The first trailer for director Neil Blomkamp's "Gran Turismo," adapted from the popular PlayStation video game racing franchise, has been released.
Blomkamp, whose notable directing credits include "District 9" and "Elysium," strays from his typical sci-fi theme to take on the sports racing movie. Based on a true story, “Gran Turismo” follows a young teenager who is obsessed with playing the racing video game and gradually brings his driver skills to a real racing track in hopes of becoming a professional racing driver. Archie Madekwe stars as the film's title character, with David Harbor as his racing coach, Djimon Hounsou as the teenager's father, and Orlando Bloom as a motorsports marketing executive. Darren Barnet plays a respected GT Academy driver who feels threatened by the teenager's growing success.
Caught between a video game adaptation and a coming-of-age narrative, Gran Turismo tells the true story of how teenage Gran Turismo gamer Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe) became a professional racing driver after winning a series of driving games competitions. . The trailer features a pre-fame Jann still living at home with his father Steve (Djimon Hounsou) and his mother Lesley (Geri Halliwell) spending more time than his parents would like to play with the girl. friends of him
Although Jann can sense how he could turn his virtual driving into the real thing, his working-class people insist that he has his head in the clouds. But when Jann decides to enter the GT Academy competition, it isn't long before motorsports executive Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom) takes note of the boy's talent and connects him with trainer Jack Salter (David Harbour).
While the trailer definitely sells Gran Turismo's ability to showcase real car racing in a cool way, it also highlights what feels like a very thin plot consisting of people getting sucked into a kid from being in racing games before. Before he proves his enemies wrong by joining the big leagues, Gran Turismo may be based on a true story, but when the film hits theaters on August 11, it will surely stand out as an example of one of those Video Game Movies™ that people criticize for not feeling like something no one asked for.
The racing simulation video game franchise began in 1997 with a self-titled entry from developer Polyphony Digital, headed by Kazunori Yamauchi. The games place an emphasis on realism, with simulations reflecting the real-life appearances and performances of licensed vehicles. The franchise has amassed 14 entries since its debut in 1997, and its sales of more than 80 million units have made it the best-selling video game franchise for Sony and the PlayStation brand.
The script is written by Jason Hall and Zach Baylin. Asad Qizilbash, Carter Swan, Doug Belgrad and Dana Brunetti produced the film along with Columbia Pictures, PlayStation Productions, Trigger Street Productions and 2.0 Entertainment.
The film will be released on August 11 via Sony Pictures.