Borderline: An Obsessive Fan Wanting His Pop Star Bride
Cocaine Bear writer Jimmy Warden produces his next film project, Borderline. The film features horror icon Samara Weaving and thriller performer Ray Nicholson in a stalker hostage situation. With the movie getting ready for its release in March, here’s what the latest trailer has revealed.
About Jimmy Warden’s Stalker Thriller
Borderline tells the story of pop star Sofia Minor who has been traumatized by a fan named Paul. On the official movie page on Magnet Releasing, Paul has escaped the mental hospital. When he sneaks into Sofia’s home, Paul knocks her unconscious and holds her captive in the music studio. He makes a phone call to her bodyguard Bell, telling him it’s the night of their wedding night. Furious, Bell puts on his security jacket and decides to prepare reinforcements to capture Paul.
Paul invites people close to Sofia who became his hostages, or in this case, honorary wedding guests. Helping him is another obsessive fan named Penny is willing to take out anyone for Paul’s marriage dream. Then there’s J.H. who acts as Paul’s right-hand man. It’s up to Sofia to try and escape her home with whoever she can save. Hopefully, Bell can rescue her in time before more people get killed.
Borderline’s Cast
Borderline is the 3rd film Weaving will be working alongside her husband, Jimmy Warden. These two first worked together on the set of McG’s The Babysitter as actors. They got married in 2019 during The Babysitter: Killer Queen’s production. Nicholson is a great pick for Paul as he previously acted in I Love You Forever as a control freak over their lover. The trailer presents Sofia and her stalker’s character chemistry to be very uncomfortable, afraid, and aggressive.
Eric Dane becomes Bell on a mission to rescue Sofia from Paul. Dane has acted in multiple films and shows that required combat training. Having his experience onboard for Borderline offers his character a sense of determination and protective instincts. The last member of the main cast is Alba Baptista. She shows off her combat skills from Netflix’s Warrior Nun and her obsessive nature from Simao Cayette’s Miami.
Also joining the cast are:
- Patrick Cox as J.H
- Jimmy Fails as Rhodes
- Catherine Lough Haggquist as Elanor
- Yasmeen Kelders as Abby
- Terence Kelly as Lutzner
- Matther Del Bel Belluz as Officer Carter
- Billy Magnussen (Role to be announced)
First Impressions of Borderline
Warden’s writing and direction for the film tell a cautionary tale of obsession. It portrays how easily people can fall victim to their actions once they are fixated on their subject. Paul’s mannerisms for Sofia in Borderline’s trailer made me feel tense and helpless. However, his escape from the mental hospital and his plan to get hitch is a stretch.
For many years, Hollywood has used mental illness to portray villains. Two of the most famous examples are Michael Myers from Halloween and Kevin Wendell Crumb from Split. Myers has been heavily debated about whether he suffered the conditions or a spiritual entity caused him to murder after his older sister’s virginity was taken. For Crumb, the number of personalities was exaggerated to create an unpredictable antagonist.
Some films have justified mental illness portrayed with insanity and PTSD. Jack Torrence from The Shining is an excellent case of insanity. Due to being isolated in the hotel by snow, he slowly grew abnormally aggressive towards his family and guests. Dr. Onda from Ultraman Rising shows the consequences of untreated PTSD. He ordered the KDF (Kaiju Defense Federation) to kill all kaiju after Gigatron took his wife and daughter’s lives.
Paul’s obsession with Sofia in Borderline is somewhat fiction. It’s mainly the extent of two mental patients cooperating in a meet-your-hero scheme. It’s unsure if J.H. is a mental patient as there isn’t much about him in the trailer aside from following Paul’s orders.
What makes Nicholson’s character feel real is obsessive fan behavior that grows to love or hate for their favorite celebrity. One tragic case was The Voice contestant Christina Grimmie (zeldax64lover on YouTube). On June 10th, 2016, Grimmie lost her life to a gunshot from a fan named James Loibl. News reports revealed evidence that Loibl spent hours watching the internet singer and stalked her social media accounts.
His Best Buy co-worker, Cory Dennington told news outlets that he recognized his obsessive behavior and notified his boss, but nothing happened. Like Bell in the trailer, his co-workers told Loibl that Grimmie would never marry him. He often got defensive when they asked questions about her. It’s unknown what his true reasons were as he committed suicide after Grimmie’s shot. Many believed it was caused by the singer posting about their boyfriend.
Hopefully, the screenplay will show how Paul’s Sofia obsession began in Borderline’s story. The film is set to release in theaters on March 14th this year.
