The best-selling racing video game Gran Turismo will be adapted into a feature film by Sony Pictures and PlayStation Productions, and the Stranger Things actor has agreed to star in it.
The movie is being directed by Neill Blomkamp, who is best known for his sci-fi films like District 9 and Elysium. Jason Hall (American Sniper) and Zach Baylin wrote the project’s script (King Richard).
The project, which is based on a true event, is said to as the ultimate wish-fulfillment narrative of a young Gran Turismo player who won several Nissan competitions to become a legitimate professional racing driver thanks to his gaming prowess.
Producers include Asad Qizilbash, Carter Swan, Doug Belgrad, and Dana Brunetti from PlayStation Productions. Executive producing are Kazunori Yamauchi, the developer of the game, and Hall.
Gran Turismo is one of PlayStation’s most enduring and well-liked properties, so it’s wonderful to be working with Columbia Pictures once more to bring it to life in a thrilling way, said Qizilbash in a statement. We are excited for viewers to experience Neill’s interpretation of this motivational real tale of a gamer who became a professional racing car driver.
When Gran Turismo made its PlayStation debut in 1997, it was revolutionary because it was the first game to truly capture what it was like to be behind the wheel. Turismo is allegedly the best-selling Sony series of all time, with sequels having been made available on all of the PlayStation platforms in the intervening years.
Sony and PlayStation Productions now seem to be settling into a routine with their video game adaptations after years of swings and starts. When it was released earlier this year, the Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg movie Uncharted brought in more over $400 million worldwide. The Last of Us is now being adapted for television and will air on HBO. A film adaptation of Ghost of Tsushima, with Chad Stahelski attached to helm, and a television adaptation of Twisted Metal, written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick and starring Anthony Mackie, are both in development.
