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Craig Mazin may have co-written Borderlands, the star-studded adaptation of the Gearbox video game, but you'll be hard-pressed to find his name in the credits once the movie finally releases. Per the Writer's Guild website, the film's writers are currently listed as Eli Roth and Joe Crombie, which many assumed was a pseudonym for Mazin.
According to IGN, though, Mazin has "nothing to do with the pen name Joe Crombie." Later, Mazin confirmed as such to Variety. "I am not a credited writer on the film, so I cannot claim any kind of authorship of Borderlands, much less co-writing," The Last of Us co-creator said in a statement. "I did see the report about the pseudonym, which is false. I did not use a pseudonym. If the name in question is indeed a pseudonym, all I can say is… it's not mine."
Back in the day, when directors wanted to distance themselves from a completed production, they'd go by the fake name 'Alan Smithee'. If a filmmaker opted for that credit, it was widely assumed that they were not happy with the finished product, and that they had not been allowed to assert full creative control.
First announced way back in 2015, Borderlands has had a turbulent journey to screen – and it's still yet to pin down an actual release date. Roth directed initially, with filming having been completed in 2021. But in January 2023, it was announced that Deadpool's Tim Miller was reportedly taking over the reshoots and that a new writer, Zak Olkewicz, had been brought on.
Other scribes who have been linked to the project over the years include Aaron Berg, Oren Uziel, Juel Taylor, Tony Rettenmaier, Chris Bremner, Gary Ross, and The Idol creator Sam Levinson.
At CinemaCon 2022, a one-minute clip teased what to expect from the sci-fi actioner. It opened with Cate Blanchett's Lilith, a character lifted straight from the source material, brandishing a gun and wearing a "fire-engine-red wig". She then scraps her way through a vibrant cityscape, before Kevin Hart's mercenary Roland makes a brief appearance. The teaser, which never made its way online, ended with Jack Black's robot Claptrap taking an unexpected bullet from Lilith's blaster.
Little else is known about the outing so far. We do know, however, that Blanchett, Hart and Black will be joined on screen by the likes of American Horror Story's Cheyenne Jackson, Janina Gavankar, Edgar Ramirez, Florian Munteanu, Bobby Lee, Haley Bennett, Gina Gershon, and Jamie Lee Curtis when – or if – it comes out. Love and Monsters' Ariana Greenblatt is also on board as 13-year old explosives expert Tiny Tina.
While we wait for more news on Borderlands, check out our roundup of the best action movies for some viewing inspiration.
