In the Borderlands video games, the Atlas corporation filled the world of Pandora with an endless supply of dangerous weapons. The organization’s top dog has always been something of a mystery. However, it looks like Lionsgate’s highly-anticipated film adaptation is putting a face to the name. Variety brings word that Edgar Ramirez will play a character named Atlas in Eli Roth’s upcoming movie.
It sounds like Ramirez’s character is going to be introduced as the founder of the corporation that bears his name. According to his description, Atlas is a “business titan and arms manufacturer.” His success has also led him to become “the most powerful person in the universe” as well. In the games, Atlas also bankrolled its own private military, the Crimson Lance, which used to count Kevin Hart’s Roland as one of its members.
“What an incredible honor to have an actor of Edgar’s caliber, talent, and charisma playing opposite Cate Blanchett and this remarkable cast,” said Roth in a statement. “Atlas has to be a truly magnetic personality, someone with charisma and charm but that air of menace underneath it all. I’ve been a fan of Edgar’s since his early performances and he continues to amaze me with each dramatic turn. We want to create something wild, fun, and very different from anything they’ve seen from Edgar before. I am so, so excited to work with him.”
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Additionally, Lionsgate has released the film’s official synopsis, which you can read below:
Two-time Academy Award® winner Cate Blanchett teams up with Kevin Hart in director Eli Roth’s Borderlands. Lilith (Blanchett), an infamous outlaw with a mysterious past, reluctantly returns to her home planet of Pandora to find the missing daughter of the universe’s most powerful S.O.B., Atlas (Ramirez). Lilith forms an alliance with an unexpected team – Roland (Hart), a former elite mercenary, now desperate for redemption; Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt), a feral pre-teen demolitionist; Krieg (Florian Munteanu), Tina’s musclebound, rhetorically challenged protector; Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis), the scientist with a tenuous grip on sanity; and Claptrap (Jack Black), a persistently wiseass robot.
These unlikely heroes must battle alien monsters and dangerous bandits to find and protect the missing girl, who may hold the key to unimaginable power. The fate of the universe could be in their hands – but they’ll be fighting for something more: each other. Based on the game from Gearbox and 2K, one of the bestselling videogame franchises of all time, welcome to Borderlands.
Production on Borderlands began last week. Lionsgate hasn’t set a release date for the film yet.
Are you looking forward to watching Ramirez play the movie’s villain? Tell us what you think in the comment section below!
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