Daniel Radcliffe in talks for “Grand Theft Auto”
Rumour has it that Daniel Radcliffe is currently in negotiations to star in Grand Theft Auto, a true-life account of a fight between the creator of the hugely successful video game franchise and a Miami lawyer who wanted to ban video game violence.
Rising British director Owen Harris, who has helmed episodes of Black Mirror and Misfits, will be directing the drama, which is being funded by BBC Films. Radcliffe will reportedly play Sam Houser, the British co-founder and president of Rockstar Games, the company behind GTA. He is credited not only with popularizing GTA into one of the video game world’s biggest franchises but also with amping up the violence quotient.
When the video game was first released, Houser and Rockstar Games came under repeated attacks from activist attorney Jack Thompson. Thompson was an unorthodox Florida attorney who was already attacking media companies for pushing rap and sex onto the airwaves when he turned his attention to what he saw as an obsession of glorifying violence in the video game industry. GTA was one of his favorite targets, and in 2008 he was disbarred for inappropriate behavior.
The part of Thompson has not yet been cast. Radcliffe will next appear on our screens in Victor Frankenstein, Fox Studio’s contemporary take on the monster classic, which hits theaters on October 2. Are you excited to see him take on this role? Who would you like to see play Thompson? Let us know your thoughts!
