Borderlands film reportedly stuck in post-production as TLOU writer removes name from credits

Eli Roth’s long-awaited Borderlands film adaptation is reportedly languishing in post-production hell. After finishing principle photography in 2021, the movie has been in limbo, with the most recent updates advising of reshoots helmed by Deadpool director Tim Miller earlier this year. Now things are looking even grimmer with acclaimed The Last of Us and Chernobyl executive producer Craig Mazin opting to go by a pseudonym rather than being credited with having worked on the Borderlands movie.

The news of Mazin taking his name off the project was first announced by World of Reel, stating that Mazin has opted to go by the pseudonym Joe Crombie. The Writers Guild of America would go on to confirm that Mazin has not opted to use his real name, seemingly to distance the Borderlands movie from his other work.

This echoes a classic Hollywood practice of filmmakers going by the pseudonym “Alan Smithee” if they weren’t proud of a movie and didn’t want to be associated with it. The practice ended following the release of, of all films, An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn, which satirised the practice while ironically being an example of it when the director tried to have his name taken off the film; nowadays, while directors and writers going by pseudonyms isn’t unheard of, they generally pick their own fake names and don’t all use the same one anymore.

Craig Mazin started out writing comedy movies, such as The Hangover: Part II, before moving into writing acclaimed television shows such as HBO’s The Last of Us and Chernobyl. His history in comedy and video game adaptations honestly makes him an excellent fit for something like Borderlands, which makes it a bit alarming that he seemingly doesn’t think the end product is worth being associated with. In addition to Eli Roth and “Joe Crombie”, the WGA cites a whopping seven other writers associated with the script.

The movie has a truly star-studded cast, including Gina Gershon, Jack Black, Cate Blanchett and Jaimie Lee Curtis. Despite this promising pedigree, we have yet to get screenshots, trailers or a release date. Even the supposed “first look” at the film’s characters is entirely in silhouette, suggesting that the film doesn’t have much faith in its character designs. It remains to be seen if the project can be rescued from its stay in post-production hell; hopefully we will receive some footage before long to assure the public that the film is back on track.