Eli Roth’s live-action adaptation of Borderlands starring Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, and Jamie Lee Curtis has been in post-production for eternity. Principal photography started in June 2021, and even after the reshoots they took in the summer of 2022, the movie is still far from finished.
In January, there had been reports that Roth was replaced by Deadpool’s Tim Miller. Now, shocking news greeted fans as The Last of Us writer Craig Mazin, who co-wrote Borderlands, removes his name from the project.
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Borderlands Writer Craig Mazin Detaches From The Franchise
Borderlands was first announced in 2015, but it took forever to find a director who would helm the big-screen adaptation. In a report from World of Reel, the official writers for the movie are now Eli Roth and Joe Crombie. The latter is the pseudonym of Craig Mazin, who wishes to opt himself out of the franchise.
Back in the day, filmmakers who were not satisfied with their projects used other names to hide their identities. Mazin is likely detaching himself from being involved in the production of Borderlands. He is known for his works on HBO’s critically-acclaimed Chernobyl series and the recently released The Last of Us.
There are several writers attached to work on the film, such as Aaron Berg, Oren Uziel, Juel Taylor, Tony Rettenmaier, Zak Olkewicz, Chris Bremner, and Sam Levinson. While the film is based on a video game, it would not require too complicated narrative. As to why a legion of people was involved in the screenwriting process remains a mystery.
Borderlands fans are not even surprised anymore by the turn of events and the would-be fate of the movie. Some have already lost hope for the project and are now indifferent to whether it still gets released or not. Check out their thoughts below:
After reading the article it seems like a power move IMO.
Now with being considered A-list with Chernobyl and Last of Us, a project that seems like it could be a beautiful disaster, that has 10 writers attached could be a bit of a set back.
Other than that: damn how bad is it?
— Tex Avery (@SirBumbles) July 10, 2023
I’ve actually been following this movies development for quite some time.
Not surprised. They don’t let the right people do video game movies.
One day they’ll let an actual person whose genuinely played them to lead a movie production and do it properly. pic.twitter.com/2ORQahvt00
— Adam Masnyk (@AdamMasnyk) July 10, 2023
I don’t even care anymore. I’m just going to watch this movie to see how bad it is atp. (Especially because I want to see how Kevin Hart is going portray Roland in this)
— Andre || X-Men era (@reeverse_flassh) July 11, 2023
Knew it was gonna be bad when they cast kevin hart as roland
— Muhammad Kautzar (@AFCKautzar) July 11, 2023
Literally forgot this movie was a thing. Also now reminded that Kevin Hart is playing Roland…
— Tyler (@The_Ty_Rant) July 10, 2023
Wouldn’t be faithful to Borderlands if the writing wasn’t embarrassing so this is probably a good sign
— LeBlorstOfTimes 🤖 Gaming/Tech Drop 🔔+deals (@LeBlorstOfTimes) July 10, 2023
It seems that the Borderlands team remains stuck in the editing room. With such a messy production schedule, it won’t be a surprise if Kevin Hart’s upcoming project gets shelved or delayed again for several months.
Borderlands Star Reveals Movie Is “So Close” To The Video Game
While some fans already criticized Borderlands’ accuracy based on the source material, actress Janina Gavankar, who will play Commander Knoxx, confirms that the movie will pay respect to the video game franchise (via Collider):
“The production design and the art direction alone is so close to the game. You can’t believe they put this much love and attention into the details. I came in with my arms crossed like, ‘You better do it right because I’m here to call bullsh*t.’ And it’s like, they went hard. They really meant it. Even down to our costumes, just getting the colors of everything right. There’s a lot of love that went into the production.”
With that said, fans only need a release date announcement and an official trailer to make up for the long wait.
Sources: World of Reel, Collider
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