Borderlands director blasts “ageist” industry with major casting change

Fans have been up in arms about one huge change to the Borderlands movie – but director Eli Roth is intent on proving an “ageist” industry wrong.

If you’ve ever played the Borderlands video games before, you’ll know that our favorite team of vault hunters, especially 22-year-old Lilith, are in their late 20s to early 40s at a push. The older characters, including Mordecai and Handsome Jack, are nowhere to be seen in the new film. 

So when 55-year-old Cate Blanchett was cast in the leading role in the action movie, more than a few eyebrows were raised, with fans complaining there’s “no reason” for the film to actively age its cast up. 

Critics have also taken aim at the casting, with GameRant dubbing it “a massive, odd change… the burgeoning Borderlands movie franchise should’ve imitated the MCU in casting younger actors who could age up at the same pace as their roles.”

The new movie also doesn’t follow the classic video game canon, taking characters from all four games alongside minigames to pioneer an entirely new vault-hunting plot.

However, it’s this change that has prompted the most backlash, but director Eli Roth says the age differences weren’t even intentional – but the reaction does highlight the “ageist” industry. 

“It wasn’t about changing age. I’m reading the script and I’m not thinking about the game… I’m thinking about the movie. I’m not thinking ‘Oh, this person is a certain age in the game,’” he told Dexerto. 

“Tiny Tina needs to be a certain age. But for everyone else, you’re talking about the best actor in the world. You go right to Cate Blanchett, and she said yes. So, once you have Cate Blanchett, I went to Jack Black to play Claptrap, Jamie Lee Curtis to play Tannis. 

“I wanted Gina Gershon to play Moxxi. I thought she was brilliant at it,” Roth added. Unlike Blanchett’s Lillith, Gershon is closer in age to her character of Moxxi. 

While her age isn’t explicitly revealed, Moxxi is thought to be around 52 years old when players meet her in Borderlands, which is only 10 years younger than Gershon.  

“I do think there’s a tremendous amount of ageism in Hollywood and I understand why people bring it up,” Roth continued. “But again, the games are the games, and the movies are the movies, so there’s certain things that felt right. 

“For me, it’s always about getting the best actors in the world and watching them on screen do something that they’ve never done before. I feel tremendously lucky to have the cast I had – I think they all really went for it and gave it a life that’s completely different from the games.”

Blanchett previously told Empire of her role in the film, “I was spending a lot of time in the garden, using the chainsaw a little too freely. My husband said, ‘This film could save your life.’” 

Borderlands is in cinemas now. Find out more about Borderlands 3 shift codes and everything we know about Borderlands 4 so far, alongside the latest updates on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 and new movies streaming.