IGN Live had a Borderlands segment where they interviewed the director, Eli Roth, alongside stars Ariana Greenblatt (Tiny Tina) and Florian Munteanu (Krieg) about the upcoming Borderlands Movie. Here is a quick breakdown of the interview, the exclusive movie footage, and also my perspecitve on all of this.
Questions
- [0:53] Eli, When adapting the Borderlands game to a movie were there any must-haves to include?
- [2:12] Ariana, what are the most important elements when it comes to playing Tiny Tina?
- [2:50] Florian, is Krieg conflicted and does he have an inner voice?
- [3:55] Exclusive footage
- [5:15] Tell me more about the world of Borderlands, is there a difference compared to the games?
- [6:16] We saw bandits but are there any other recognizable enemies in the movie?
- [6:50] Tiny and Krieg don’t have much interaction with each other in the source material, how would you describe their relationship?
- [7:30] When we see Lilith with the flamethrower, is that a hint at the “Firehawk”?
- [8:05] What is Claptrap programmed to do besides poop bulletcases?
- [8:45] What can you tell me about the Guns that Lilith has?
- [9:15] Is there something during the production that surprised you?
- [10:45] Ariana & Florian, do you have favorite guns?
- [12:37] T-Shirt Canon
Exclusive Borderlands Footage
My Perspective
So, I’m watching this interview segment and exclusive footage early in the morning as it dropped late last night for me. The interview doesn’t really flow for me but you can see the control room talking to the host throughout during the segment. So instead of embracing the the energy from the answers she is getting, she needs to save herself by asking the next question because she couldn’t fully analys the info given (but that’s also a skill and something I don’t have).
Eli accidentally name-dropped Sanctuary as a location in the movie. We have been speculating that the town we see the Vault Hunters walking through in the official trailer was Sanctuary but now we have our confirmation.
Eli also mentions the Bloodshot and their hideout. I already pointed out that you can see the sign from Borderlands 2’s Bloodshot Stronghold is in the Trailer. So it’s nice to hear that confirmation.
Eli said he put Mouthpiece (BL3) in as Krom (BL1). I think he’s addressing the fans and some of the feedback here. I think this is a creative decision to make him more distinct. Krom’s design isn’t very interesting so they needed a look that would stand out. I have noticed while watching movies with my son, that he isn’t always able to recognize (returning) characters so a strong look helps with that.
Florian never answers the question if Krieg has an inner voice. I don’t think he is deliberately dodging the question as he redirects the attention to the background footage. The conversation moves to another topic as someone from the crowd asks where Jack Black is and then the host simply goes to the next topic.
Talking about Claptrap, it’s fun that Krieg drags ClapTrap up the stairs in the footage because we all know stairs are his arch nemesis.
The first time watching the exclusive footage did nothing for me. I don’t know if it’s the morning or just jumping cold into a movie that’s halfway through its run time. However, after a few views, I started to get into it. Some folks may say “Why watch it several time?”, well I have to analyze everything frame so I can ask myself why does Lilith reload a Vladof Inifiny Gun? But you can also see, that the boxes wiggle when Claptrap bumps into them.
Lilith (Cate Blanchette) seems to be in more control of what she is doing than Roland (Kevin Hart). I see a bit of panic in Kevin’s performance but as a soldier, I think he should be comfortable in his actions. While he helps Krieg, in the beginning, he plays it a bit overwhelmed.
Ariana makes a great face during the start of the fight scene as if she is enjoying the mayhem that just started.
While I see a lot of feedback that isn’t positive, I think this could be a fun movie. The movies that Eli references are also movies that don’t take itself too seriously. If you get into the flow of the movie and take it for what it is, I think I can have a good time with this. There will be questions but also popcorn.
Bandit Line Dance
IGN had this poll where you could choose what the Bandits should dance to. Well, apparently they had to line dance.
