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‘Borderlands’ Exclusive Interview: Director Eli Roth
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Opening in theaters on August 9th is the new action-comedy ‘Borderlands’, which is based on the popular video game of the same name and was written and directed by Eli Roth (‘Thanksgiving’).

The film Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett (‘Blue Jasmine’), Kevin Hart (‘Ride Along’), Jack Black (‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’), Édgar Ramírez (‘Point Break’), Ariana Greenblatt (‘Barbie’), Gina Gershon (‘Emily the Criminal’), and Oscar-winner Jamie Lee Curtis (‘Everything, Everywhere, All at Once’).

Director Eli Roth talks ‘Borderlands’.

Related Article: Movie Review: ‘Borderlands’

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with writer and director Eli Roth about his work on ‘Borderlands,’ the challenges of adapting a video game, cracking the story, the all-star cast, and making movies outside of the horror genre.

You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch the interview.

Eli Roth on the set of ‘Borderlands’. Photo Credit: Katalin Vermes. Copyright: ©2021 Lionsgate.

Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about the challenges of adapting a video game and cracking the story for ‘Borderlands’?

Eli Roth: Well, the story, that was producer Ari Arad and Randy Pitchford, who spent a long time with different writers trying different permutations until they settled on this story, and then that’s when they came to me. So, one of the things we talked about was how do we change stuff and adapt it from a video game to a movie, but I had the game creator Randy with me there the whole time. There are certain things that you obviously want to be faithful to, like the costumes, the design, the guns, the tech. There are certain things that are beloved in the game, and we could fill the movie with Easter eggs, but obviously in casting the movie, you’re going to cast people in real life that look different than the characters in the game. So that’s the first thing. It’s a very, very violent game, but to render the universe at this scale, the studio wants to make a PG-13 movie, and I wanted to make something for the nine-year-old boy in me that if this is a movie, if you’ve never played the game before and you take kids to go see at 10 or 11-years old, they’re going to laugh their ass off and have a great time. I wanted something that was just totally bonkers, a movie that was unhinged and fun. You can just turn off your brain, grab a bucket of popcorn and have a good time.

(L to R) Cate Blanchett as Lilith, Ariana Greenblatt as Tiny Tina, Florian Munteanu as Krieg, and Kevin Hart as Roland in ‘Borderlands’. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Lionsgate. Copyright: ©2021 Lionsgate.

Moviefone: Did you play the game for research, and what did you like most about the source material?

ER: It’s so fun. Yes, I did play the game. I’m terrible at games, so I had to have Christy Pitchford take me through the game co-playing with her. But I love it. I love the sense of humor. Randy Pitchford and I are of the same age and have the same influences, whether it was ‘Mad Max’ or ‘Escape from New York’ or ‘Star Wars’. I love the creatures. I love the sense of insanity. I love the world. I love the detritus of the world. They’re trying to make something beautiful out of it and the trashed planet, and it made me think of ‘The Fifth Element’ and what I saw in that movie, and just the colors of that film and the Gaultier costumes that just blew my mind. So, to get to render something at that scale, I want it to feel like you took all your fluorescent pink neon clothes, put them in the dryer, sprinkled in some glitter, and then it just exploded everywhere and caught fire at the same time. So that was the idea of rendering something that didn’t look like any other movie you had seen before.

(L to R) Cate Blanchett as Lilith, Kevin Hart as Roland, Ariana Greenblatt as Tiny Tina, Florian Munteanu as Krieg and Jamie Lee Curtis as Tannis in ‘Borderlands’. Photo Credit: Katalin Vermes. Copyright: ©2021 Lionsgate.

MF: Can you talk about putting together this terrific cast of actors?

ER: I had an amazing experience working with Cate and Jack on ‘The House with a Clock in Its Walls’, the kid’s movie I did with Amblin, and Cate was the first one I called. I said, “I’m making this insane kind of spaghetti western space opera, fun sci-fi video game adaptation, and I need someone to be a total badass, like Clint Eastwood in ‘The Man with No Name’ or Snake Plissken in ‘Escape from New York’,” and she’s like, “I’m in. Let’s do it.” So, Cate learned to twirl guns. She wanted to shoot, she wanted to do her own stunts. We put her in a harness, she was 100 feet in the air on wires. Then I said, “All right, what if you grab a flamethrower and you light these guys on fire?” So, Cate, she learned to do it. She’s really shooting a flamethrower in that scene. So, it was incredible. Once you have Cate, she’s actor bait. Everybody wants to act with Cate. So, I called Jack right away, said, “She’s going to be a pissed off bounty hunter, and you’re the annoying robot,” and he’s a big ‘Borderlands’ player, so he knew Claptrap, he was all in. Then Jamie Lee said she wanted to play Tannis, which was my first choice and she said yes. he’s like, “You had me at Cate Blanchett.” So, it’s great to be able to unite those screen icons in a movie, and the two of them became close friends. Everyone bonded on this movie. We were shooting in the pandemic, so there was a curfew in Budapest. We weren’t allowed out after 8:00pm, and the world of ‘Borderlands’ became our reality. So, everybody got close. We made lifelong friends on that movie, and you can feel that bond with the characters on screen.

(L to R) Cate Blanchett as Lilith, Ariana Greenblatt as Tiny Tina, Kevin Hart as Roland, Florian Munteanu as Krieg and Jamie Lee Curtis as Tannis in ‘Borderlands’. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Lionsgate. Copyright: ©2021 Lionsgate.

MF: Finally, you are probably best known for making horror movies. But do you also enjoy working in other genres?

ER: I do. I love it. I’ve noticed, if I do too many horror films in a row, I start to get burnout. So, whether I switch and made my documentary ‘Fin’ about saving sharks or ‘Death Wish’, which is completely different, it’s good for me to switch it up and challenge myself creatively and learn new skills. You learn something every time, every day on set. Every shot, you’re learning something new. So, it’s great. I shot ‘Thanksgiving’ after ‘Borderlands’, so I learned how long the post-production is on ‘Borderlands’. So, it’s good for me to go back and forth, but obviously horror movies are my passion and my love. But if you do too many in a row… I never want to get tired of doing it.
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What is the plot of ‘Borderlands’?

Bounty hunter Lilith (Cate Blanchett) is hired by interstellar business mogul Atlas (Edgar Ramírez) to find his missing daughter and the soldier-for-hire, Roland (Kevin Hart), who was sent to rescue her. The mission takes Lilith back to her ruined home planet, Pandora, where she reluctantly teams with Roland, a muscleman named Krieg (Florian Munteanu), a loopy scientist named Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis), a wisecracking robot (Jack Black), and the girl herself, Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt), to battle monsters and vicious marauders while searching for a secret that could unleash unimaginable power.

Who is in the cast of ‘Borderlands’?
- Cate Blanchett as Lilith
- Kevin Hart as Roland
- Jack Black as the voice of Claptrap
- Edgar Ramírez as Atlas
- Jamie Lee Curtis as Tannis
- Ariana Greenblatt as Tiny Tina
- Florian Munteanu as Krieg
- Gina Gershon as Mad Moxxi
(L to R) Florian Munteanu as Krieg, Ariana Greenblatt as Tiny Tina, Jamie Lee Curtis as Tannis, Cate Blanchett as Lilith, Kevin Hart as Roland and Claptrap voiced by Jack Black in ‘Borderlands’. Photo Credit: Katalin Vermes. Copyright: ©2021 Lionsgate.

Other Movies and TV Shows based on video games:
- ‘Super Mario Bros.’ (1993)
- ‘Resident Evil‘ (2002)
- ‘Doom‘ (2005)
- ‘Need for Speed‘ (2014)
- ‘Pokémon Detective Pikachu‘ (2019)
- ‘Sonic the Hedgehog‘ (2020)
- ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2‘ (2022)
- ‘Halo‘ (2022 – 2024)
- ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves‘ (2023)
- ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie‘ (2023)
- ‘Tetris‘ (2023)
- ‘Gran Turismo‘ (2023)
- ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s‘ (2023)
- ‘The Last of Us‘ (2023)
- ‘Twisted Metal‘ (2023)
- ‘Fallout‘ (2024)
Buy Tickets: ‘Borderlands’ Movie Showtimes

Buy Eli Roth Movies on Amazon
August 12, 2024
Movie Review: ‘Borderlands’
(L to R) Cate Blanchett as Lilith, Kevin Hart as Roland, Ariana Greenblatt as Tiny Tina, Florian Munteanu as Krieg and Jamie Lee Curtis as Tannis in ‘Borderlands’. Photo Credit: Katalin Vermes. Copyright: ©2021 Lionsgate.

Opening in theaters on August 9th is ‘Borderlands,’ directed by Eli Roth and starring Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis, Edgar Ramirez, Jack Black, and Ariana Greenblatt.

Related Article: Director Eli Roth Talks ‘Thanksgiving’ Blu-ray and the Upcoming Sequel

Initial Thoughts

Cate Blanchett as Lilith in ‘Borderlands’. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Lionsgate. Copyright: © 2024 Lionsgate.

A loud, clattering, off-brand mash-up of ‘Guardians of the Galaxy,’ ‘Mad Max: Fury Road,’ and other recent tentpoles, ‘Borderlands’ is based on the hugely successful first-person shooter video game franchise launched in 2009 by Gearbox Software. Fans of the game can assess how faithful the movie, mostly directed by horror auteur Eli Roth (‘Thanksgiving’), is to the game, but as a film this fails on a number of levels.

‘Borderlands’ is simply dull, thanks to a bland script and setting, cheap-looking production values, and a cast that seems terrific on paper but veers between performances that are either bored or overwrought. Filmed more than three years ago in the spring and summer of 2021, ‘Borderlands’ collected dust until Tim Miller (‘Deadpool’) came on to direct reshoots in early 2023 when Roth proved unavailable. Either way, with recent video game adaptations like ‘Fallout’ and ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ earning praise for their approach to translating their games to the screen, ‘Borderlands’ is a disappointing throwback, a film that looks and plays like it came out of the 1990s, right down to the crappy CG and the pounding heavy metal needle drops.

Story and Direction

Eli Roth on the set of ‘Borderlands’. Photo Credit: Katalin Vermes. Copyright: ©2021 Lionsgate.

As Cate Blanchett’s expository voice-over tells us at the beginning, a long-extinct alien race named the Eridians used to rule the galaxy, leaving behind some powerful artifacts hidden in secret “Vaults” throughout the cosmos that ruthless corporations like Atlas and Dahl, along with independent “Vault Hunters,” are interested in obtaining. Blanchett herself plays Lilith, a bounty hunter who is hired by Atlas himself (Edgar Ramirez) to ostensibly find his kidnapped daughter, Tina (Ariana Greenblatt). She’s gone missing on the planet Pandora (yes, same name as the planet in the ‘Avatar’ movies) along with the soldier sent to retrieve her, Roland (Kevin Hart).

Pandora also happens to be Lilith’s home world, and when she arrives there she finds it to be devastated by corporate mining and colonization efforts, with gangs of former prison laborers known as Psychos now roaming the land. She also finds Tina in short order, along with Roland, but the girl does not want to be rescued and shows her resistance by hurling explosive stuffed bunnies in Lilith’s direction. Nevertheless, Lilith, Tina, and Roland eventually team up – along with Tina’s self-styled bodyguard and former Psycho Krieg (Florian Munteanu), an eccentric scientist named Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis), and a motormouth robot named Claptrap (voiced by Jack Black) – to block Atlas’s real agenda, which is to find a Vault hidden on Pandora and unlock the unimaginable power stored within.

The problem with ‘Borderlands,’ as with many video game adaptations, is that the movie must do a lot of world-building in a short period of time, leading to things like that voice-over narration and reams of expository dialogue. ‘Borderlands’ falls victim to this early on, mixing and matching characters from various editions of the game in a stop-and-start narrative that either comes to a crashing halt to explain its convoluted mythology or races from one frenetic action scene to another without balancing the two effectively. This leaves no room for any real character development, and while a pro like Blanchett tries hard, the cast falls into the ‘lovable band of rogues and misfits’ trope without doing anything to make it unique.

(L to R) Cate Blanchett as Lilith, Ariana Greenblatt as Tiny Tina, Florian Munteanu as Krieg, and Kevin Hart as Roland in ‘Borderlands’. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Lionsgate. Copyright: ©2021 Lionsgate.

The movie is also hampered by its production values, which look cheap, constricted, and derivative despite a reported $120 million budget. Set on a world devastated by indifferent corporate colonizing, the movie looks like it was shot in perhaps two quarries made to look like junkyards (one character even asks at one point if there’s a way to escape that doesn’t involve schlepping through garbage). The post-apocalyptic wasteland has been done to death, and the fact that the Psychos resemble extras from the recent ‘Mad Max’ movies doesn’t help.

If Roth (or Miller) isn’t shooting in one of the film’s two junkyards, then they’re staging sequences in murky underground corridors and hallways that cinematographer Rogier Stoffers can’t solve. The result is an especially drab film all around. Adding to the problems, ‘Borderlands’ is rated PG-13, so Roth isn’t able to indulge his proclivities for copious amounts of blood and gore; the choppy editing suggests that much of this is being held back for a future ‘uncut’ release.

A finale laden with mediocre CGI only exacerbates the sense that this is a production where things went south pretty quickly, and the movie rapidly descends into a kind of numbing, generic rhythm that is thankfully only ameliorated by its relatively brief 100-minute runtime.

The Cast

(L to R) Kevin Hart as Roland, Jamie Lee Curtis as Tannis, Ariana Greenblatt as Tiny Tina, Florian Munteanu as Krieg, and Cate Blanchett as Lilith in ‘Borderlands’. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Lionsgate. Copyright: ©2021 Lionsgate.

We’re not exactly sure how Cate Blanchett got roped into this, although she and Jack Black both starred in Roth’s slapdash 2018 Y/A fantasy, ‘The House with a Clock in Its Walls.’ Whatever her reasons, we’re not going to place this among the Australian actor’s finest performances. She’s good, never less than professional, but at times she doesn’t seem to know how seriously she should be taking any of it, and her CG-infused arc near the end of the film just ends up looking silly.

Jack Black has no such problems: for one thing, he’s never onscreen since he’s the voice of the R2-D2/BB-8 hybrid robot known as Claptrap, and as such gets the film’s best and funniest lines. Claptrap acts as a commentator on the action, edging close to a ‘Deadpool’-like breaking of the fourth wall (although it never happens) and offering up a stream of patter that alternates between sarcastic quips and ill-time bursts of into. But even Black’s energetic routine gets wearisome after 100 minutes or so of listening to Claptrap babble on.

We’re not sure what Jamie Lee Curtis is doing as the usually reliable actor plays Tannis as a weird combination of loopy and wearily cynical, with the two sides of her admittedly thin personality never meshing well. Kevin Hart is curiously low-energy, although he does pull off a few decent action moves, and while we dislike giving the thumbs-down to a young actor, Ariana Greenblatt (‘Barbie’) delivers an incredibly annoying, tic-laden performance as Tiny Tina, a character so poorly developed and inconsistently written that her central role in the story makes her faulty work even more grating.

Final Thoughts

(L to R) Cate Blanchett as Lilith, Ariana Greenblatt as Tiny Tina, Kevin Hart as Roland, Florian Munteanu as Krieg and Jamie Lee Curtis as Tannis in ‘Borderlands’. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Lionsgate. Copyright: ©2021 Lionsgate.

We should have known we were in trouble the minute we saw Avi Arad listed as a producer on ‘Borderlands.’ While Arad was instrumental in the creation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he was long gone by the time it became a cultural phenomenon. He’s instead continued to plunder his stake in the Sony Spider-Man Universe with lackluster misfires like the ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ and ‘Venom’ films, along with 2002’s equally forgettable adaptation of the ‘Uncharted’ video game.

‘Borderlands’ fits neatly into that filmography as a generic, soulless sci-fi actioner that really lacks any sort of distinctive personality or creative spark (a quick online search reveals that fans of the game are also disgruntled with what they’ve seen of the movie via trailers and clips). And while Eli Roth is no one’s idea of a great filmmaker, he’s out of his element here and unable to deploy the deliberately sleazy horror/exploitation tropes that at least make films like ‘Hostel’ and ‘The Green Inferno’ identifiable as his. ‘Borderlands’ is simply product, manufactured to cash in on a successful property without any understanding of what makes that property popular or why it should appeal to non-gamers.

‘Borderlands’ receives 2.5 out of 10 stars.
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What is the plot of ‘Borderlands’?

Bounty hunter Lilith (Cate Blanchett) is hired by interstellar business mogul Atlas (Edgar Ramírez) to find his missing daughter and the soldier-for-hire, Roland (Kevin Hart), who was sent to rescue her. The mission takes Lilith back to her ruined home planet, Pandora, where she reluctantly teams with Roland, a muscleman named Krieg (Florian Munteanu), a loopy scientist named Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis), a wisecracking robot (Jack Black), and the girl herself, Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt), to battle monsters and vicious marauders while searching for a secret that could unleash unimaginable power.

Who is in the cast of ‘Borderlands’?
- Cate Blanchett as Lilith
- Kevin Hart as Roland
- Jack Black as the voice of Claptrap
- Edgar Ramírez as Atlas
- Jamie Lee Curtis as Tannis
- Ariana Greenblatt as Tiny Tina
- Florian Munteanu as Krieg
- Gina Gershon as Mad Moxxi
(L to R) Florian Munteanu as Krieg, Ariana Greenblatt as Tiny Tina, Jamie Lee Curtis as Tannis, Cate Blanchett as Lilith, Kevin Hart as Roland and Claptrap voiced by Jack Black in ‘Borderlands’. Photo Credit: Katalin Vermes. Copyright: ©2021 Lionsgate.

Other Movies and TV Shows based on video games:
- ‘Super Mario Bros.’ (1993)
- ‘Resident Evil‘ (2002)
- ‘Doom‘ (2005)
- ‘Need for Speed‘ (2014)
- ‘Pokémon Detective Pikachu‘ (2019)
- ‘Sonic the Hedgehog‘ (2020)
- ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2‘ (2022)
- ‘Halo‘ (2022 – 2024)
- ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves‘ (2023)
- ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie‘ (2023)
- ‘Tetris‘ (2023)
- ‘Gran Turismo‘ (2023)
- ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s‘ (2023)
- ‘The Last of Us‘ (2023)
- ‘Twisted Metal‘ (2023)
- ‘Fallout‘ (2024)
Buy Tickets: ‘Borderlands’ Movie Showtimes

Buy Cate Blanchett Movies on Amazon
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August 10, 2024
‘Thanksgiving’ Blu-ray and DVD Interview: Director Eli Roth
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Premiering on digital platforms January 19th and available on Blu-ray and DVD beginning January 30th is the box office hit ‘Thanksgiving,’ which was directed by Eli Roth (‘Cabin Fever,’ ‘Death Wish’) and stars Patrick Dempsey (‘Ferrari’).

Director Eli Roth on the set of ‘Thanksgiving.’ Copyright: ©2023 CTMG. All Rights Reserved. Photo: Pief Weyman.

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Eli Roth about ‘Thanksgiving,’ developing the feature film after making the trailer for ‘Grindhouse,’ shooting the Black Friday sequence, working with Patrick Dempsey, and the status of the recently announced sequel.

You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch the interview.

Director/Producer Eli Roth speaks at the Los Angeles Fan Screening for Tristar Pictures and Spyglass Media Group’s ‘Thanksgiving’ at Vista Theatre on November 14, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Stewart Cook/Getty Images for Sony Pictures.

Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about developing the ‘Thanksgiving’ trailer from ‘Grindhouse’ into a feature film and when did you know that you had the right story and screenplay for the feature length version?

Eli Roth: It’s interesting. The development process started when I was 11 or 12 years old with my best friend, Jeff Rendell, growing up in Massachusetts, waiting for a Thanksgiving slasher film every November. We’d be like, “When are they doing Thanksgiving?” So, we had all these kills like, “Oh, you could cut off a turkey’s head at the parade and they’d run around like a turkey with their head cut off.” That kind of stuff. So, by the time Quentin (Tarantino) and Robert Rodriguez asked me if I wanted to do a trailer for ‘Grindhouse,’ I was like, “I’ve already got it. It’s ‘Thanksgiving.’” Then after that, we thought, “This is great. I don’t have to make movies anymore. I can just make fake trailers because you’re just shooting the best parts.” That’s the stuff you want to do anyways. Then, fans were kind of badgering me over the years and I thought, “Man, they’re right. I really want to do this.” But we didn’t have it. We didn’t know what it was about other than those kills. So, we went through a few different kind of story permutations, and then it was seeing those riots on YouTube, the Black Friday riots where you just saw people saying, “Oh, we’re so thankful,” and two hours later killing each other for electronics and waffle irons. We thought there was something there that was interesting. It’s the mix of being thankful, “I’m just happy for just having my health and my family,” and then killing someone for stuff at a store. But then there’s something darker underneath which is that the reason everyone must do these gladiator games is because a few people at the top are making all the money and everyone else is getting minimum wage. So, I was like it isn’t just blaming greed. It’s like why are people forced into this, and it’s because no one’s getting paid anything, and a few people are hoarding it all. So, I thought that’s where you have interesting material there to do a good slasher film.

(L to R) Gabriel Davenport, Jenna Warren, Tomaso Sanelli, and Addison Rae star in ‘Thanksgiving’ from TriStar Pictures and Spyglass Media Group, LLC Thanksgiving.

MF: Can you talk about creating the Black Friday opening sequence? What were the biggest challenges in shooting that scene and how many days did it take?

ER: We shot it in four days, and this is a low budget movie that we shot in 30 days. So, shooting that sequence, I wrote myself into a corner. But I’m like, “Well, I’m the producer.” So I go, “I can do it in four nights, two nights outside, two nights inside.” Then you’re talking with your stunt team and the special effects guys and makeup effects going, “How the hell are we going to pull this off?” I had a terrific second unit director named Justin Harding, who uses this program called Frame Forge, where we can kind of build the environments virtually and figure it out with my DP, Milan (Chadima). We shot list it, we storyboard, we go to the locations, and we walk through. It’s just the prep, and I’ve been directing for 20 years now. So, there’s a certain level of mastery that comes with that that you can only get from that 10,000 hour on set. So, I know exactly what I want. I mean, for me, where I think that those scenes go awry is when you try to do too much. I wanted to keep it intimate in a way where you’re following the characters and following what they’re all going through as this tsunami is happening. We had a great stunt team, and the extras were fantastic. We’d make sure that we did everything live. So, it is a faith-based system that you just hope to God it works out. We had a couple of cameras for some of the shots and for two nights all night the people were rioting and you’d say like, “Look, everyone, look to your left. Look to your right. These are your scene partners. Is everyone okay before, after? What are you comfortable with? Is it okay if I bump you?” Everyone was good at working together and working with Dan Skene, our stunt coordinator. As soon as you yelled cut, everyone was smiling, picking each other up. Because we had to do it again and again. It was a weird bonding experience. Everyone had smiles on their face the whole time. It was quite fun.

Related Article: Movie Review: ‘Thanksgiving’

Patrick Dempsey stars in TriStar Pictures and Spyglass Media Group’s ‘Thanksgiving.’ Copyright: ©2023 CTMG. All Rights Reserved. Photo: Courtesy of Tristar Pictures.

MF: Patrick Dempsey gives a performance in ‘Thanksgiving’ that is unlike anything we’ve seen from him before. Can you talk about working with him on this specific character and helping him create this performance?

ER: I think that Patrick, look, he’s very sexy and good-looking. I mean, he’s like Paul Newman or Clint Eastwood. He’s going to have this kind of almost third act his career, because I grew up with him in high school from the teen movies. Then everyone else, my wife loves him from ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ and rom-coms. But now you see his performance in ‘Ferrari.’ You see him in ‘Thanksgiving.’ You realize he’s a seasoned actor, a great actor and such a fine actor. I think now that the restraints are off and he can do R-rated stuff, he’s got this whole other range to him. He’s fantastic. So, we talked about his accent. He grew up in Maine and he had never used his natural accent before. He had to lose it when he went to New York City to become an actor. So, in the movie, he’s talking with the accent he grew up with. Once you start talking in that accent, you kind of revert to being from that small town in Maine. I think giving him the permission to do that and to talk with his natural accent, it was great. He’s an amazing actor.

A mysterious Thanksgiving-inspired killer terrorizes Plymouth, Massachusetts in ‘Thanksgiving’ from TriStar Pictures and Spyglass Media Group, LLC Thanksgiving.

MF: Finally, can you talk about where you are in the development process on the upcoming sequel, and will it feature returning characters or a completely new story?

ER: Well, it’s early on. Jeff Rendell and I are going through the process of we’ve kind of just got off the rides. We’re clearing our heads a little bit. I’m watching, I’m catching up on ‘Beef’ and ‘Saltburn.’ I’m watching non-horror stuff, like rom-coms. I watched ‘Bend It Like Beckham.’ That’s my new favorite film. So, I’ve just been kind of decompressing a little bit. It sort of clears my head. But I think that with the sequel, you want to go back for what made the first one work and what people enjoyed. I just sort of go where I think the horror is going to be. I go, “Oh, that’s an interesting idea.” I present myself in the shoes of the fan and think, “I just paid money and went to a theater and saw this. You better impress me.” Then you go, “Whoa, I didn’t expect that.” I have an opening sequence that I think is going to be the right opening sequence for it, that people go, “Oh, okay. This is going to be good.” That’s what I had to do with the Black Friday scene. I had to set the table, so to speak, saying, “We’re not playing around. This is going to be an insane movie. It’s not what you expect.” I need to have a similar opening and I’ve got one. I have the opening and I have the finale, and I’m looking for ways to kind of connect it, so you just sit and you watch the movie. Every day you press play and it’s like choose your own adventure book until it’s like, “Oh, you died. Go back. Go this way, go that way.” So, we’re at that point in the process of just kind of finding the best story, but I got a few kills, so I’m trying to connect the dots.
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What is the plot of ‘Thanksgiving’?

After a Black Friday riot ends in tragedy, a mysterious Thanksgiving-inspired killer terrorizes Plymouth, Massachusetts – the birthplace of the holiday. Picking off residents one by one, what begins as random revenge killings are soon revealed to be part of a larger, sinister holiday plan.

Who is in the cast of ‘Thanksgiving’?
- Patrick Dempsey as Sheriff Eric Newlon
- Nell Verlaque as Jessica
- Addison Rae as Gaby
- Jalen Thomas Brooks as Bobby
- Milo Manheim as Ryan
- Tomaso Sanelli as Evan
- Gabriel Davenport as Scuba
- Jenna Warren as Yulia
- Ty Victor Olsson as Mitch Collins
- Tim Dillon as Manny
- Russell Yuen as Detective Peter Chu
- Karen Cliche as Kathleen
- Derek McGrath as Mayor Cantin
- Joe Delfin as McCarty
- Jeff Teravainen as Deputy Bret Labelle
- Rick Hoffman as Thomas Wright
- Gina Gershon as Amanda Collins
Director Eli Roth’s ‘Thanksgiving’ opens in theaters on November 17, 2023. Photo: Sony Pictures.

Other Movies Similar to ‘Thanksgiving’:
- ‘The Last Waltz‘ (1978)
- ‘The Wiz‘ (1978)
- ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles‘ (1987)
- ‘Scent of a Woman‘ (1992)
- ‘Grumpy Old Men‘ (1993)
- ‘Son in Law‘ (1993)
- ‘Addams Family Values‘ (1993)
- ‘Home for the Holidays‘ (1995)
- ‘The Ice Storm‘ (1997)
- ‘Pieces of April‘ (2003)
- ‘Grindhouse‘ (2007)
- ‘Tower Heist‘ (2011)
- ‘Free Birds‘ (2013)
- ‘Prisoners‘ (2013)
- ‘The Oath‘ (2018)
- ‘The Thanksgiving Movie‘ (2020)
- ‘Black Friday‘ (2021)
Buy Eli Roth Movies On Amazon
January 22, 2024
Eli Roth Announces ‘Thanksgiving’ Sequel
Director Eli Roth’s ‘Thanksgiving’ opens in theaters on November 17, 2023. Photo: Sony Pictures.

Preview:
- Eli Roth will make a sequel to his holiday-themed slasher movie ‘Thanksgiving’
- He says he’ll take his time with the script to get it right.
- The movie should be in theaters by late 2025.
It took 16 years for co-writer/director Eli Roth to finally realize his dream of making the full movie that his trailer for ‘Thanksgiving’ –– released as part of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’ ‘Grindhouse‘ –– teased, but it appears we’ll be getting a second helping a lot quicker. Because, after all… aren’t second helpings all part of the fun of Thanksgiving?

So, while the first film’s tagline read, “there will be no leftovers”, it looks like we’re all in for more Pilgrim-masked mayhem, as Roth has announced that ‘Thanksgiving’ sequel is in the early planning stages.
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What was the story of ‘Thanksgiving’?

A mysterious Thanksgiving-inspired killer terrorizes Plymouth, Massachusetts in ‘Thanksgiving’ from TriStar Pictures and Spyglass Media Group, LLC Thanksgiving.

After a Black Friday riot ends in tragedy, a mysterious Thanksgiving-inspired killer terrorizes Plymouth, Massachusetts –– the birthplace of the holiday.

Picking off residents one by one, what begins as random revenge killings are soon revealed to be part of a larger, sinister holiday plan.

Will the town uncover the killer and survive the holidays… Or become guests at his twisted holiday dinner table?

Who else appeared in the first ‘Thanksgiving’?

(L to R) Gabriel Davenport, Jenna Warren, Tomaso Sanelli, and Addison Rae star in ‘Thanksgiving’ from TriStar Pictures and Spyglass Media Group, LLC Thanksgiving.

The cast for Roth’s horror included Patrick Dempsey, Addison Rae, Milo Manheim, Jalen Thomas Brooks, Nell Verlaque, Rick Hoffman and Gina Gershon.

We can safely assume that the survivors –– won’t tell you who they are, no spoilers here –– will be back for more horror from John Carver.

Related Article: Movie Review: ‘Thanksgiving’

Eli Roth offers the first ‘Thanksgiving 2’ details

‘Thanksgiving’ Parade from TriStar Pictures and Spyglass Media Group, LLC Thanksgiving.

Roth made the announcement via Instagram…

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C0SM5G9yx6N/

The filmmaker revealed that he and Jeff Rendell –– who wrote the ‘Thanksgiving’ script based on a story that Roth and he cooked up –– will be taking some time to make sure that the script is right before he starts shooting the new movie.

He also explained how excited he is to have a slasher horror franchise (Roth has previously had a franchise, albeit more in the torture horror genre via the ‘Hostel’ movies).

What will happen in ‘Thanksgiving 2’?

Amanda Barker “Lizzie”in Thanksgiving’ from TriStar Pictures and Spyglass Media Group, LLC Thanksgiving.

While we won’t specify what happens at the end of the first film, it does open up some intriguing possibilities given what we learned about the reasons for the seasonal slaying/kidnapping.

And if the likes of ‘Scream’, ‘Halloween’ and other horror franchises can keep its killer coming back in different ways, then surely Roth will have some fun ideas up his sleeve. And you know he’s already rubbing his hands in anticipation of new kills.

When will ‘Thanksgiving 2’ be on screens?

Sony has yet to confirm an official date for the ‘Thanksgiving’ sequel, but Roth says the aim is to have it in theaters in 2025, most likely in November.

Cheerleader on the trampoline in ‘Thanksgiving’ from TriStar Pictures and Spyglass Media Group, LLC Thanksgiving.

Other Movies Similar to ‘Thanksgiving’:
- ‘The Last Waltz‘ (1978)
- ‘The Wiz‘ (1978)
- ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles‘ (1987)
- ‘Scent of a Woman‘ (1992)
- ‘Grumpy Old Men‘ (1993)
- ‘Son in Law‘ (1993)
- ‘Addams Family Values‘ (1993)
- ‘Home for the Holidays‘ (1995)
- ‘The Ice Storm‘ (1997)
- ‘Pieces of April‘ (2003)
- ‘Grindhouse‘ (2007)
- ‘Tower Heist‘ (2011)
- ‘Free Birds‘ (2013)
- ‘Prisoners‘ (2013)
- ‘The Oath‘ (2018)
- ‘The Thanksgiving Movie‘ (2020)
- ‘Black Friday‘ (2021)
Buy Eli Roth Movies On Amazon
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December 1, 2023
Movie Review: ‘Thanksgiving’
A mysterious Thanksgiving-inspired killer terrorizes Plymouth, Massachusetts in ‘Thanksgiving’ from TriStar Pictures and Spyglass Media Group, LLC Thanksgiving.

Opening in theaters on November 17th, ‘Thanksgiving’ sees director Eli Roth returning to his full-on horror roots after making the family-friendlier ‘The House With a Clock in its Walls’.

This new holiday-themed thriller is actually the realization of dream he’s held for around 16 years, ever since he shot a real trailer for a fake movie that formed part of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’ ‘Grindhouse’.

Though the finished product only nods to the concept from the trailer (and includes one of the kills it features), ‘Thanksgiving’ certainly offers some crafty gore and moments played for laughs.

Does ‘Thanksgiving’ Serve Up the Goods?

‘Thanksgiving’ Parade from TriStar Pictures and Spyglass Media Group, LLC Thanksgiving.

Eli Roth has long promised that he’ll finally make good –– or should that be “make bad”, given that the movie features people being stalked and butchered in all manner of creative ways –– on the promise of the ‘Thanksgiving’ trailer he cooked up for old filmmaker friends Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’ cult movie celebration ‘Grindhouse’ back in 2007.

That conglomeration of weird ideas and crazed action didn’t hit home with cinemagoers, but Roth (also responsible for movies such as the ‘Hostel’ films and ‘Cabin Fever’) hasn’t been able to let go of the idea. And purely from a slasher movie fan front, that’s a good thing.

‘Thanksgiving’, which looks to start balancing out the vast gap in the number of horror movies set during the titular holiday compared to, Christmas and especially Halloween (Arbor Day may still want a word on that front), has him stalking around slasher territory.

As you might expect from an Eli Roth movie, gore hounds will be happy enough with what he’s got on offer here. The best moments feature items such as a dumpster being used to off someone in ingenious fashion and corn cob holders employed the way they were never intended.

‘Thanksgiving’ certainly offers enough to keep you satisfied, even if it’s mostly junk food.

‘Thanksgiving’: Script and Direction

Director Eli Roth’s ‘Thanksgiving’ opens in theaters on November 17, 2023. Photo: Sony Pictures.

Writing with longtime collaborator Jeff Rendell (who actually worked on the ‘Grindhouse’ trailer and even appears as the killer in that short), Roth has come up with a screenplay that goes all in on the horror tropes while letting you know he knows you know.

There are elements borrowed from other, better movies (specifically the likes of ‘Halloween’ and ‘Scream’) but they’re all whisked together in such a way that they still have some flavor.

The characters won’t exactly linger in the mind –– they’re mostly a stock collection of mean girls, meat heads and greedy grownups –– but that’s not really the point. They’re in place so Roth and Rendell can start taking them out in bloody fashion. You’ll probably figure out what’s going on a fair bit before the characters do (though there is a fake-out that seems to stretch credibility in terms of the villain being somewhere they probably shouldn’t be without relying on accomplices) and it all comes down to the usual dumb decisions and a chase through an abandoned building, but by that point, you’ll feel appropriately satisfied.

Roth certainly knows how to make a set piece work and keep tension simmering without constantly resorting to easy jump scares (though when they are served up, they’re effective). He’s got a keen eye for keeping his characters (and therefore the audience) off guard and knows how to orchestrate a killer sequence.

And while there is always a danger that the comedy aspects of a movie such as this –– and ‘Thanksgiving’ is definitely intended to balance the laughs with the screams –– can overwhelm the horror side of things. Fortunately, the blend here works, the two sides of the story complementing each other.

Related Article: ‘Deadpool’ Director Tim Miller is Taking Over ‘Borderlands’ Re-Shoots

‘Thanksgiving’: Performances

(L to R) Nell Verlaque, Addison Rae and Tomaso Sanelli star in ‘Thanksgiving’ from TriStar Pictures and Spyglass Media Group, LLC Thanksgiving.

The brunt of the character work here is handed to Jessica Wright (played by Nell Verlaque) who would seem at first glance to be the sort of spoiled highschooler that is offed in a hundred different variants of a movie like this. In Roth’s hands, she’s a little more nuanced than that, and Verlaque breathes enough life into her to make you actually root for her at times.

She’s the daughter of Thomas Wright (Rick Hoffman), the wealthy owner of the local megamart whose store is the location for the Black Friday riot that leads to multiple deaths and injuries and sparks the vengeful crusade a year later that gives the movie its hook (and knife, and fork and…). Jessica is haunted by the death of her mother, and unhappy with her stepmother, but at least is sympathetic enough to be worth following.

While Patrick Dempsey is the most recognizable face here (though ‘Suits’ fans might prioritize Hoffman), he’s mostly reduced to being the likeable lawman charged with trying to protect the citizens when the rampage kicks off. He’s perfectly fine in the role, though it’s a character without too much spice. And pity poor Gina Gershon, who shows up for all of two minutes only to perish at the hands of a shopping cart early during the Black Friday event.

‘Thanksgiving’: Final Thoughts

Amanda Barker “Lizzie”in Thanksgiving’ from TriStar Pictures and Spyglass Media Group, LLC Thanksgiving.

Eli Roth fans will be happy to see him back digging into gore, blood and guts after his most recent effort (he also has sci-fi ‘Borderlands’ on the way), and this time leavening the horror with more humor.

Is it nailed-on, all-time classic? Not really –– for all the invention in terms of the killer’s methods, the whole thing creatively feels more like eating reheated leftovers. But as anyone who has feasted on turkey and trimmings sandwiches the next day, that’s sometimes exactly what you’re looking for.

‘Thanksgiving’ receives 6.5 out of 10 stars.
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What’s the story of ‘Thanksgiving’?

After a Black Friday riot ends in tragedy, a mysterious Thanksgiving-inspired killer terrorizes Plymouth, Massachusetts –– the birthplace of the holiday.

Picking off residents one by one, what begins as random revenge killings are soon revealed to be part of a larger, sinister holiday plan.

Will the town uncover the killer and survive the holidays… Or become guests at his twisted holiday dinner table?

Who else is in ‘Thanksgiving’?

The cast for Roth’s new horror also includes Addison Rae, Milo Manheim, and Jalen Thomas Brooks.

Cheerleader on the trampoline in ‘Thanksgiving’ from TriStar Pictures and Spyglass Media Group, LLC Thanksgiving.

Other Movies Similar to ‘Thanksgiving’:
- ‘The Last Waltz‘ (1978)
- ‘The Wiz‘ (1978)
- ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles‘ (1987)
- ‘Scent of a Woman‘ (1992)
- ‘Grumpy Old Men‘ (1993)
- ‘Son in Law‘ (1993)
- ‘Addams Family Values‘ (1993)
- ‘Home for the Holidays‘ (1995)
- ‘The Ice Storm‘ (1997)
- ‘Pieces of April‘ (2003)
- ‘Grindhouse‘ (2007)
- ‘Tower Heist‘ (2011)
- ‘Free Birds‘ (2013)
- ‘Prisoners‘ (2013)
- ‘The Oath‘ (2018)
- ‘The Thanksgiving Movie‘ (2020)
- ‘Black Friday‘ (2021)
Buy Eli Roth Movies On Amazon
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November 20, 2023
Aubrey Plaza and Theo Rossi Talk ‘Emily the Criminal’

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Opening in theaters on August 12th is the new crime drama ‘Emily the Criminal,’ from writer/director John Patton Ford.

The new movie stars Aubrey Plaza (‘Safety Not Guaranteed’) as Emily, who saddled with debt, gets involved in a credit card scam that pulls her into the criminal underworld of Los Angeles.

In addition to Plaza, the film also stars Theo Rossi (‘Sons of Anarchy‘), Megalyn Echikunwoke (‘24’), and Gina Gershon (‘Bound’).

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Aubrey Plaza and Theo Rossi about their work on ‘Emily the Criminal,’ reading the script for the first time, their characters and their relationship to each other.

(L to R) Aubrey Plaza and Theo Rossi for ‘Emily the Criminal.’

You can read our full interview below or click on the video played above to watch our interviews with Plaza, Rossi, and writer/director John Patton Ford.

Moviefone: To begin with, Aubrey, what was your first reaction when you read the screenplay, and what were some of the aspects of Emily’s personality that you were excited to explore in this movie?

Aubrey Plaza: My first reaction was, “Wow, that was an amazing script.” I could not put it down. It flew by. I was like, “Who is this guy? Who is John Patton Ford?” I loved it. It reminded me of a 90s erotic thriller in some ways. There was just something about it that felt like movies that I came up loving and that made me want to be in movies.

Then the character, I just found her so relatable in so many ways. I just loved the idea of playing that type of person and drawing upon those kinds of experiences of just being a fish out of water, and just trying to make it in a world that makes it so hard.

MF: Theo, how would you describe Youcef in your own words, and what did you want to bring to the character as an actor?

Theo Rossi: I think that what I love about Youcef is that we’re all just trying to figure out who we are, no matter how old we are, no matter where we’re getting, we’re just discovering ourselves every day. Sometimes people come in that make you find something else about yourself that you didn’t know.

I think that we’re also sometimes doing things that we might not necessarily want to be doing, but we’re thrust into it. Youcef just happens to be in a, for lack of a better word, family business, but he has bigger dreams. It isn’t until the interruption in a way, or the chance meeting of someone like Emily, that reveals who he truly is.

(L to R) Theo Rossi and Aubrey Plaza in ‘Emily the Criminal.’

I just love that because it’s so similar to life, right? We don’t know, we meet people, we work with people, we hang around people and it reveals something else about us. We start to see the stuff with his mom and who he really is. I just loved the humanization of him, because you think he’s one person in the beginning and then he’s someone else.

That to me is why I go to the movies. I want to see characters grow. I want to see the journey that they take me on, and the ride that they go on. I think it’s amazing to see Emily and her story play out. It’s incredible.

That’s why we’re all doing this because we want to go on these journeys. We want to go on these fast paced, incredible stories that make us think and talk like we are now. So, I’m just happy to be a part of it.

MF: Finally, Aubrey, Emily is really torn between two worlds. There is the world of legitimate society that she wants to be a part of, but also the criminal underworld, which she is drawn to.

At a certain point, she has to make a clear decision which world she is going to be a part of. Can you talk about the predicament she finds herself in and how she comes to make that decision?

AP: There’s a very clear moment in the script and the movie where she is kind of confronted with this fork in the road and she has a decision to make. I think it’s obvious to her when it happens. The system is broken and she’s just not willing to play that game anymore. Nowadays, I think a lot of people can relate to that. It’s a catch-22. It’s just a broken system.

What’s so interesting about that point in the movie is that she has kind of come into herself. She finds herself being a boss in a way, but just not in the way that she thought she would be, or that is kind of expected or traditional in an office with a suit on. But she is a boss. She gets her power, but she just uses it in a different way than most people decide to use it.

Aubrey Plaza in ‘Emily the Criminal.’
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August 10, 2022
‘Riverdale’ Season 3 Casts Jughead’s Mom and Sister

The CW

Can you keep up with the Joneses?

“Riverdale” Season 3 starts up this Wednesday, October 10 on The CW. But it won’t be until December that we meet Jughead’s (Cole Sprouse) mother Gladys Jones and sister Jellybean “JB” Jones.

Gina Gershon (“Cocktail,” “Bound,” “Rescue Me”) ” has been cast as Jughead’s mom Gladys, with Trinity Rose Likins (“Christmas in the Air“) as Jellybean.

https://twitter.com/azalben/status/1048942158571560962

Gladys and Jellybean Jones have been running scams in Toledo, Ohio, to make ends meet. They’ll show up in Riverdale in the December 12 episode.

Here’s the description for Gladys Jones (via Variety):

“Gladys is described as a businesswoman and a biker who runs a salvage yard that doubles as a Southside Serpent compound. A fellow Serpent — but an educated one, with a GED — she is able to command the attention of the others in the gang and acts as a ‘Fagin’ to a crew of teenaged car parts thieves.”

(Fagin is the leader of the group of pickpocket kids in “Oliver Twist.”)

The CW

Here’s more on Jellybean:

“Jellybean is described as being ‘wise beyond her years’ and is following in her mother’s footsteps as a con artist.”

In other new character updates, you may have seen that Riley Keough landed the role of “all-American farm girl” Laurie Lake in Season 3.

And if you want some hints on Wednesday’s premiere episode, it will apparently have a new romance and seriously bad news for a main character.

“Riverdale” Season 3 airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW.

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October 8, 2018