Borderlands Director Is Aiming For The Film To Be As Magical As Star Wars And Indiana Jones

Ahead of its release later this year, Borderlands director Eli Roth discussed his inspiration behind the film and how he aimed to create an experience that could deliver some of the same excitement as some of the biggest adventure movies of the ’80s.

“I loved the game. I love big popcorn sci-fi movies,” Roth said to attendees at Cinemacon (via Variety) while adding that he had wanted to make a movie that “had the fun and magic” of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg films like Star Wars and Indiana Jones. “You have a vision in your head, you just hope to God it all works out,” Roth said. “Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. Thankfully, this one did.”

Roth also spoke about one of the stars of the film, Cate Blanchett, and how she had signed up to do the movie because she loved the classic B-movie Escape From New York. Blanchett plays Lilith in Borderlands, a mercenary sent to the dangerous backwater planet of Pandora to find the missing daughter of Atlas, the universe’s most powerful CEO. Roth has praised Blanchett’s performance in the film, as the actress embraced her inner action hero while filming this video game adaptation.

Borderlands will hit theaters on August 9 and also stars Kevin Hart, Ariana Greenblatt, Jamie Lee Curtis, Gina Gershon, Edgar Ramirez, and Jack Black as an R-rated R2D2.