Before we see a live-action GRAND THEFT AUTO movie, we will first see the story of the legal troubles the game (and its imitators) caused for its parent company, Rockstar Games.
Daniel Radcliffe will play Rockstar co-founder Sam Houser in Owen Harris’ GRAND THEFT AUTO, a BBC Films-produced drama about Houser’s battles with Florida activist Jack Thompson. Thompson dragged Rockstar through the mud for its violent, hedonistic game before being disbarred in 2008 for inappropriate conduct. No word on who will play Thompson in the film.
I, like many, have dreamed about a legit, hard-as-fuck-R, amoral-bordering-on-irresponsible GTA movie since the franchise’s inception. It's one of those games that's so indebted to film and cinematic tropes that reverse-engineering it into a big-budget narrative flick seems like a pretty doable feat. So it definitely bugs me that they’re exploiting the title for the story of the not-that-sexy legal battles that surrounded the series. Ron Howard’s GRAND THEFT AUTO wasn’t an adaptation of the game either, but that had an excuse: it was made about 20 years before the release of the first game of the series. I guess they can still use the popular acronym, GTA, for a future flick, but that won’t quite hit the same button for those less familiar with gaming culture.
Why couldn’t they just stick to their first title, ROCKSTAR GAMES?
Harris has primarily been a TV director, helming eps of SECRET DIARY OF A CALL GIRL, MISFITS, and one BLACK MIRROR. His first feature, KILL YOUR FRIENDS (with James Corden and Ed Skrein) comes out this September in the UK, and will probably give us a better idea of what he’s capable of as a film director. As for Radcliffe, I’m sure he’ll grow out his hair and beard, and project the enthusiasm necessary to play the Rockstar president. Let’s see who they cast as his opponent, the outspoken, vengeful Thompson.
What do you think of Radcliffe as Hauser? Better yet, what would you think of Radcliffe as the lead in an actual film adaptation of GRAND THEFT AUTO (presuming they didn't go the Statham-badass route)?
They’re going into production on April 20 (4/20, brah!), so we could see this pop up stateside within the year.
