Fans of the Borderlands franchise have been waiting for the movie since 2015, and we are now a little more than a month away from the theatrical release. Despite the close launch, some people are still wondering about the unusual casting of Cate Blanchett as Lilith, and the actress sheds light on why she took the role.
Cate Blanchett 'Covid Madness' Led to Her Being Lilith
One of the things Blanchett picked up during the Covid lockdown is gardening, so you can imagine gloves, pruning shears, a hand trowel, and other basic gardening tools. With the actress, however, her tool of choice is something more effective: a chainsaw.
After confessing that she was "using the chainsaw a little too freely," she explained how her husband encouraged her to take on the role. "This film could save your life," he expressed. Even though the role seemed like an odd job for her, she said it contributed to her consideration.
"The crazy asks are usually the things I gravitate towards; the things I could never conceive of," she said, adding that the "the gun-slinging stuff was so much fun." We already know how good she is in an action scene based on her portrayal of Hela in "Thor: Ragnarok."
She may have accepted the job to keep her hands off the chainsaw, but that doesn't mean that she wasn't fully committed to becoming Lilith. She spent a lot of time researching the character, as reported by Gizmodo.
For one, she bought a PS5 just to play the game and understand the character better. "My thumbs can barely control a phone, but I bought a PS5 and we played each other," she explained and further elaborated on what pushed her to try Borderlands out.
"I wanted to know the limits of the game and what fans loved about the character. I got really absorbed in that whole world. The cosplayers. The YouTube make-up tutorials." Even though some fans say she's too old for the role, you can't deny the work she put in to do a great job.
Perhaps this reveal would convince more fans to tone down the criticism towards that casting and the overall outcome of the movie itself based on the trailers, especially since actors like Blanchett put a lot of heart into the role to make sure that she gets it right.
Hate on 'Borderlands'
If you look through the comment section of the movie's trailer on YouTube, you'll be scrolling for a while before you see a positive remark. Almost all users express their complaints about the film, even though it's just a three-minute trailer of it.
One of the most criticized aspects of it is the cast of Roland, which is played by Kevin Hart. The soldier from Promethea is more of a serious and laid-back character, which is why people think that Kevin Hart, being known as a comedian, does not fit the role.
Of course, the age of the actors has also come up, particularly that of Cate Blanchett and Jamie Lee Curtis. One user even said: "Hollywood just kills everything it touches," seeing as there have been a lot of video game adaptations that fans have also been disappointed with.
