Florian Munteanu, best known for his role as Viktor Drago in Creed II, has officially joined the cast of the upcoming Borderlands movie. The Romanian boxer-turned-actor has been confirmed to play the role of Krieg, one of Borderlands 2’s six playable characters who is part of the game's ‘Psycho’ class.
Munteanu will be joining a star-studded cast that includes Cate Blanchett, leading the cast as Lilith, Jamie Lee Curtis as Dr. Tannis, Jack Black as Claptrap, and Kevin Hart as an ex-soldier turned mercenary Roland. Munteanu is the latest to have his name added to the roster after it was confirmed just a few days ago that Ariana Greenblatt was cast as Tiny Tina, an unstable 13-year-old explosive expert who Munteanu’s character Krieg is in charge of protecting in the game.
According to Director Eli Roth, who is known for adding comedic elements to his horror films, Krieg was “the most difficult role to cast” but he expects Munteanu to fit in just right. Munteanu was last seen alongside Michael B. Jordan in Creed II and is set to appear in Marvel’s upcoming Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings as the supervillain Razor Fist.
The character was first revealed in March 2013 in Borderlands 2 and was released on Steam, Xbox Live, and the PlayStation Network in May. He is shown as a member of a family of bandits and is mistreated by his own mother for being weaker than the other members. This only works as motivation for him to become stronger, but he only turns into his rhetorically challenged version after being captured by Dr. Benedict, who runs experiments on him and many others. Krieg finally manages to escape, only after killing Dr. Benedict, and is seen wandering through Pandora’s wasteland, carrying a buzz axe. This is when players are first introduced to him in Borderlands 2.
Borderlands is one of the most popular video game franchises, with millions of units sold around the world. The Borderlands movie has been in the works since 2015 and it was officially confirmed by Lionsgate in February 2020. Since then, several announcements have been made related to the productions and casting of the film. HBO's Chernobyl creator, Craig Mazin, was brought on to write the screenplay, and production on the film should begin in April in Hungary.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter