Borderlands Movie Turned Cate Blanchett Into a PS5 Gamer

Cate Blanchett picked up a gamepad to prepare for her role in video game adaptation Borderlands.

The actress, who won a Golden Globe for her performance in 2022’s Tár, took on the film during Covid as a way to escape the drudgery of lockdown. As she tells Empire, “I think there also may have been a little Covid madness — I was spending a lot of time in the garden, using the chainsaw a little too freely. My husband said, ‘This film could save your life.’”

Directed by Eli Roth, Borderlands stars Blanchett as no-nonsense space-outlaw Lilith, who leads a ragtag crew on a deadly mission on her home planet of Pandora. Where Lilith had to practice to get better at combat, Blanchett also had to practice - with a video game controller.

“My thumbs can barely control a phone, but I bought a PS5 and we played each other,” she says. “I wanted to know the limits of the game and what fans loved about the character. I got really absorbed in that whole world. The cosplayers. The YouTube make-up tutorials.”

Here’s your first look at Cate Blanchett as Lilith in Borderlands.

Borderlands cast

• Cate Blanchett as Lilith

• Kevin Hart as Roland

• Jack Black as the voice of Claptrap

• Edgar Ramírez as Atlas

• Ariana Greenblatt as Tiny Tina

• Florian Munteanu as Krieg

• Gina Gershon as Mad Moxxi

• Jamie Lee Curtis as Dr. Patricia Tannis