Borderlands

Based on one of the best-selling videogame franchises of all time, this action-adventure-comedy follows Lilith (Cate Blanchett), an infamous treasure hunter with a mysterious past, who reluctantly returns to her home planet of Pandora to find the missing daughter of Atlas (Edgar Ramírez), the universe's most powerful S.O.B.

She forms an unexpected alliance with a ragtag team of misfits - Roland (Kevin Hart), once a highly respected soldier, but 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 who's seen it all; 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.

Made to be experienced on the big screen, Borderlands is directed by Eli Roth (Thanksgiving, The House with a Clock in Its Walls), from a screenplay by Roth and Joe Crombie and screen story by Roth. The film is produced by Ari Arad, Avi Arad, and Erik Feig. It is based on the best-selling and award-winning PC and console gaming experience Borderlands, launched in 2009, created by Gearbox Software and published by 2K.

Long before producing the film, Ari Arad, whose credits include the recent hit Uncharted, had enjoyed playing the game upon which it's based, calling it "cool and weird, and one of the more exciting and emotional games I've experienced. The game is action-packed but there's a sweetness to it, which I thought was unique."

A meeting with Randy Pitchford, founder of Gearbox and the creator of the Borderlands franchise, led to a two-year conversation about bringing the game to the big screen. At the same time, Ari and his father, producer Avi Arad, who's played a key role in shaping the Marvel Cinematic Universe, brought on Erik Feig, a former studio executive, as a producer.

Pitchford also served as executive producer and was involved at every stage of the way - from development and principal photography to the editing room. He provided invaluable insight into the Borderlands universe, characters, themes, and storylines to help the filmmaking team craft a film that captures the essence of Borderlands, appealing to both longtime fans and newcomers alike.

Feig notes he was drawn to the project because, "It's bright, colorful, and adventurous, and set in a world we haven't seen before. And it has heart. It is about a group of misfits who have been abandoned but come together with a mission and form a new family. That emotional journey, combined with an incredibly rich and visual world, gave us so much to work with to create an action-adventure with spectacle and fun."

"We were aligned in our goal to create a strong central character in Lilith," remembers Ari Arad. "Once we homed in on Lilith as a central character, it locked us into something that felt really powerful."

Soon after, Eli Roth came aboard to direct. Arad calls Roth, "the rare filmmaker who can combine extreme spectrums ? in-your-face attitude, as well as emotion ? which made him perfect for Borderlands."

Feig adds, "Eli came in hot with his vision for the project. He knew how to hit the story's epic scale and had a great take on its Lilith/Tiny Tina relationship elements."

Indeed, Roth was all in from the start. "We wanted to make a big-scope, sci-fi adventure that's both fresh and authentic in spirit to the characters and their universe," he explains.

Lilith

Celebrated actor Cate Blanchett, who had received an Academy Award® nomination in 2022 for her towering performance as an orchestra conductor in Tár, embraced the physical and emotional challenges of playing Lilith, a master thief and bounty hunter whose unique history could unlock one of Pandora's most explosive secrets.

"There is only one Cate Blanchett, so having her embody Lilith is a gift on so many levels," says Roth, who previously collaborated with Blanchett on the film The House with a Clock in Its Walls. "I wanted Cate doing things we've never seen her do before. "She's obviously a powerhouse dramatic actor, but she's also wickedly funny and we've rarely seen that side of her on screen. I told Cate that for Borderlands I wanted to see her running, shooting, diving, fighting ? and she wanted to do it all."

"Borderlands is pure fun," she continues. "Personally I was so ready to be physical, throw myself around and have some pure unabashed fun."

Adds Arad, "In addition to being an action icon, Lilith has depth. Cate wears it ? and the audience will feel it."

As the story opens, Lilith is living her life as a bounty hunter, "but she really has nothing to live for; she's bored," offers Roth. "Lilith is one of the greatest thieves and bounty hunters in the galaxy, but the more she steals, the more worthless she feels. So, the film sees Lilith learning how to give and sacrifice. That will begin to restore her sense of self-worth, and there is no price on that."

"We enter the story with Lilith reluctantly returning to her home planet of Pandora," Blanchett elaborates. ""In the movie, Lilith has side stepped her childhood spent on Pandora, it's one she'd rather forget. Lilith doesn't want to be a part of this motley crew that assembles and wants no part of the mission which she thinks is bogus. She's more of a lone wolf.

Roland

One by one, Lilith meets the individuals who become her team. The soldier Roland had been working for the corporate entities that had decimated so many worlds like Pandora, but now he's had enough and has switched sides. Roland is an expert marksman and scout, skilled in combat and tactics.

"Roland realised he's been on the wrong team," says Kevin Hart.

The role of the seasoned warrior is something different for the beloved actor, who's brought his signature brand of humor to the films Central Intelligence and Jumanji, among many others. "This is an amazing opportunity for me as an actor because it takes me in the opposite direction from what fans may expect," he explains. "Roland gets it done. He's a leader, a soldier ? and a good one. Roland's new agenda is to do some good, which comes from him once being a part of something that wasn't so good. Roland has found a respect for Pandora, and shows his humanity, which helps ground all the action and adventure."

"Cate's Lilith is the wild gunslinger, and Kevin's Roland is disciplined military," Roth adds. "He's organised and professional. Roland is a believer."

To convey that disciplined physicality and military skillset, "I told Kevin to push himself harder than he ever thought possible," Roth remembers. "Kevin prides himself on the 'Hart Hustle' and being one of the hardest working people in show business, but I wanted him to go places he's never been before. We must believe Roland knows how to kill; in one sequence we have him take out about 50 characters!"

To make that all convincing, Hart says he "got really physical with some serious training." That included endless hours at the gym, and drilling, with Blanchett, at a shooting range.

Most of all, Hart enjoyed working opposite another actor playing against type. "Doing something completely different from what we have been known for has been good for Cate and me," he points out. "I couldn't ask for a better partner."

Tannis

To portray the oddball scientist Tannis, Feig says, "Jamie Lee Curtis was our first and only choice. Once we had Cate, we were daring to dream big, so we went after Kevin and Jamie. We told Jamie it's a movie called Borderlands, directed by Eli Roth, starring Cate Blanchett . and before we had finished the sentence, she said, 'Okay, I'm in.'"

After making her motion picture debut in the blockbuster horror film Halloween, Curtis starred in hit films such as Trading Places, A Fish Called Wanda, and True Lies, before being recently honored with an Oscar® for Best Supporting Actress for her work in the hit indie, Everything Everywhere All at Once. Roth calls Curtis nothing less than an "icon," adding, "I grew up on her movies, so getting to work with Jamie was a lifelong dream. She sets the tone for everyone."

When Lilith and her new partners/allies/family arrive in one of the film's (and game's) principal locales, Sanctuary City, they meet Curtis's Tannis in her home and lab - a repurposed spaceship cockpit. Curtis explains the character's multi-disciplinary work.

"Tannis is a xenoarchaeologist who knows everything there is to know about the storehouse of treasures and its magic, lore, and history," referring to the profession that studies the cultures of past alien civilizations. "Tannis can help Lilith, Roland, and their team to access it. But at the same time there's an army that's been sent to stop them."

Tannis hasn't seen Lilith since the latter was age ten, and their reunion is surprising and rewarding. As part of her preparation for the role, Curtis listened to recordings of Tannis from the game. According to Feig, that research paid off. "Jamie plays Tannis in a way that's real and fun and that finds her humanity."

"It was great fun exploring Tannis," Curtis sums up. "You have a group of people who come together to achieve a common goal, which makes for a very satisfying story. There's an outlaw, a mercenary, a nutty scientist, a broken bodyguard, a street rat of a little girl, and a robot - all of whom need each other. Audiences love that; they relate to that big narrative drive."

Tiny Tina - The film's central and most unexpected relationship develops between Lilith and Tiny Tina, the girl she's been tasked with finding. "What Lilith didn't anticipate when she took the job was going after the world's most dangerous 13-year-old, who's also a demolitions fanatic.

"It's about mother-daughter relationships, coming to terms with your parents and your past, and figuring out what you want for yourself," Arad explains. "They're in such different points in their lives, but their teaming up is a turning point for both. Lilith and Tiny Tina are thrown together in a way that makes them both a little miserable at first, and [we] felt that this should be the core of the story."

During their search to cast the role, the filmmakers looked at thousands of young hopefuls, many via self-tapings. It wasn't easy - Tina is a big character in a tiny package. But once they saw Ariana Greenblatt's audition tape, during which she lit a match and proceeded to swallow it, they were sold. As Roth notes, "Once Ariana got our attention, she knew what to do with it."

Says the young actor, in an understatement, "Tiny Tina is difficult; she's not a normal kid. She's a complete terror and can literally shoot rocket-propelled grenades at you."

"But Tiny Tina can also sit down and have a tea party with you, and she loves bunnies," adds Roth. "So, she's also very much a kid."

Game fans will recognise several of Tiny Tina's signature elements, such as bunny ears, bandages, non-matching shoes, and the phrase, "It's Badonkadonk time!" Says Greenblatt, "When she says that, move out of the way because Tiny Tina's about to throw a grenade. She loves stuffed animals because she uses them for aiming practice with all her explosives, grenades, and crazy-big guns. Tiny Tina surrounds herself with everything a normal kid would - but she turns those things into something that's not very kid-like."

Still, as Roth reminds us, a kid is always a kid. "Sure, Tiny Tina has no filter, is protected by an enormous thug, and loves to blow up things. But all those swear words, explosives, and sassy comebacks are a mask that she puts on because she is still a kid who needs the stability of a family."

From the start, Greenblatt impressed her castmates and the filmmakers. As Blanchett says, with a laugh, "Ariana is fantastic, she's scarily professional, and she identifies with the character in ways I don't know that her mother will be able to undo. Ariana is so full of life. She gives Tiny Tina a vulnerability, along with a sense of danger and unpredictability. Lilith must really keep an eye on her."

Adds Greenblatt, "Lilith and Tiny Tina's relationship is complicated. At first, they don't like each other. Tiny Tina tries to kill Lilith when she comes to find her. Eventually, their relationship builds into something more, and they need each other. Tiny Tina eventually looks up to Lilith."

Krieg - Another key figure in Tiny Tina's life is her stalwart, hulking, and loyal bodyguard Krieg. "It's a bizarre relationship," says Roth, "because both Tiny Tina and Krieg have been discarded. They are two misfits who take care of one another; there's love and acceptance between them, in a big brother-little sister type way. Tiny Tina can take care of Krieg when he needs it, and he can and will kill anyone to protect her. The film is very much about the family you choose; within that family you learn to sacrifice and that's when you are at your strongest."

Krieg is a "Psycho" - a tribe of bandits who have gone insane with a freakish obsession for the storied treasures the band of misfits is seeking. Psychos are easily recognised for being shirtless, masked, and skilled in brutal forms of combat. But Krieg's bond with Tiny Tina and her new "family" has somewhat softened his rage. Still, when muscle, might, and a certain death-to-all-enemies ferocity is needed, Krieg is there.

"The difference between Krieg and all the other Psychos is the soft spot in his heart he has for Tiny Tina," says Florian Munteanu, who is best known for portraying fearsome boxer Viktor Drago in Creed II and Creed III. "Tiny Tina caring for him was an unknown feeling to Krieg, and the major turning point in his life. She gets him, maybe not word for word, but she gets his intentions."

The "word-for-word" Munteanu refers to is Krieg's limited communications abilities. He's quite intelligent but when he speaks, what comes out is kind of a poetic word salad of thought. "Almost invariably it's not what he meant to say, and definitely not the appropriate thing to say in a given scenario," Munteanu explains. "For example, if you asked Krieg to name his favorite day of the week, he'd reply, 'Gerbil salad!' That's Krieg."

According to Roth, it's a perfect fit between actor and role. "Florian grounds Krieg in a way I didn't know was possible. He brings real humanity and multiple layers to a character that on the surface seems totally insane and savage."

Claptrap - Completing the motley yet increasingly empowered ensemble is diminutive robot Claptrap. The filmmakers were thrilled when Jack Black agreed to provide his unique comic voice to the character. "Jack is one of the funniest and most gifted actors around. He was always our dream casting for Claptrap," says Roth.

Black, like Blanchett, reunites with Roth, having had a starring role in his feature film The House with a Clock in Its Walls, helmed by Roth. Says the director, "When I read the Borderlands script, I thought only Jack could play Claptrap. It had to be Jack."

The AI figure functions like a Greek chorus . if it were made up entirely of annoying teens who never shut the **** up. Roth says it works well for the film. "I like that Claptrap is that way because there are characters you just love because they're unapologetically annoying. What makes us love him is that he continuously says the most irritating things at exactly the wrong time. The other members of the group hate him - and Lilith keeps shooting him - but that's what makes Claptrap so much fun."

Blanchett concurs, adding, "Claptrap is wonderfully irritating in all the ways fans loved him in the game. I loved working with Jack, but I just wish he had always been on set to annoy me in person!"

Atlas - A corporate overlord, Atlas, whose insistence that Lilith search for his missing daughter catapults Lilith and her emergent team on their epic and fateful adventure. "Atlas is the catalyst for the entire story," says Edgar Ramírez, who plays the charismatic figure whose true motives ultimately become suspect. "He's the personification of an evil corporation."

"Atlas is definitely a narcissist; he checks all the boxes," adds Ramírez, who recently starred in the films The 355 and Jungle Cruise, and the series "Florida Man." "He's obsessed with accumulating more and more power."

Roth interjects, "Pick the three or four richest tech gazillionaires in the world, who control everything, and combine them in one person; that's Atlas."

Moxxi - In a universe of larger-than-life characters, Moxxi, the sexy proprietor of the best (yeah, maybe only) bar in Sanctuary City, stands out. Not only is she physically alluring - "Moxxi is important to this community because she knows what's going on," says Gina Gershon, who takes on the role. "In a way, she's like a mob boss. You don't know if she's going to kiss you or kill you, but you want her on your side. Moxxi is also the ultimate survivor. She thinks in three-dimensional chess."

The filmmakers and Gershon imbue the character with traits that fans of classic Hollywood films will instantly recognize as homage to 1930s film icon Mae West. ""Randy told us that Moxxi was heavily influenced by Mae West, which was an 'Aha!' moment for me, because I'd already been thinking of her as an inspiration for Moxxi,"because I'd already been thinking of her as an inspiration for Moxxi," Gershon shares. "Mae West was her own boss in Hollywood. No one screwed with her because she was in control. That really spoke to our take on Moxxi."

Moxxi, of course, is just one of several powerful and empowered female characters in Borderlands. "We have one badass, strong, tough, cool woman after the other, including Ariana," Roth enthuses. "We don't hit you over the head with it, but this is a female-empowering story. It's totally wild, and yet a very hopeful story."

About The Production

Principal photography took place in Budapest, where the Borderlands art direction teams, led by production designer Andrew Menzies, constructed Pandora from Hungary's unique geological features and from inside Budapest's formidable sound stages. There, they brought to life Pandora's mix of the wild American West, humor, and an epic fantasy space adventure.

Budapest provided impressive otherworldly locations, heightened by director of photography Rogier Stoffers's striking cinematography, including rock quarries, mines, and underground tunnels. Production also took over the whole of Stern Studios. "I love that we got to invent everything," comments Roth. "It's a lawless world, where everyone is figuring out how to just survive."

Blanchett collaborated with her longtime makeup and hair team, Morag Ross and Kerry Warn, as well as costume designer Daniel Orlandi, to hone Lilith's striking look while honoring what has been established in the games and by fans around the world. "I hope fans will be happily surprised by the way Lilith looks, but also feel like she's excitingly familiar," Blanchett notes.

Blanchett and her team spent more than three hours daily on her transformation into Lilith. They created a wig of Lilith's flame-colored signature flip hair style that could be maintained throughout the active shoot.

Lilith's signature weapon is the Vladof Infinity pistol. "I had to be able to pull it out of the holster and spin it convincingly," says Blanchett. "Fortunately, my eldest son has been a drummer and could spin sticks and it turns out guns! So he fast-tracked me - it was fun to bring in that Western element into the movie.

The visual effects house digitally built the feisty robot Claptrap for his final look in the film. During filming, cast and crew relied on various physical proxies to interact with the characters, while listening to a guide voice track recorded by Jack Black in pre-production. The filmmakers also built one detailed proxy of Claptrap, with select moveable parts.

Tiny Tina is a scene-stealer in her signature unmatched shoes, ratty dress, raincoat, bandage accessories, streaked pink hair, bunny ears, and her constant companion - a stuffed pink bunny.

"As a costume designer, sometimes we're problem-solvers," Orlandi explains. "Tiny Tina is always throwing bombs, but where does she get them? I came up with this concept that she had a long slicker coat on over her costume. Tiny Tina opens the coat and throws the bombs out. She also has this small backpack, from which she can pull out a different outfit every three minutes."

As Krieg, Munteanu wears a gasmask, provided by the props department, over most of his face, with one eye exposed. The props teams also made Krieg's signature weapon: a club with a rotating saw blade that tears through anything he comes across including steel, wood, flesh.and other Psychos.

Composer Steve Jablonsky described his collaboration with the filmmaking team as a great experience. "We agreed the gritty rock+electronic approach fits the world and its characters, and also supports the fun and humor. The rock+electronic instrumentation is also sonically related to the music from the games."

"As the story progresses the score gradually transitions from dark and gritty to dramatic and orchestral," Steve continues.

The Borderlands production was never without challenges and opportunities, but the cast and filmmakers all agree it was worth it. "The unique Borderlands visual and comedic tone - that energy and vibe - in our movie," says Feig. This is a sci-fi extravaganza that feels wildly, wildly original."

"If you've never experienced Borderlands before in any way, it's very rare that you can be treated to something that is literally an entirely new universe, that simultaneously has things that are relatable and things that are surprising and delightful all in the mix. At times your adrenaline is going be through the roof, at other times you're going to laugh your ass off with a brand of comedy that you've probably not experienced before, and then you're going to be surprised that there's a serious center line," shares Randy Pitchford, the film's executive producer and founder of The Gearbox Entertainment Company.

Blanchett tells us, "This is an opportunity for people to gather in a cinema and go on a huge, fun ride. I HOPE audiences will embrace the experience - to sit in the dark with strangers and hang out with a bunch of misfits who find new friendships on a washed-up planet in the not-too-distant future."

"There's so much to love - the humor, the action, but you also see the characters finding their humanity. We've put together such a weird group - Cate, Kevin, Jamie, Florian, and me. But our characters all mesh together wonderfully, and you get to see more of the vulnerable side of each character," says Greenblatt.

The movie is full of little gifts for fans, like surprise cameos and nods to influences. "We have Easter Eggs all over the Borderlands' universe, so you can feel our influences when you play the game. You'll feel the influences when you see the movie as well," says Pitchford.

Roth says, "Audiences are in for quite an experience, with Cate wielding a flamethrower and spinning her gun, Kevin fighting like a soldier, Florian with his brute strength, little Ariana with a punchline and throwing bombs, and Jamie Lee Curtis in the middle of it all trying to organize the chaos. I wanted to create the best moviegoing experience possible. I want it to be an emotional ride and for audiences to cheer."

About The Cast

Cate Blanchett (Lilith) is an internationally acclaimed actor, producer, artistic director, and humanitarian, and a dedicated member of the arts community. She is the co-founder and principal of the film and television production company Dirty Films alongside partners Andrew Upton and Coco Francini. Most recently, Dirty Films executive produced Christos Nikou's Apples, which has been named one of the year's best international films by the National Board of Review. Dirty Films most recently produced the highly acclaimed Mrs. America for FX and Hulu, as well as the Netflix limited series "Stateless," which received a record-breaking 18 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) nominations, winning 13. Dirty Films has a first-look deal with FX Productions for television projects and New Republic Pictures for feature films.

Blanchett most recently completed work on Todd Field's Tár (for which she received a 2022 Best Actress Academy Award® nomination), Adam McKay's Don't Look Up, and Guillermo Del Toro's Nightmare Alley and Pinocchio. In 2015, she appeared in the title role of Carol (directed by Todd Haynes), which she produced with Dirty Films. This performance earned Blanchett Oscar®, BAFTA, Golden Globe®, Independent Spirit, and SAG Award® nominations. The same year, she appeared as Mary Mapes in Truth opposite Robert Redford. Blanchett won a Best Actress Academy Award® in 2013 for her performance as Jasmine in the film Blue Jasmine and a Best Supporting Actress Oscar® in 2004 for her portrayal of Katharine Hepburn in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator. In 2007, Blanchett was nominated for two Academy Awards®: one for Best Actress in Elizabeth: The Golden Age, and one for Best Supporting Actress in I'm Not There. She was only the fifth actor in Academy Awards® history to be nominated in both acting categories in the same year. She also received dual SAG Award® and BAFTA Award nominations for each role, and won a Golden Globe® Award, Independent Spirit Award, several critics groups' awards, and the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival (for I'm Not There).

Blanchett's recent film credits include How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019), Ocean's Eight (2018), The House with a Clock in Its Walls (2018), Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018), and Thor: Ragnarok (2017). Her other film credits are Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy; The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies; David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull; Steven Soderbergh's The Good German; Alejandro González Iñárritu's Babel; and Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

Blanchett has created visual artworks with Julian Rosefeldt's art film/installation Manifesto, Marco Brambilla's The Four Temperaments, and a video portrait of herself with David Rosetzky.

Blanchett served alongside Andrew Upton as the co-Artistic Director and co-CEO of the Sydney Theatre Company between 2008-2013, producing between 19 and 20 shows a year, which toured extensively nationally and internationally. Their most notable productions include: Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Liv Ullman; Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, directed by Tamas Ascher; Steven Soderbergh's Tot Mom; Benedict Andrew's highly acclaimed productions of The War of the Roses, The Maids, Gross Und Klein; the seminal adaptation of The Secret River by Neil Armfield, which has since inspired the title-sharing ABC television series; and Andrew Upton's The Present, directed by John Crowley, for which Blanchett earned a Tony Award® nomination. Most recently, Blanchett has appeared on stage in the controversial adaptation of Martin Crimp's National Theatre production When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other.

In 2010, Blanchett and Upton were awarded with the Green Globe Award for their Green Contribution at the Sydney Theatre Company, becoming one of the World's Greenest Arts Organizations.

Blanchett is a Global Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency) and is a lifetime member of the Australian Conservation Foundation. She's a strong supporter of the Actors Benevolent Fund, the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, and is an AFI Ambassador and Patron of the Sydney Film Festival and the NIDA Foundation.

Blanchett holds a BFI Fellowship from the BFI London Film Festival and was awarded the Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Award for expanding the roles of women in film; the Crystal Award at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2018 for her work with UNHCR; and received the 2018 Stanley Kubrick Award for Excellence in Film. She's also been awarded the Centenary Medal of Service to Australian Society through Acting and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 2018, Blanchett served as Jury President of the 71st Cannes International Film Festival and was the Jury President of the 77th Venice International Film Festival in 2020.

Blanchett holds Honorary Doctorates of Letters from the University of New South Wales, the University of Sydney, and Macquarie University. In recognition of her continued advocacy for the arts and her support of humanitarian and environmental causes, Blanchett has been awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia in the General Division and was also awarded the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture. She lives in the English countryside with her husband, Andrew Upton, along with their four children, three dogs, 12 chickens, and two pigs.

Primetime Emmy®- and GRAMMY® - nominated Kevin Hart (Roland) was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he launched his career as a comedian during an amateur night at a local comedy club. Over the years Hart has become Hollywood's box office powerhouse, opening eleven films at number one at the box office and grossing more than in $4.23 billion global revenue. This year, Kevin received the Kennedy Center's annual Mark Twain Prize for American Comedy. He was the 25th recipient and the youngest honoree to date.

Hart has also become a successful entrepreneur; he is Chairman of Hartbeat; a global, multi-platform media company creating entertainment at the intersection of comedy and culture with a mission to keep the world laughing together. The next-generation media company unites Hartbeat Productions' best-in-class TV and film production capabilities with Laugh Out Loud's expansive distribution network, along with its marketing, sales, experiential, branded content, digital, and social capabilities. Hart is also the Founder of HartBeat Ventures. Together, these companies play an integral role in building Hart's ecosystem for extraordinary growth and creativity.

Hart continues to develop, star, and produce feature films, television, and podcasts via Hartbeat for his various partners which include Netflix, Peacock, SiriusXM, and Audible. Later in 2024, Hart is starring in and an Executive Producer of Peacock's drama series Fight Night.

Hart is currently touring nationally with his ninth standup special "Acting My Age." Hart's last special "Reality Check" was named the #1 Comedy Tour of 2022 by Billboard, and in 2023 Billboard named Hart the Highest Grossing Comedian of the year. In 2020 Hart released his seventh hour-long stand-up special, "Zero Fu**ks Given," which quickly became Netflix's biggest stand-up special of 2020 and earned him a GRAMMY® nomination for "Best Comedy Album." Hart also earned Primetime Emmy® nominations for Die Hart and the sequel Die Hart 2: Die Harter - both for Outstanding Actor in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series along with a Primetime Emmy nomination for his docuseries, Kevin Hart: Don't F**k This Up. Kevin is a New York Times Best-Selling author twice over and his first Audible original "The Decision" was nominated for an Audie award for "Best Original Audiobook in 2021."

Kevin is a founding partner in three companies: the premium tequila brand Gran Coramino; plant-based quick-serve restaurant Hart House; and VitaHustle, the nutritional wellness brand. Kevin's brand partnerships include Sam's Club, Audemars Piguet, Fabletics Men, Chase J.P. Morgan, Draft Kings, Hydrow, NutraBolt, and Therabody.

Jack Black (Claptrap) has cemented himself as one of the most versatile and sought-after talents in entertainment with an illustrious career that includes projects in film, television, music, and more. Jack can be heard voicing Bowser in Universal's The Super Mario Bros. Movie which was released in April 2023 and became the second-biggest animated film of all time. In the film, Black wrote and sang an original song, Peaches, which gave Black his first solo entry on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Most recently he can be heard voicing Po in Universal's Kung Fu Panda 4 which was released in March 2024. He can next be heard voicing Claptrap in Lionsgate's Borderlands alongside Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis and more. Black will also be starring in Warner Bros. Pictures highly anticipated Minecraft movie set to release in April 2025.

Black can also be heard in season two of Netflix's Kung Fu Panda and Netflix's Apollo 10 1/2, directed by Richard Linklater. He reprised his role opposite Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart in Jumanji: The Next Level, the highly-anticipated follow-up film to 2017's global smash hit Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle. Additionally, Black is behind the viral YouTube channel Jablinski Games, which launched in 2018 and reached one million subscribers in just days.

Previously, Black could be heard as the voice of "Po" in all three installments of DreamWorks Animation's smash franchise Kung Fu Panda. Jack starred as "R.L. Stein" in Sony Pictures' hit movie Goosebumps. He also starred in the critically-acclaimed independent film Bernie, a role for which he earned a 2013 Golden Globe nomination for "Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical" and a 2013 Independent Spirit Awards nomination for "Best Male Lead." Additionally, he topped the box office with Tropic Thunder, School of Rock (which earned him his first Golden Globe nomination for "Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical") and the Academy Award-winning blockbuster film King Kong.

In September 2018, Black received a star on the renowned Hollywood Walk of Fame for his storied film career, which has included roles in Don't Worry He Won't Get Far On Foot, The House With A Clock In Its Walls, The Polka King, The D Train, Gulliver's Travels, The Big Year, The Muppets, Nacho Libre, Bob Roberts, High Fidelity, Saving Silverman, Year One, Shallow Hal, Ice Age, Orange County, Envy, Shark Tale, and The Holiday.

Black currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Tanya, and their two sons.

Primetime Emmy® - and Golden Globe®-nominated actor Edgar Ramírez (Atlas) will next be seen in Jacques Audiard's musical crime comedy film Emilia Perez, starring alongside Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldana, and Karla Sofía Gascón. Netflix acquired the film after its success at Cannes.

Ramírez was recently seen starring in Season 2 of Dr. Death, the Peacock anthology series alongside Mandy Moore. He stars as the lead, Dr. Paolo Macchiarini, a charming surgeon, who is dubbed the "Miracle Man" for his innovative surgical techniques. The series released on Peacock in December 2023.

Prior, Ramírez was seen starring in Netflix's Florida Man, a drama that follows what happens when a struggling ex-cop, played by Ramírez, is forced to return to his home state of Florida to find a Philly mobster's runaway girlfriend. The series, which Ramírez also executive produced, debuted in April 2023 and was in Netflix's Top 10 List in 66 countries for weeks following the release. Recently, he can also be seen in Season 2 of the hit Peacock series "Wolf Like Me."

In 2022, Ramírez was seen starring in The 355, a spy thriller for Universal Pictures in which he stars alongside Jessica Chastain and Penelope Cruz. The film released on January 14, 2022. In 2021, Ramírez was seen starring in Disney's live-action remake of Jungle Cruise, opposite Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, which was released on July 30, 2021, as well as the global hit comedy film Yes Day for Netflix, in which he stars alongside Jennifer Garner. The film released on March 12, 2021, and was the number one film in 50 countries reaching over 53 million households in the first four weeks of streaming.

In television, Ramírez was seen in The Undoing, a series by David E. Kelley for HBO, starring opposite Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant. The series premiered on October 25, 2020, and was their most watched show in 2020. Previously, he starred as iconic fashion designer and cultural innovator Gianni Versace in the award-winning third installment of Ryan Murphy's FX anthology series, American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace. Ramírez received nominations for his performance in the categories of Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series by the 2018 Primetime Emmys® and Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series by the 2019 Golden Globes®.

In 2020, Ramírez was seen in The Last Days of American Crime and Wasp Network, both for Netflix. The film Wasp Network, which debuted at the Venice Film Festival in September 2019, reunites Edgar with Olivier Assayas, the director of his award-winning miniseries Carlos. The film, set in the early 1990s, focuses on a group of Cuban defectors who infiltrate anti-Castro terrorist groups in Miami, and Edgar plays the lead character, René Gonzalez. After premiering at Venice, Toronto, and the New York Film Festival, it was released worldwide on June 19, 2020. In March 2020, Ramírez starred in Resistance for IFC alongside Jesse Eisenberg and Clemence Posey. In December 2017, Ramírez co-starred opposite Will Smith and Joel Edgerton in the Netflix fantasy thriller Bright, from director David Ayers and screenwriter Max Mandis. He was also seen in Goya-winning director Pablo Trapero's The Quietude opposite Berenice Bejo. In January 2017, Ramírez starred alongside Matthew McConaughey in the Stephen Gaghan-directed thriller Gold, playing Michael Acosta, a geologist in the mining drama.

In the summer of 2016, Ramírez led Weinstein's Hands of Stone, starring opposite Robert De Niro. The film is a biopic about legendary boxer Robert Duran, played by Ramírez and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel (De Niro). He also starred alongside Emily Blunt, Rebecca Ferguson, and Justin Theroux as Dr. Kamal Abdic in Universal's Girl on the Train, from director Tate Taylor, released in October 2016. In 2015, Ramírez starred in David O. Russell's Golden Globe®-nominated film Joy as the dapper but philandering husband to Miracle Mop inventor Joy Mangano, played by Jennifer Lawrence. He also led the Warner Bros' remake of Point Break, starring as Bodhi, the head of a band of adrenaline junkies committing a string of robberies. In 2014, Ramírez starred in Screen Gems' Deliver Us from Evil, opposite Eric Bana. The film from director-writer Scott Derrickson and producer Jerry Bruckheimer followed a New York City detective and a priest as they investigated a series of heinous crimes involving the occult and possible demonic possession. Additionally, his film The Liberator, in which Ramírez starred as Simon Bolivar, was released later that year and received the Venezuelan nomination for consideration for the Foreign Language Film category at the 2015 Academy Awards®. Ramírez also co-starred in the Academy Award®-nominated Zero Dark Thirty, directed and produced by Academy Award® winner Kathryn Bigelow. The film starred Jessica Chastain and chronicled the decade-long hunt for Al Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden.

Ramírez won a wide array of awards attention and critical acclaim for his starring role in director Olivier Assayas' feature Carlos, for which he received a 2011 Golden Globe® nomination in the category of Best Actor in a Television Miniseries, a 2011 SAG Awards® nomination in the category of Outstanding Actor in a Television Miniseries, a 2011 Primetime Emmy Award nomination in the category of Best Lead Actor in a Television Miniseries or Movie, and won the César Award for Best Newcomer (Male). Ramírez also received nominations for Best Actor by the Los Angeles Film Critics Circle, the London Film Critics Circle, and for a Prix Lumieres Award in the category of Best Actor. Ramírez played Carlos, a legend in the espionage world for over 30 years. Ramírez spoke four to five languages for the role, which shot in numerous locations including France, Germany, Hungary, Austria, Lebanon, and Yemen. The project was released theatrically by IFC, and as a three-part miniseries by Sundance Channel. Carlos premiered at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival and won Best Television Miniseries at the 2011 Golden Globes®, as well as being voted Best Foreign Language Film by the Los Angeles and New York Film Critics Circles.

Ramírez starred as Ares, God of War, in Jonathan Liebesman's Wrath of the Titans for Warner Bros and Legendary Films, alongside Sam Worthington and Liam Neeson. He was awarded the 2012 Alma Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture Drama for his role in the film. Additional film credits include L'Orenoque aka The Passenger, opposite Juliette Binoche, Stephen Soderbergh's Ernesto 'Che' Guevara biopic The Argentine with Benicio Del Toro, as well as SONY Pictures' political thriller Vantage Point opposite Forest Whitaker and Dennis Quaid. He also starred in The Bourne Ultimatum opposite Matt Damon and made his American film debut in director Tony Scott's Domino opposite Keira Knightley and Mickey Rourke.

Internationally, Ramírez last starred in Greetings to the Devil in which a former guerrilla is reluctantly drawn into the vengeance scheme of one of his victims. The film had a Latin American release and premiered in Fall 2012 on HBO Latino. He also made his producing debut on Cyrano Fernandez, a Venezuelan-Spanish production based on the French play Cyrano de Bergerac, in which he also starred. For his performance in the film, Ramírez won the Best Actor Award in the official selection of Territorio Latinoamericano.

Additional past international film credits include Elipsis, El Don (The Boss), directed by J.R. Novoa (Venezuela/Spain); La Hora Cero (The Magic Hour), a short film directed by Guillermo Arriaga, the acclaimed screenwriter of Amores Perrosand 21 Grams (Mexico); El Nudo (The Knot), directed by Alejandro Wiederman (Venezuela); Yotama Se Va Volando (Yotama Flies Away, directed by Luis Armando Roche (Venezuela - France); Punto y Raya (Step Forward), directed by Elia K. Schneider (Venezuela - Spain - Chile - Uruguay), a nominee for Oscar® consideration for 2004 Best Foreign Film; and Anonimo (Anonymous) directed by Enelio Farina (Venezuela).

A native of Caracas, Venezuela, Ramírez grew up all over the world due to his father's job as a military attaché. He has made his home in such diverse countries as Austria, Canada, Colombia, Italy, and Mexico, and is fluent in German, English, French, Italian, and Spanish as a result. Throughout his travels Ramírez developed a great love and ability for intercultural communication, a skill he parlayed into a degree in journalism. He specialised in political communications and initially intended on becoming a diplomat.

In 2000, before turning to acting full-time, Ramírez was the executive director of NGO Dale Al Voto, a Venezuelan organization akin to Rock the Vote. To foster democratic values among young people, Ramírez and his team created cutting-edge campaigns for radio, television, and cinema. The campaign was well-received by audiences throughout the country. He also lent his expertise to various Venezuelan multilateral organizations including Organization of American States, Transparency International, and Amnesty International.

Currently, after three years of contribution to UNICEF including Haiti Relief, Anti-Violence and Children's Rights campaigns, Ramírez serves as a Goodwill Ambassador for UN WOMEN, co-heading the HeForShe initiative. He joins a distinguished list of International Ambassadors that includes Emma Watson, Vanessa Redgrave, Susan Sarandon, Anne Hathaway, Shakira, Whoopi Goldberg, and Mia Farrow. This has always been one of his humanitarian goals.

Ariana Greenblatt (Tiny Tina) exceptional performances have garnered her a CinemaCon Rising Star of 2024 Award, IMDB's Top Stars to Watch in 2023, a place on the Variety 2023 Power of Young Hollywood list, and have seen her honored as part of ELLE Magazine's Hollywood Rising Class of 2023 and Teen Vogue's Next Generation of Hollywood covers in 2024.

Most recently, Greenblatt appeared in the record-breaking blockbuster, Barbie, directed by Academy Award® nominee Greta Gerwig. This first-ever live-action Barbie film released in theaters worldwide on July 21, 2023, and made over $1.4B worldwide at the box office - marking Greenblatt as one of the youngest actors with two or more films grossing $1B+ (alongside her role as Young Gamora in Avengers: Infinity War). For her breakout performance in the film, Ariana earned a Critics' Choice Award nomination in the category of Best Young Performer (Actor/Actress), as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination in the category of Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

She begins production this summer in Budapest on the anticipated third installment of Now You See Me for Lionsgate. The new film returns audiences to the thieving illusionists known as the Four Horseman, and introduces a new generation of magicians. Original cast members Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco and Morgan Freeman are expected to reprise their roles with Greenblatt, Rosamund Pike, Justice Smith, and Dominic Sessa joining the cast. Zombieland and Venom director Ruben Fleischer will direct, with American Hustle writer Eric Warren Singer, Seth Grahame-Smith, and The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes cowriter Michael Lesslie penning the screenplay.

Last year, Greenblatt also starred in the Sony Pictures sci-fi thriller 65, a two-hander opposite Adam Driver. After a catastrophic crash on an unknown planet, pilot Mills (Driver) quickly discovers he's stranded on Earth - 65 million years ago. With only one chance at rescue, Mills and the only other survivor, Koa (Greenblatt), must make their way across an unknown terrain riddled with dangerous prehistoric creatures. The film released theatrically in March 2023.

Greenblatt began her burgeoning professional career at the age of 6-years-old, with early roles on Disney Channel's Liv and Maddie and Nickelodeon's Duda Brothers. Soon after, she booked her breakout role as Daphne Diaz on the hit Disney Channel series Stuck in the Middle, starring alongside Jenna Ortega in the series that lasted three seasons.

Greenblatt's other film and television credits include: Lucasfilm's Ahsoka, Netflix's Awake, the Paramount Pictures post-apocalyptic thriller Love & Monsters, In the Heights for Warner Bros., The Boss Baby: Family Business for Dreamworks, The One and Only Ivan on Disney+, Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War, and STX's A Bad Moms Christmas.

Her advocacy focuses on teen homelessness and mental wellness, as well as animal welfare initiatives.

German-Romanian actor and former heavyweight boxer Florian Munteanu (Krieg) has quickly amassed an impressive list of film credits, including roles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Creed franchise. In 2018, Munteanu was cast opposite Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone in Creed II as boxer Viktor Drago, the son of Ivan Drago, who was played by Dolph Lundgren in Rocky IV. The character of Viktor, described as "born in hate," had to bring an imposing physically formidable and threatening presence but with a vulnerability. Munteanu already knew his way around a boxing ring, having been inspired by the Rocky films as a kid. Of his performance as Viktor, Newsweek called Munteanu the film's "breakout star" and The Atlantic crowned Creed II, which helped smash Thanksgiving weekend box-office records, as "Hollywood's next big franchise." He also appeared on the cover of Men's Health magazine with Dolph Lundgren. Also in 2018, Munteanu joined Christian Bale (Vice), Mahershala Ali (Green Book), Melissa McCarthy (Can You Ever Forgive Me?), Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody), and more in Newsweek's "The 50 Best Performances of 2018 (from Netflix to Broadway) to Binge over Christmas Break."

In 2021, Munteanu followed up the acclaim of Creed II with another box-office commercial and critical success, Marvel Studios' Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, in which he starred as the villain Razor Fist. In the film, Awkwafina's character Katy calls him "a guy with a freaking machete for an arm." In a video for Men's Health, Munteanu said the role of Razor Fist required a different diet from the one he had for Creed II. "In Creed, I had to look like I was super shredded. And I had to look like an athlete, like a boxer. Razor Fist is a superhero. You try to create something very massive and big and solid." Shang-Chi also starred Simu Liu and Tony Leung Chiu-wai and went on to receive a SAG Award nomination for Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture.

The next year following Florian's return to the character of Viktor Drago in Creed III, he would bring to life historical figure George Maniakes, a fearless Byzantine general and main antagonist in the final season of Netflix's Vikings: Valhalla.

SAG Award nominee Janina Gavankar (Knoxx) is "that girl from that thing you know" from dozens of shows like The Morning Show, True Blood, Sleepy Hollow, Big Sky and The League to films opposite Ben Affleck in The Way Back and Riz Ahmed in Encounter. If you're a gamer you know her as Iden Versio from Star Wars: Battlefront II. Janina and her creative partner Russo Schelling wrote and directed the elevated horror short film, Stucco, which won a Special Jury Award at SXSW and which currently has over 40 million views across YouTube alone. She launched her full service podcast production company Safe Haven with Truest Blood, now in its third season, in partnership with HBO. Their robust slate has multiple projects in active development, both in the studio system and independent.

Gina Gershon (Moxxi) shot an arc on Season 2 of the NBC drama New Amsterdam, and appeared on the hit CW show Riverdale, as Gladys Jones, Jughead's mother. She can be seen starring in Woody Allen's Rifkin's Festival opposite Wallace Shawn and Christoph Waltz, as well as in Jesse Quinones's Cagefighter.

Her previous TV credits include TV Land's Younger, the Amazon comedy series Red Oaks, the Judd Apatow-produced HBO comedy series Crashing, and the Golden Globe®- winning series Empire. She also was seen on Fox's Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm, HBO's How to Make It in America, and Danny McBride's Eastbound & Down.

Her film credits include Kay Cannon's Blockers, Permission, Killer Joe (for which she was awarded Best Supporting Actress at the Toronto Film Festival), Pretty in Pink, Showgirls, the Wachowskis' Bound, Red Heat, Cocktail, John Sayles's City of Hope, Robert Altman's The Player, Face/Off, and Michael Mann's Oscar®-nominated The Insider.

Her theater credits include the Tony Award®-winning revival of Boeing, Boeing, Bye Bye Birdie, and Sam Mendes's Cabaret. She recently completed a residency at the famed Café Carlyle where she performed her musical act "Wild Women Don't Get the Blues".

Jamie Lee Curtis (Tannis) has enjoyed a long and distinguished career as an actress, hitting new heights with her performance in the film Everything Everywhere All at Once, for which she won the Academy Award® and SAG Award® for Best Supporting Actress of 2022, and was nominated for Golden Globe® and Independent Spirit Awards. In 2021, Jamie received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival.

Previously, she demonstrated her versatility in such acclaimed films as the blockbuster True Lies, for which she won a Golden Globe® Award; Trading Places, for which she earned a BAFTA (British Film Academy Award); A Fish Called Wanda, for which she received BAFTA and Golden Globe® nominations; and the Disney feature film Freaky Friday, for which she received a Golden Globe® nomination. Freaky Friday 2 will be released theatrically by Disney in 2025.

Her film debut as Laurie Strode in John Carpenter's 1978 horror classic Halloween brought her to the attention of audiences worldwide. Forty years later, in 2018, Curtis reprised that signature role in David Gordon Green's record-breaking smash hit, also titled Halloween, produced by horror guru Jason Blum. Its opening weekend was the biggest debut ever, for any movie in any genre, to feature a female lead character over 55 years of age. A follow-up, Halloween Kills, was released in October 2021, and the final installment of the trilogy, Halloween Ends, was released in October of 2022.

Curtis's additional film credits include Knives Out; You Again with Sigourney Weaver, Kristen Bell, and Betty White; Beverly Hills Chihuahua; Christmas with the Kranks opposite Tim Allen; The Tailor of Panama alongside Pierce Brosnan and Geoffrey Rush; Blue Steel; My Girl; and My Girl 2, among many others.

On television, Curtis most recently guest-starred on the award-winning Hulu series The Bear for which she just received an Emmy nomination for guest actress in a comedy. Other television highlights include two seasons of the Ryan Murphy-created series Scream Queens, for which she received a Golden Globe® nomination; the acclaimed sitcom Anything but Love, costarring Richard Lewis, for which she earned a Golden Globe® and People's Choice Award; TNT's The Heidi Chronicles, an adaptation of the Wendy Wasserstein play, for which she earned a Golden Globe® nomination; and the CBS television film Nicholas' Gift, for which she was nominated for an Emmy® Award.

In 2019, Curtis formed Comet Pictures, a film, television, and podcast production company that has a first-look deal with Blumhouse. Comet's projects in the works include: Scarpetta, a series based on Patricia Cornwell's best-selling novels about forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta, which will star Nicole Kidman; The Lost Bus, for Apple Original Films starring Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrara, and directed by Paul Greengrass; and Mother Nature, an eco-horror film based on the graphic novel published in July 2023 that was written by Curtis and Russell Goldman and illustrated by Karl Stevens. Curtis cowrote the Mother Nature screenplay with Russell Goldman and Curtis will direct.

Curtis is also the founder and CEO of My Hand in Yours, a charitable organization that offers comfort and celebration items with 100% of every sale donated directly to Children's Hospital Los Angeles, with which Curtis has been associated for over 25 years. Curtis is also a New York Times best-selling children's book author, having written 13 books. Her most recent, Just One More Sleep was released in January of 2024.