Summary
Pushback to the cast reveal for theBorderlandsmovie wasn’t surprising, saysGearboxfounder Randy Pitchford. However, Pitchford adds that he’s happy with the cast, and believes that much of the criticism came from a small percentage of fans.
Speaking with TheGamer, Pitchford discusses thelong-awaited Borderlands movieahead of its August 9 premiere. Here, he shares his thoughts on the cast, and how they made the world of Borderlands feel “real”.
Randy Pitchford On The Borderlands Cast Reveal
When asked if he expected the reaction from fans to the Borderlands cast reveal, Pitchford laughs, “Actually, yeah.”
However, he wasn’t put off by it. “I think that reaction comes from a very small percentage. Because the truth is, there’s a lot of people in the world,” says Pitchford. “[Millions of] people have played Borderlands games, and when you look at a post on Reddit or a thread on Twitter or something, you’ll see dozens of comments or hundreds of comments, which is like, 0.0001 percent. And the people who tend to comment […] they’re not necessarily reflective of the whole.”
Pitchford is especially defensive of Kevin Hart’s casting after some fans argued the actor was too short to play Roland.
“There’s always somebody who wants to be reductive,” says Pitchford. “You have an incredible talent like Kevin Hart who started as a comic. But Kevin Hart is amazing, he’s an incredible talent, and he’s a freaking action hero. I think when people see him in Borderlands they’re going to realise, ‘Oh, Kevin’s an action star’. And I think that’s one of the reasons why Kevin did it
“And if you’re going to decide that the reason why you should cast someone is based on their height… I want the best talent on my projects. When I’m in the movie, I don’t think for one moment about Kevin’s height, except for when he jokes about it in one of the gags near the beginning of the movie just to get that out of the way.”
Pitchford is also full of praise for Cate Blanchett as Lilith and Jamie Lee Curtis as Tannis, who he says helped make the world of Borderlands feel “real”.
Fans will be able to judge for themselves when Borderlands opens in theatres on August 9.
