Borderlands Star Florian Munteanu Talks Acting in a Mask

We talked to Florian Munteanu about his physical performance in Borderlands.

By Jamie Jirak

Borderlands hits theaters tonight, and while the film has debuted to a shockingly low Rotten Tomatoes score, many fans are still curious to see how Eli Roth adapted the beloved game. The movie stars Cate Blanchett (Lilith), Jamie Lee Curtis (Patricia Tannis), Kevin Hart (Roland), Ariana Greenblatt (Tiny Tina), Jack Black (Claptrap), and Florian Munteanu (Krieg). ComicBook recently had the chance to chat with Munteanu, who is also known for playing Razor Fist in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Since Munteanu spends Borderlands wearing a mask and grunting, we asked if it was more challenging or freeing to embrace the physical aspect of the role.

"So physically, I mean I'm used to playing physical roles and I have a physical background, a sports background," Munteanu explained. "So that was basically, I did that my entire life. So that was not something new. Definitely the way the character, like you said, talks or doesn't talk and the movement and the grunt he makes, that was challenging just because, I don't know, it's so insane."

"How do you adapt to that craziness?" he recalls pondering. "But once you find the right spots, once you know how to push the right buttons for the character, you automatically become the character. And then it was, again, just a lot more fun than you would expect. And I wasn't really thinking too much about it. So it was definitely freeing at some point as well."

We also asked if there were any unsung heroes of the production, and Munteanu shouted out his makeup artist.

"Definitely my makeup artist, Jana," Munteanu shared. "Listen, I had two to three hours a day of spending in that makeup chair because we had to put all those scars on, and then once you fight and sweat those scars and the prosthetics, they get lost somewhere."

"We spend usually two to three hours in the morning and then at least an hour afterwards after wrapping, just to put scars and everything on and then get him off my body again," he continued. "Also with the mask, she took care of that as well. So special shout out to Jana because she did a wonderful job. And at the end of the day, she made me look the way I looked in the movie." 

You can watch our interview with Munteanu at the top of the page. 

Related:

What Is Borderlands About?

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(Photo:

Borderlands

- Lionsgate)

You can read the official synopsis for Borderlands here: "Lilith (Blanchett), an infamous bounty hunter with a mysterious past, reluctantly returns to her home, Pandora, the most chaotic planet in the galaxy. Her mission is to find the missing daughter of Atlas (Ramírez), the universe's most powerful S.O.B. Lilith forms an unexpected alliance with a ragtag team of misfits – Roland (Hart), a seasoned mercenary on a mission; Tiny Tina (Greenblatt), a feral pre-teen demolitionist; Krieg (Munteanu), Tina's musclebound protector; Tannis (Curtis), the oddball scientist who's seen it all; and Claptrap (Black), a wiseass robot. Together, these unlikely heroes must battle an alien species and dangerous bandits to uncover one of Pandora's most explosive secrets. The fate of the universe could be in their hands – but they'll be fighting for something more: each other. Based on one of the best-selling videogame franchises of all time, welcome to BORDERLANDS."

Borderlands is heading to theaters tonight. Stay tuned for more from our interview with Florian Munteanu. 

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