Harry Potter Actor Likely to Star in British Grand Theft Auto Film
The actor known for making Harry Potter a household name is in negotiations to star in a British Broadcasting Corporation depiction of Rockstar's rise to fame with Grand Theft Auto and activist Jack Thompson's quest to shut them down.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe is close to finalizing a deal to star in the upcoming true-to-life account of Grand Theft Auto's rise to fame and activist attorney Jack Thompson's fight to get the series banned from store shelves. We originally heard of this documentary-like recreation of Rockstar's story last month, but it's interesting to hear that BBC is developing it as a dramatized film (and not as a series) that will likely be made for TV. This project is going to be directed by Owen Harris, who recently headed episodes of Black Mirror and Misfits for the BBC. Jim Spencer will be producing the film alongside executive producer Mark Hedgecoe.
Daniel Radcliffe is in the works to star as Sam Houser, the British President and co-founder of Rockstar Games. As we all know, Rockstar is also known for bringing us other franchises such as the Red Dead and Max Payne series. Surprisingly, the original 1997 Grand Theft Auto game had an England-oriented expansion, Grand Theft Auto: London 1969, which we absolutely loved (you even had to drive on the left side of the road). For the past 15 years, the Florida-based activity attorney Jack Thompson has been rallying soccer moms and other naysayers of the franchise into getting the series banned throughout the country. Of course, he focused on the violence and small bits of sex implied in the GTA series as the reasoning for trying to get them pulled, along with the old "think of the children" excuse (even though the games are clearly rated M for Mature).
This project is expected to start shooting later this month and is based off of David Kushner's book, Jacked: The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto.