Borderlands Costume Designer Explains The Process Of Bringing Game Designs To The Big Screen

Eli Roth’s Borderlands is the film adaptation of the extremely popular video game franchise. Borderlands is set in a dystopian world where treasure-crazed vault hunters are willing to do just about anything to unlock the secrets of the planet Pandora. The film follows a group of misfits comprised of characters from the game must save a missing girl, Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt) who is the key to unlocking the secrets of the lost vault.

Costume Designer Daniel Orlandi has worked on many films, including Logan, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, and Jurassic World. Most recently, he designed the costumes for Lionsgate’s Borderlands, which brings the popular video game franchise to life. Daniel is also the costume designer for the upcoming Venom: The Last Dance. Borderlands comes to theaters on August 9th, 2024.

Screen Rant spoke with Daniel Orlandi about the research that went into making sure the costumes were accurate to the beloved video game characters. He reveals what his biggest challenge on this project was, as well as a piece of advice that Robert De Niro gave him during one of his first movies that has stuck with him throughout his career.

Daniel Didn’t Play The Games, But He Did Lots Of Research

Daniel Orlandi admits that he is not much of a gamer himself, never has been, but that did not stop him from taking this job. He spent hours researching, so that he could be sure to remain true to the look and feel of the Borderlands video games. Because of that, they had everything made, rather than buying it.

Daniel Orlandi: I’m not a gamer. Never been a gamer. But I spent hours on YouTube watching people play the game, which was so much fun. And watching them, it was like, “Okay, we have to make sure we have that.” We had to make sure we had what they were excited about. It was really enlightening.

Movies Are A Big Collaboration

When talking about coming up with each of the costume designs, Daniel explains that it is a big collaboration between himself, the production designers, and the actors.

Daniel Orlandi: You try to make [the costumes] as comfortable as possible, because the actors have to move so much in them. With Cate’s costume, we were in Budapest and she was in London. We made the pants and the boots, and I sent them to her, and we did a Zoom together with her saying “Okay, yeah, these are okay. I can move. Oh, yeah, the boots. Can we just do something that’s like this?” So we figured that out before she came to town, so she knew that she could move in the costume because she has so much action.

Krieg is pretty close to the game costume. He’s a fit guy, so it was fun to do and bang together. We had amazing leather workers in Budapest making that stuff for us. Moxie was the last one of the main characters. She was in New York, and we were in Budapest, so we had her measured in New York, and we got the costume together. There were a lot of adjustments made so she could move, and get the boots right.

Here’s the thing, it’s trying to make this actor feel like the character from the game and not always an impersonation or exactly [the same]. They have to capture the essence of the character from the game and the actor. So a lot of films I’ve done, it’s like, don’t do an impersonation of the event. So we’ll inhabit the character and have the essence of the character.

I never want an actor to feel uncomfortable. I want them to feel like the character. Sometimes early on, the director will say, “Well, I really want them this way.” It’s like, “Well, I can talk them into it in the fitting, but do you really want to talk them into it every day for six months?”

It’s so funny because some movies I’ve worked on, the actor comes in, and they are like, “You’re the first person I’m talking to about this movie.” Or having a Zoom call, or a call, talking about the character, sending them stuff, sending them the designs. I love working with actors. The collaborative nature of film is so great. I work with the production designer, cinematographer, Director, actors, props, getting that all together. It’s such a collaborative industry.

I love to have early conversations with the production designer and the props about what are the guns going to look like? And do we have to make something to hold them? The nuts and bolts, as well as the design. You can’t just be in your little ivory tower and say, “This is the costume. I don’t care where they put the keys.”

Biggest Challenge Costuming For Borderlands Is Making It True To The Game

When discussing the biggest challenge in creating the costumes for Borderlands, Daniel says it was making them true to everything – the game, the script, and the actors.

Daniel Orlandi: Well, that’s the thing. Making it seem true to the game, but also making it true to the script, and true to the actors that they’ve cast. Some things are pretty close to the game and then some things are not so close. Cate’s character is more of a badass and tougher, and we really wanted to show that with the chainmail. We wanted to make her seem like the character from the movie with the color and shape of the character in the game.

There Were Not Many Duplicates Of The Borderlands Costumes

Often, when working on movies with a lot of action, there are several versions of the costumes. Daniel admits that another one of the challenges with Borderlands is that they did not have many duplicates.

Daniel Orlandi: We didn’t have that many, to be honest. I’ve had a lot more on other films. Timewise, and we were shooting during the pandemic in Budapest. So the supply chain was like, “Yeah, we have enough fabric to make three. And that’s all you got.” It’s a lot of added pressure, but that’s the nature of our business. The pressure is fun.

Daniel reveals that something Robert De Niro said when working on one of his first films has stuck with him, and helped him, throughout his whole career so far.

Daniel Orlandi: What I love about working in film is it’s always different. It’s a different world you go into, and it could be doing something that’s historical, or a real character. I approach them the same way, making the actor feel like the character. And it could be one little thing. I learned early on. One of my first movies was with Robert De Niro and he taught me that every detail of his costume is important. In the morning, his costume would be in his trailer, and he would check that these were the socks we chose.

That helped me all through my career. I love to give one little thing to an actor that makes them feel like the character, even if the audience doesn’t see it. I did a film and there were two characters. There was a father in the flashbacks, and then the character grown-up, and I gave the father’s ring to the grown-up character. Nobody notices in the movie, but they had the connection because they didn’t really have any scenes together.

Venom: The Last Dance Is “Going To Surprise Everybody”

Daniel says that he cannot tease much about the upcoming film Venom: The Last Dance, but he can say that it is going to surprise everybody.

Daniel Orlandi: I can’t tease anything except it was super fun. It’s going to surprise everybody. The trailer is great. I haven’t seen [Venom: The Last Dance] yet.

About Borderlands

Returning to her home planet, an infamous outlaw forms an unexpected alliance with a team of unlikely heroes. Together, they battle alien monsters and dangerous bandits to find a missing girl who holds the key to unimaginable power.

Read our other Borderlands interviews here:

Borderlands

Based on the video game franchise, Borderlands is a sci-fi action-comedy film that follows Cate Blanchett as Lilith, a treasure hunter who returns to her home planet, Pandora, to find a tycoon’s missing daughter. Together with a group of unlikely allies, such as a soldier, a teenaged demolitions expert, a wise-cracking robot, and an eccentric scientist, the group will work together to save the girl – all while learning to deal with each other’s unyielding quirks.

Director

Eli Roth

Release Date

August 9, 2024

Studio(s)

Arad Productions , Picturestart

Distributor(s)

Lionsgate

Writers

Eli Roth , Joe Crombie

Runtime

102 Minutes

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