Grand Theft Auto’s oft-rumoured film adaption did nearly get off the ground but was scuppered by an existing Ron Howard film with the same name. The revelation comes from the writers of Crank who were hired to pen a Grand Theft Auto movie but ended up turning it into Gerard-Butler-vehicle Gamer.
In an interview with Game Culture, Mark Neveldine, co-writer/director of Gamer, revealed that the script began as a Grand Theft Auto film: “We were going to be hired to write Grand Theft Auto…that was after we wrote and directed Crank, so I got involved with Grand Theft Auto pretty heavily.”
Neveldine says the Grand Theft Auto project was forced off the road by “rights issues”. The crux of the matter was the existence of a movie under the Grand Theft Auto title. Ron Howard directed comedy car chase caper Grand Theft Auto in 1977 (his directorial debut).
The director explains: “It was a movie originally directed by Ron Howard, there is some battle of who can use the title…you can’t make it about the game.”
Back in 2008, it was suggested that Rockstar had signed a deal with Fox to guarantee that there would never be a Grand Theft Auto movie but whispers about a project still persist. Would you watch a Grand Theft Auto film?
Out now | £free | Rockstar Games (via Joystiq)
