With all the hype around the impending release of Borderlands 3, you could be forgiven for forgetting that a Borderlands movie is also actually currently in-development.
The project is being worked on by film studio Lionsgate, with Venom producer Avi Arad overseeing. Details on the flick are fairly thin on the ground at this early stage, though it’s been rumoured it’ll be heavily inspired by the video games (which is a good sign). It’ll also star an entirely original female protagonist, according to reports.
While we don’t know exactly who will take on this unspecified female lead role, we do know that Gearbox has one actor in mind to voice everybody’s favourite yellow robot Claptrap.
Speaking to VG247, Borderlands 3 Creative Director Paul Sage revealed that his dream casting for the iconic Vault Hunter companion would be none other than Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. It’s not a choice I would have thought of in a million years, but it’s one I’m very much here for now.
Sage initially said that; “our audio guys would tell you, ‘Hey, we can make anybody Claptrap'”, before deciding that the wrestler-turned-beloved actor would be the best choice for the role. I mean, if Vin Diesel can voice a talking tree that hangs out with an angry raccoon, anything’s possible these days.
Meanwhile, Scott Kester, Art Director on Borderlands 3, said that he backed Sage’s decision as long as Johnson physically dressed up to play Claptrap, instead of simply lending his voice to the character. Kester also reckons Bill Murray could do a good Claptrap voice, which is another outstanding shout.
He said:
I’m gonna go with Bill Murray. Yeah! That’s who I want to play Claptrap. Maybe he’d finally get an Oscar.
Borderlands 3 comes to PS4, Xbox One, and PC on September 13 this year. In the meantime, I’ll be cobbling a petition together to get both Bill Murray and Dwayne Johnson to voice Claptrap together. Maybe they can do a line each, or something?
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Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.