The trickle of Borderlands movie castings keeps coming. The latest is Florian Munteanu, known for his role as Viktor Drago in Creed II, and as Razor Fist in the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Munteanu joins Borderlands to play Krieg the Psycho. Krieg is a Vault Hunter from Borderlands 2 who is at war with his own psychosis and the bandit lifestyle. He’s been described as a driver in control of a runaway truck; still dangerous but trying to steer away from as many innocents as possible.
Munteanu was originally a boxer who took up acting, so he doesn’t have many credits to his name just yet. Borderlands director Eli Roth said Krieg was a difficult role to cast. “Florian brings real humanity and multiple layers to a character who on the surface seems totally insane and brutally savage,” said Roth. “Krieg was by far the most difficult role to cast, and Florian brought him to life and grounded him in a way that I didn’t know was possible. He’s going to be a brilliant Krieg and will fit in perfectly with our incredible cast.”
The rest of the cast so far seems to be a who’s who of A-list stars. Most recently Ariana Greenblatt was brought on to play Tiny Tina. These castings follow Jack Black as Claptrap, Jamie Lee Curtis as Tannis, Kevin Hart as Roland, and Cate Blanchett as Lilith. Curiously the casting of both Krieg and Tiny Tina brings up the question of where the story for the film will go. Tiny Tina was first introduced in Borderlands 2, and Krieg was brought on as a playable character in Borderlands 2 via DLC.
There are still plenty of characters left to cast, and plenty of stars left to join the film. Vault Hunters Mordecai and Brick have yet to be announced, as well as a number of side characters who we may or may not see, including Scooter, T.K. Baha, Angel, Steele, Dr. Zed, Moxxi, and Marcus. And with the characters from Borderlands 2 seemingly in play, we’ve also got plenty of additional potential there, including the villainous Handsome Jack and the cast of playable Vault Hunters from that game.
The most recent script treatment was written by Craig Mazin (who is also doing The Last of Us HBO series), but there’s no word on when Borderlands may start filming or when it’s set to release. Gearbox’s Randy Pitchford and Take-Two’s Strauss Zelnick are executive producing, ensuring the live-action film remains faithful to the games.
[Source: Hollywood Reporter]
