Rockstar Games reportedly turned down a Grand Theft Auto movie which would’ve starred rapper Eminem. It would’ve also been directed by Top Gun filmmaker Tony Scott. According to Kirk Ewing, an agent and co-founder of virtual avatar app Veemee, the pitch sprung from a late-night conversation with former Rockstar boss Sam Houser, who apparently shot down the idea of a GTA movie.
Speaking on Bugzy Malone’s Grandest Game podcast recently, Ewing recounted his time speaking to Houser about a potential GTA movie following the release of Grand Theft Auto 3. The initial idea was to have Eminem star in the movie with Tony Scott serving as a director on a budget of around $5 million. Houser turned down the idea, stating that the GTA franchise was bigger than any movie at the time. That’s evident today as the GTA series is now one of the most successful entertainment franchises of all time, largely thanks to the massive sales of GTA V.
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Ewing provided a full response to the GTA movie, talking about how it went down all those years ago:
“Because of the relationship that I had with Rockstar and I had with Sam, I actually tracked him down to his hotel room one night where I knew he was going to be staying for a while, and the two of us stayed up late and talked about the possibility of making a film. This was just after Grand Theft Auto 3. And I think at that point, it was still in Sam’s mind that it might be something that he wanted to do.”
However, after Ewing contacted Houser about possibly pushing the movie forward, the former Rockstar boss simply replied: “Not interested.”
It’s doubtful that a GTA movie will ever be greenlit at this point as the video game franchise still thrives on its own. I imagine it would also be difficult to make a compelling GTA movie that differentiates itself from its cinematic inspirations like Heat, Miami Vice or any number of Martin Scorsese crime dramas. However, one can dream.
Source: BBC
