BBC Two has released the first trailer for Owen
Harris' (Kill Your Friends) upcoming TV movie, The Gamechangers. Based on David
Kushner's book Jacked, The Gamechangers stars Daniel Radcliffe as Sam Houser
the co-founder of Rockstar Games and co-creator of the Grand Theft Auto video
game franchise, and Bill Paxton as Jack Thompson, a Christian lawyer that tried
to shut down the production of the game. To add drama to the whole thing,
Rockstar Games is actually suing BBC over the movie.
The Gamechangers opens in the U.K. on September 15. No
U.S. release date has yet to be announced.
This 90-minute factual drama goes behind the
scenes of the hit video game Grand Theft Auto, arguably the greatest British
coding success since Bletchley Park.
In Autumn 2013, the game’s latest iteration –
GTA: V – earned $1bn in just three days, becoming the fastest-selling
entertainment product in history. But this drama goes back to 2002, to tell the
story of a three-year period of intense controversy in the history of this
iconic game’s development. It happened when two passionate men on either side
of a high-stakes cultural divide clashed. This conflict, between the creative
genius behind the game and a self-styled crusader for American morality,
escalated into a fight for the hearts, minds and freedoms of an entire gaming
generation.
The fastest-selling entertainment product in
history comes not from Silicon Valley, but is driven by a bunch of British
game designers. Friends since their school days, they are led by the
game’s mastermind-designer, Sam Houser. By 2002, Sam and his creative
team have constructed for their fans a vast virtual world, teeming with a
high-octane mix of criminal characters, lethal weapons and outrageous
storylines. Here you can even shape and sculpt your avatar, crafting their
character and appearance to your personal preference.
Within this fantasy landscape, some players
choose to take part in a series of dangerous missions, while others become
immersed in a sprawling criminal underworld, killing cops, hijacking cars and
running over pedestrians. And it’s this that increasingly drives opposition to
GTA. Because the game’s violent gameplay leads to fierce opposition: from
parents worried about its impact on children; from politicians, fearful of its
influence; and, above all, from campaigners fighting to prevent the game being
played by minors.
At the vanguard of this crusade is the
formidable Christian lawyer Jack Thompson, a man determined to do whatever he
can to stop the relentless rise of the game and its influence on children. The
Gamechangers tells the story of how British game designers pushed boundaries
into uncharted territory, of how those fighting GTA became consumed by a battle
which overwhelmed their lives, and how the subsequent fallout threatened to
bring down leading players on both sides.
This drama is for an adult audience and has not
been authorised by the producers of Grand Theft Auto. Rather, it is based
on court documents and interviews with many of those involved in the real
events behind this compelling story.
Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter, A Young Doctor’s
Notebook, The Woman In Black) plays Sam Houser, and Bill Paxton (Texas
Rising, Nightcrawler, Hatfield and McCoys, Titanic, Apollo 13) plays Jack
Thompson. The drama is written by James Wood (Rev, Ambassadors), directed
by Owen Harris (Kill Your Friends, Black Mirror, Holy Flying Circus) and
produced by Jim Spencer (Pride, All Stars, Monsters). It is
executive produced by Mark Hedgecoe (The Challenger) and James Wood. It is
commissioned by Tom McDonald. The Gamechangers is a BBC in-house
production made by BBC Scotland Science.
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