Sony Pictures has dropped a first trailer and poster for a highly anticipated “Gran Turismo” movie. It’s based on a true story which is about a Gran Turismo video game player use his racing skills to become a professional racecar driver.
The synopsis reads, “Based on the true story of Jann Mardenborough, the film is the ultimate wish fulfillment tale of a teenage Gran Turismo player whose gaming skills won a series of Nissan competitions to become an actual professional racecar driver.”
The trailer introduces Jann pre-fame while he’s still living at home with his father Steve (Djimon Hounsou) and his mother Lesley (Geri Halliwell) and spending more time than his parents would like gaming with his friends. Though Jann can feel how he might be able to parlay his virtual driving into the real thing, his working-class folks insist that he’s got his head in the clouds. But when Jann decides to enter the GT Academy competition, it isn’t long before motorsport exec Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom) takes note of the boy’s talent and links him up with trainer Jack Salter (David Harbour).
The “Gran Turismo” movie adaptation is directed by Neill Blomkamp(“District 9” and “Elysium”) from a screenplay written by co-executive producer Jason Hall and Zach Baylin. It stars David Harbour, Archie Madekwe, Orlando Bloom, Darren Barnet, Djimon Hounsou, Geri Halliwell-Horner, Daniel Puig, Josha Stradowski, and German actor Thomas Kretschmann. The film is produced by Asad Qizilbash, Carter Swan, Doug Belgrad, and Dana Brunetti, with game creator Kazunori Yamauchi who is executive producing.
There have been a lot of video games that made for fantastic cinematic adaptations, but everything about the first trailer for Sony’s upcoming “Gran Turismo” film from director Neill Blomkamp makes the movie seem like a showcase of reasons why racing sims don’t need to be turned into movies.
It releases in theaters on August 11.