, she wanted her body to be as jacked up as everyone else’s, as Gavankar shared with The Hollywood Reporter. For the same, she even agreed to take “protein for the first time,” calling up her other friends to know better which protein would help her in this mission.

And the result was as fabulous as ever as well. As The Way Back actress continued to tell Deadline:

[Tommy Walker] whooped my a– and he got me a six-pack and shoulders. I mean, I was like, [jacked up]. It was crazy.

Even while talking to THR, she revealed how she had her “shoulders out” and “got so ripped.” Little did she know that all the blood, tears, and sweat she had spent and the protein she had taken in to prep for the role would go down the drain because of the way her character has to be dressed up in full costume throughout the entire movie.

Janina Gavankar’s Hard Work On Her Body Eventually Went to Waste (More or Less)

As the Blindspotting star continued to confess to Deadline, all of her excitement went down a considerable notch when she reached Budapest for the shoot and realized that the big gun she had transformed her body into would actually go to waste. She went on to say:

Then I got to Budapest and realized that no one was gonna see any of it and that I was suited to it up to my neck in armor.

Of course, this situation was as disappointing as possible, or as Gavanker called it, “My situation was, like, so silly.” But, even then, the actress is okay with it, and for a reason all too understandable:

That sucks, but I still have all those photos on my phone, and that’s all that, I don’t know, my ego needs, I guess? I don’t know. [Laughs]

Well, for whatever it’s worth, Kevin Hart‘s upcoming video game-based movie is actually more or less wasting all the hard work Gavankar invested into jacking up for her role. But, as the actress herself said: As long as the pictures don’t leave your phone, it’s all good.

Borderlands hits the theatres on August 9, 2024.