BBC Announces GTA Docu-Drama, Daniel Radcliffe and Bill Paxton to Star
The British Broadcasting Company confirmed last Wednesday that it is developing a 90-minute documentary drama on the controversy behind the development of the "Grand Theft Auto" series. BBC also announced that "Harry Potter" star Daniel Radcliffe has signed on with the project, together with actor Bill Paxton, according to reports.
The one-off "factual" drama, which has the working title "Game Changer," will look into how the game came to be and who were the people behind its development and eventual success. Daniel Radcliffe will play Sam Houser, the creative genius behind the game and one of Rockstar's co-founders. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Houser, the British co-founder of Rockstar, is primarily responsible not only for popularizing the game series but also for "amping up the violence quotient."
Being the success that it is, the franchise has also received a lot of criticism from parents, politicians and moral campaigners because of its violence and the values it supposedly promotes. The project description says:
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"But the violent gameplay coupled with its outstanding commercial success leads to fierce opposition: from parents worried about children immersing themselves in such a violent world; from politicians, alarmed at the values they say it encourages; and above all from moral campaigners, who fight passionately to ban it. At the vanguard of this crusade is the formidable campaigning lawyer Jack Thompson, a man determined to do whatever he can to stop the relentless rise of 'Grand Theft Auto.'"
Bill Paxton has been confirmed to play the role of Jack Thompson. Thompson had previously made a name for himself for campaigning against media companies who promote rap and sex before he started lambasting video games and their developers. He was later disbarred in 2008 for his "unorthodox methods."
The drama will be directed by Owen Harris and is written by James Wood. It is based on the book "Jacked: The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto" by David Kushner.
