by director Neill Blomkamp Gran Turismo not your standard video game movie. The game it’s based on is a racing simulator that doesn’t have any kind of storyline for the filmmakers to try to adapt, so the creatives behind the project had to take a particular approach. Rather than treading a purely fictional path, the film tells the fascinating true story of Jann Mardenborough, a British gamer who had never competed in motorsport before being selected to attend the GT Academy and become a professional racing driver.
It’s a very different approach to what we’re used to seeing in Hollywood when it comes to bringing video games to the big screen, but it’s also worth noting that it’s also quite different from most of the biopics we see. That’s because the real Jann Mardenborough was not only one of the main behind-the-scenes consultants on the Playstation film, but also one of the production’s main stuntmen.
Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to dive deep into the world of Gran Turismo film when I visited the production’s editing section and sat down with Neill Blomkamp to go over the project in more detail. While looking at the footage and discussing the director’s work, one question I asked was about Jann Mardenborough’s involvement. While some films based on a true story prefer to keep their subjects at arm’s length, this certainly wasn’t the case, as Blomkamp says the professional pilot was a key asset to him during development and filming. Said the director,
No, he was definitely involved. I even texted him constantly. ‘And that? What about that? An odd example would be that she had a slight suspicion that he was going to listen to some interesting music before running, and she had some ideas about what he wanted to do with the music. So I texted him… no, it was actually Zoom. I was like, ‘Dude, what music do you listen to before you like it, get in the zone?’ And his response was surprisingly unusual and exactly what I expected.
Never in a million years would I have imagined that the psychoactive music of Jann Mardenborough would be the smooth saxophone style of Kenny G, but this is Mardenborough’s answer to Neill Blomkamp, and it’s a detail that finally came out Gran Turismo.
Continuing, the director explained that it wasn’t even small details. In addition to taking Jason Hall and Zach Baylin’s screenplay to a “structurally more truthful biographical level,” the production also found a way to actively involve the film’s subject in the making of the film. As Blomkamp explained, one of the challenges the production faced during development was finding a stunt double for star Archie Madekwe, as it was hard to find someone with the necessary looks and skillset:
Then the other great thing is Archie Madekwe who is an amazing actor here, as you go through the process of finding a stuntman you have to find people who feel like you see them as if they are for the actor. , but also that physically they are similar and there are many things that need to happen. But with a racing movie, the pool of stunts where you can choose who the best drivers are is very small.
As that search continued, Blomkamp noted, Jann Mardenborough asked him if he could make an appearance in the blockbuster video game… and then it all clicked. Bloomkamp said,
At the same time we were doing it, Jann was asking if he could, almost as a cameo, if he could drive one of the races. And what happened that was super amazing is that he is Jann Mardenborough’s stunt double for the whole movie. So whenever you see the car driving, it’s an outdoor shot where you can see the whole car, the real Jann is driving. And then as soon as he walks in, it’s Archie.
It’s certainly not typical for an actor playing a real person to be voiced by the person they’re playing, but there’s a strange and amusing anecdote behind it all. Gran Turismo – which just released its exciting first trailer this morning:
Starring Archie Madekwe, David Harbour, Orlando Bloom, Geri Halliwell Horner and Djimon Hounsou, Gran Turismo It’s only a few months away from its release: it will hit theaters worldwide on August 11th. You can stay up to date on all the upcoming game adaptations with our upcoming video game TV and movie guide and check out our movie release schedule for 2023 for all the movies scheduled to hit theaters and stream in the weeks and months. months to come. .
Source: Cinemablend
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