Borderlands Director Praises Cate Blanchett’s Crazy Turn As Lilith

Beyond The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, as well as Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Cate Blanchett doesn’t have many genre films in her previous credits. But she’s adding another one this summer in the live-action adaptation of the Borderlands video games. And according to director Eli Roth, audiences aren’t prepared to see some of the things that Blanchett did while embracing her inner action heroine as Lilith.

“You’ve seen [Blanchett] twirling the baton [in Tár], but you haven’t seen her twirling guns behind her back,” said Roth during an interview with Empire. “She’s a master at it. A big part of the fun of the movie is watching it and thinking, ‘I can’t believe they all did this crazy stuff.’ Cate with a flame-thrower–a real flame-thrower–come on! That’s pretty badass.”

Roth also revealed that one of Blanchett’s personal favorite films helped influence her take on Lilith.

“She loves Escape From New York,” noted Roth. “It’s her favorite movie. But nobody would know that because why would you ask her about Escape From New York when you’re interviewing her about Lydia Tár?” He also said that the film was Blanchett’s opportunity to “do this incredible kind of Kurt Russell [character]”.

Blanchett is headlining Borderlands opposite Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Edgar Ramírez, Ariana Greenblatt, Florian Munteanu, Gina Gershon, and Jamie Lee Curtis, Borderlands will hit theaters on August 9.