Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn Inspired Ariana Greenblatt’s Tiny Tina in the BORDERLANDS Movie

Borderlands made a splash when Gearbox Software debuted it on multiple gaming platforms in 2009. The video game is an open-world action roleplaying first-shooter and features a plethora of fiercely violent madcap characters. The game follows a core group of four Vault Hunters who are traveling to the planet Pandora (not to be confused with Avatar‘s Pandora) to look for the Vault. This stash supposedly has riches, glory, and fancy alien tech that many factions want to get their hands on first. A movie based on this game has been in the works since 2015, and now, it will finally make its way to theaters.

Slowly, we’re beginning to see more details emerge from the Borderlands movie. Recently, Ariana Greenblatt spoke a bit more about the creation of her Borderlands character, Tiny Tina. Greenblatt noted that she “was heavily inspired by Margot [Robbie]’s Harley Quinn rendition.” And additionally shared, “I read the sides and immediately thought of (Robbie’s Harley) and that’s one of the first things I told her actually for the process of getting Barbie… I watched how she prepared and she read the comic books and she did so much work to build Harley and watching her helped me build Tina.”

Greenblatt also turned to a friend to create Tiny Tina, sharing, “She fully just had this very carefree mindset and didn’t care about embarrassing herself and would say and do weird voices and things and movements. And she is my best friend, and I’d watch her just move and I told her in the middle of filming, I was like, ‘I just want you to know, I’m acting just like you in this movie.’ And she was like, ‘Great, awesome.’” Additionally, a group of YouTubers called 4freakshow, helped her find “Tiny Tina’s gestures and laugh.”

The actress also notes that she opted not to try to recreate Tiny Tina’s voice from the Borderlands games, offering, “The original voice of Tina is so loved and it’s so hard to do. And I thought about it a lot because I was like, ‘I could completely change my voice and do a very cartoon character,’ but then I thought about the people who might have never heard of Borderlands before and don’t like video games and just want to watch for the cast or the director or whatever the reason would be. You don’t want to sit through an hour and something movie listening to a crazy, insane voice and feral, horrifying kid.”

Here’s everything we know about the Borderlands movie so far.

Title

This video game movie adaptation will be called Borderlands.

Borderland’s Plot

Lionsgate shared an official plot synopsis on April 5, 2021:

In some exciting news, we finally have our first good look at the live-action Borderlands movie. Lionsgate released two first-look images from Borderlands, which reveal one close-up of Cate Blanchett’s Lilith and one shot of the whole team. The team, of course, includes Kevin Hart’s Roland, an ex-soldier, Ariana Greenblatt’s Tiny Tina, a teenage explosives expert, Florian Munteanu’s Krieg, Tiny Tina’s bodyguard, Jamie Lee Curtis’ Tannis, a strange scientist/doctor, and Jack Black’s Claptrap, who is a robot.

Behind the Scenes

Eli Roth, best known for his horror films, is set as the director. Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) is writing. Mazin is also working on HBO’s The Last of Us TV series. Producers for the Borderlands movie include Avi and Ari Arad, and Erik Feig, with executive producers Randy Pitchford (who served as executive producer on the game) and Strauss Zelnick. Deadpool‘s Tim Miller handled reshoots.

Borderland‘s Cast

And now we’re to the most exciting news about the Borderlands movie: the star power. Cate Blanchett landed the role of Lilith, the film’s lead. Kevin Hart will play Roland, a soldier. Lilith and Roland are two of the game’s Vault Hunters. Edgar Ramirez will play Atlas, who is the most powerful man in the video game’s universe. (Naturally, that means he’s a businessman and arms manufacturer.)

Jamie Lee Curtis has signed on for the film too, playing Tannis, an archaeologist. And we also know Jack Black will voice Claptrap, the game’s recognizable sassy robot sidekick. IGN reported on April 6, 2021 that Dutch bodybuilder Olivier Richters will play Krom. Additionally, Ariana Greenblatt and Florian Munteanu will star as Tiny Tina and Krieg, respectively.

The rest of the cast includes Gina Gershon as Moxxi, Cheyenne Jackson as Jakobs, Charles Babalola as Hammerlock, Benjamin Byron Davis as Marcus, Steven Boyer as Scooter, and Ryann Redmond as Ellie. In addition, Bobby Lee is also joining the cast in the new role of Larry.

We have a look at the movie, courtesy of star Jamie Lee Curtis and Lionsgate. It’s only the silhouettes of characters, but still:

Borderland‘s Release Date

Borderlands will release in theaters on August 9, 2024.

Originally published on April 2, 2021.