The Rockstar Games President allegedly rejected the idea of a Grand Theft Auto movie being made. At least that’s what Kirk Ewing and Chris Warburton discussed on the BBC Sounds podcast based on rapper Bugzy Malone.
After describing how games have moved them, the two began to explain how Grand Theft Auto has grown over the years. Then, Ewing unveiled that during his days as a Hollywood agent, he heard talks about a movie being made honoring GTA. This was around the time of Grand Theft Auto III’s release.
He admits, “This was just after 3 [released], and I think at that point it was still in [Sam Houser, co-founder and president of Rockstar Games] ‘s mind that it might be something that they wanted to do.”
As time progressed, Ewing began receiving calls from a producer in Los Angeles, who offered to make a Grand Theft Auto film starring Eminem. If a GTA movie happened, Tony Scott would’ve directed it, and Rockstar had a close call to $5 million. But in the end, Houser declined.
“At that point,” Ewing added, “they withdrew from any conversation about making a film when they realized the media franchise they had was bigger than any movie that was going on at the time.”
Grand Theft Auto is considerably one of the most significant gaming franchises.
