After previously saying that Cate Blanchett’s involvement in Borderlands was “the sole reason” she signed on to the film, Jamie Lee Curtis said the experience working together was even more than she hoped it would be.
“What I didn’t know is we’d become friends,” Curtis told The Hollywood Reporter at a Los Angeles fan event for the film on Tuesday. “You hope you will, but you know, you make movies, you travel a lot, people travel all over the world. I had a great experience with her and it’s been lovely to become friends with someone who you’ve admired for such a long time. We’ve had some really intimate moments together and she’s a beautiful person.”
The two star alongside Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Ariana Greenblatt, Edgar Ramírez and Florian Munteanu in the Eli Roth-directed film, which is a big screen adaption of the popular video game. Hart also weighed in on working with “two unbelievable legends in Cate and Jamie,” noting, “It was an honor and I can say that I was able to learn so much and more importantly, it’s dope to be able to say that I got to share the screen with those two titans at this point in my career.”
In approaching the adaptation, Roth said he “wanted to stay true to the spirit of the game, which is fun and silliness and anarchy and no rules and total craziness,” and a “fun and poppy” aesthetic over dark and dystopian. “We could really stay true to the design and detail of the game and the weapons, but we could really, really change things, whether it was the casting or the story,” he continued. “I just wanted a big, fun, popcorn movie.”
And as for the game-loving skeptics of the adaptation, Roth’s message is, “Have an open mind and let yourself be taken on a ride. Obviously the game is very R-rated, this is PG-13; this is a movie that you can take your kids to. If you want people to get into the game, take them to see the movie. It’s also a story you’ve never seen before with characters you love, so let yourself be taken on a ride and just have a great time.”
Borderlands hits theaters on Friday.
Tiffany Taylor contributed to this report.
