Jack Black to play the Jack Black-ish robot Claptrap in Eli Roth's Borderlands movie
Film Features Claptrap
The weird back-and-forth casting of Eli Roth’s movie adaptation of the Borderlands games has once again hit a nice “oh, that makes” volley, much like when Kevin Hart signed on (as opposed to when Cate Blanchett and Jamie Lee Curtis signed on), with Variety reporting that overly enthusiastic human Jack Black has joined the cast as overly enthusiastic robot Claptrap. This has been one of the interesting question marks about this adaptation, since Claptrap is a big part of the games (for better or worse) and who they got to play him in the movie would invariably go a long way toward whatever kind of tone Roth is planning for this thing. Jack Black makes plenty of sense as Claptrap, because he’s loud and in-your-face, but also he’s generally more likable than Claptrap is in the video games, so it’s hard to argue with this.
The Borderlands games are about a team of Vault Hunters searching the planet Pandora for some kind of fabulous treasure, collecting millions of different guns and making snarky comments along the way. Claptrap is sort of the mascot, one of a series of little robots that like to pop up in various places and… making snarky comments. Hart is playing Roland, the soldier, Blanchett is playing Lilith, a woman with magic powers, and Curtis is playing Tannis, a scientist. There are still two members of the main cast to go (assuming there isn’t a big change to the games), so we have will continue to look forward to more Borderlands news. Given the established pattern, the next person cast could be an Oscar-winner or an A-list celebrity!
17 Comments
This is beginning to sound like an elaborate April Fool’s Day prank.
Beginning to?
Beginning to continue to
That would actually be sort of perfect. Months of casting announcements, big hype on social media, the release of a huge cast video on the first day of principle photography…and it’s just Cate Blanchett looking into the camera, disappointed, saying, “Did you people really think I was going to be in a Borderlands movie?”
The camera zooms out and she’s got Eli Roth on a leash.
Claptrap can be something of an acquired taste, and I generally lean toward enjoyment (rather than annoyance) with his shenanigans. But I fear this casting, and all the inevitable Jack Black ad-libbing that comes with it, might push the character over into insufferable and cloying.Also, while I think Cate Blanchett is a phenomenal actor, and I appreciate that she doesn’t consider herself above doing blockbuster and franchise movies, and I enjoy how much Lilith has become a face for the series, I still find her to be a very odd pick for the role.
I realise I have the same opinion of Claptrap as Jack Black. I tend to imagine I find them more annoying than I do until I’m actually watching them on screen, then it’s mostly a delight if not overdone.
Depends. If we’re getting Tropic Thunder Jack Black, that’s gonna suck.But Jumanji Jack Black works just fine for me.
Claptrap is clearly designed to be an insufferable nuisance, and that’s where the humor comes from; I’m worried Jack Black may want to play him more tolerable and that’ll be a whole different kettle of fish to boil.
This is ridiculous! Everyone knows that Jack Black was made to play Tiny Tina!
the voice actress who plays Tiny Tina is sooooo good, from her imdb it looks like she works all the time, which is as it should be
Ashley Burch is becoming as ubiquitous in games Troy Baker. Her web series (done with her brother and BL2 lead writer Anthony Burch) Hey Ash Watcha Playing is great too, but maybe hasn’t aged so well…
She’s also Aloy from Horizon and Chloe from Life is Strange and Parvati from The Outer Worlds.Ashly Burch is amazing.
this whole thing looks like it would work best if it was…not live action? like enhanced reality maybe? I mean…Kevin Hart as Roland is…not good. I’m wondering if Dwayne Johnson is going to be cast as Brick and they’ll reveal this is a Jumanji sequel.
I don’t think my brain will ever accept Kevin Hart as Roland.
I really think this is a situation where you need the original to play him, I can’t really imagine anyone else
I’m pretty sure that Black is the only member of the cast so far who’s actually played Borderlands.