‘Gran Turismo’ inspiration includes elements of ‘Top Gun’ and ‘Rocky’
The new film from South African director Neill Blomkamp, Gran Turismo, doesn’t fit inside the auteur’s normal canon of work. Instead of an apocalyptic social critique like his previous films including District 9, Elysium, and Chappie, Gran Turismo is a fairly straight-forward biographical tale about a young video game enthusiast who is able to take his screen-based skills and become a real-life racecar driver.
To approach the story of aspiring British driver Jann Mardenborough, the film’s creative team took inspiration from both fact and fiction. Notably, a few high-octane action films and underdog sports stories were instrumental in shaping the narrative of the film.
“We talked about how this story could have elements of Rocky, in being about a character on the outside of an industry, who has a real desire to not just get into a particular sport, but to prove something to himself and his family,” screenwriter Zach Baylin told Empire.
“We [spoke] a lot about the original Top Gun and that idea of a character surrounded by the best of the best, coming in to learn what it means to sit in these extremely fast vehicles,” Baylin adds. “What it means to have to be part of a team. What it means to have to overcome your own insecurities and ego in order to pilot something that can kill you and kill other people.”
For the role of Mardenborough, Midsommar supporting actor Archie Madekwe was tapped to step into the lead. In Madekwe’s view, Mardenborough was less of a video game enthusiast and more like someone out of a Marvel movie.
“It’s the story of essentially a real-world superhero,” Madekwe told Empire. “Two years ago, this was not me. Racing was not my world. I didn’t care about cars. But that’s the thing about Jann – you don’t have to be a petrolhead to be inspired about what he achieved.”
Check out the trailer for Gran Turismo down below. The film is set for an August 11th release.
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