Sony has dropped the first trailer for its upcoming movie based on the popular Gran Turismo franchise of racing simulation games at CES. In addition, it revealed that the movie will premiere exclusively in theaters on August 11.
Directed by Neill Blomkamp, who was also behind movies like “District 9” and “Chappie,” the film stars famous actors like “Stranger Things'” David Harbour and “The Lord of the Rings'” Orlando Bloom, as well as Geri Halliwell-Horner, the Spice Girl who also has a connection to the real racing world through her husband Christian Horner, Red Bull F1’s team principal.
The movie’s protagonist will be played by Archie Madekwe, and his character is based on Jann Mardenborough, whose real-life story was the inspiration for the film. As a teen, Mardenborough managed to earn seats in real-life racecars thanks to his exploits in the Gran Turismo racing game.
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Blomkamp said on the stage at CES that he wasn’t just attracted to the film by his love of cars, but because of the story, too. Not a traditional video game adaptation, the director called Mardenborough a person with a “super emotional” story.
The love of cars, though, was an important appeal for him, and he says that the opportunity to shoot them using the same technology that allowed filmmakers to shoot the fighter jet scenes in the film, “Top Gun: Maverick” got him excited about the movie.
Blomkamp says that the cameras used in the filming of the movie had a small sensor that could be separated from the rest of the rig, allowing the lenses to be placed inside the tiny cockpits of racecars.
That means that the film will put viewers in many of the same points of view as the players of the video game, something that would not have previously been possible. Thanks to the tiny rigs, the film’s cinematographers could shoot the actors from all sides while they were driving the prototype racecars used in the movie.
Sony also provided viewers with a first look at the film, which features Nissan GT-Rs, as well as a variety of GT3 racecars, including Lamborghinis, Ferraris, the Ford GT, and Le Mans prototype racecars.