Jack Black will play Claptrap in the Borderlands film

Casting for the Borderlands film is picking up speed. The Hollywood Reporter revealed today that Jack Black has joined the project, and will give his voice to the love-it-or-hate-it robot Claptrap.

"I am so excited to reunite with Jack, this time in the recording booth," Borderlands film director Eli Roth, who directed Black and Cate Blanchett in the 2018 comedy-fantasy The House With a Clock in its Walls, said in a statement. "Claptrap is the funniest character in the game, and Jack is perfect to bring him to the big screen."

Roth isn't the only one excited by the casting news.

David Eddings, the Claptrap voice actor through the first two Borderlands games and The Pre-Sequel, was replaced for Borderlands 3 by Jim Foronda after a dispute over pay and a falling-out with Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford. Bringing either of them back for the film role would give it an element of authenticity for Borderlands fans, but—with all due respect—neither name is going to resonate with a broader movie audience the way Black's will.

Black will join fellow Hollywood mediumweights Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, and Jamie Lee Curtis on the Borderlands film: Blanchett is signed to portray the legendary thief Lilith, Hart will play the skilled soldier Roland, and Curtis will take on the role of the unstable archaeologist Tannis. Details of the plot haven't been revealed yet, but my expectation is that it will involve the four of them (and maybe more) coming together in an oddball team as they search for a mythical relic stashed away in Pandora's Vault. Filming is expected to begin soon in Hungary.