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**baileycat** · 04-14-2015, 11:10 AM

Daniel Radcliffe in Talks to Star as 'Grand Theft Auto' Creator for BBC Films Drama (Exclusive) - The Hollywood Reporter

Quote:

Radcliffe will play Sam Houser, the British co-founder and president of Rockstar Games, the company behind GTA as well as games such as Max Payne and Red Dead. He is credited in popularizing GTA into one of the video game world’s biggest franchises but also amping up the violence quotient.

In the first decade of the 21st century, Houser and Rockstar Games came under repeated attacks from activist attorney Jack Thompson. Thompson was an unorthodox Florida attorney who was already attacking media companies for pushing rap and sex onto the airwaves when he turned his attention to what he saw as an obsession of glorifying violence in the video game industry. GTA was one of his favorite targets. He was disbarred in 2008 for inappropriate behavior.

The part of Thompson has not been cast yet.

James Wood wrote the script for the project, which was previously titled Rockstar Games. The title could change again. Jim Spencer is producing while Mark Hedgecoe will exec produce.

The movie, slated to begin shooting April 20, is based on a book by David Kushner titled Jacked: The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto.

Bill Paxton To Play Anti-‘Grand Theft Auto’ Activist Jack Thompson In BBC Drama – MIPTV | Deadline

Quote:

Bill Paxton, who was just here in Cannes for Mip-TV, is headed down to Capetown next week to begin work on a drama for BBC Two that traces the story behind the rise of the Grand Theft Auto franchise. Daniel Radcliffe is playing Sam Houser, the co-founder of video game developer Rockstar Games, and Paxton is lined up as his nemesis, the former attorney Jack Thompson who tried to destroy the company.

The BBC Films drama is based on David Kushner’s 2012 book, Jacked: The Outlaw Story Of Grand Theft Auto. One of the world’s most successful videogame franchises, GTA has also come under fire from Thompson, a now-disbarred Florida lawyer who is known for his anti-videogame stance and his attempts to quash what he sees as obscenity in modern culture — including the rap music of 2 Live Crew and the radio stylings of Howard Stern. He first filed suit against Rockstar parent Take Two Interactive in 2003 and continued his crusade against GTA throughout the decade. In 2008, he was disbarred.

Paxton, who has done voice work in Call Of Duty, told me of his character, “He got Howard Stern kicked off the radio and took on 2 Live Crew… There’d be a gag order and he’d still go on talk shows. He would write these hateful letters to people he was litigating. He just got too emotionally caught up in it.”

Shooting starts in South Africa next week with Owen Harris (Kill Your Friends, Misfits) directing from a script by James Wood (Rev.). Mark Hedgecoe and Jim Spencer are producers.

So I guess he's going to be in South Africa for a bit starting next week.