Grand Theft Auto: A GTA Movie With Eminem? Rockstar Games didn’t want it

Rockstar Games’ president Sam Houser once rejected a Hollywood adaptation of Grand Theft Auto.

That’s what Kirk Ewing, agent and co-founder of the app Veemee, reveals in the latest BBC Sounds podcast Bugzy Malone’s Grandest Gamein which he talks about the impact GTA has had on him.

Starring Eminem

The second podcast episode is about the early years of the series. At the time, Ewing, who was friends with a few people at DMA Design (now Rockstar North), was working as an agent in Hollywood.

He says he was in Houser’s hotel room one night and was discussing the possibility of a film adaptation.

“That was shortly after the release of [GTA] 3,” says Ewing. “I think at that point Sam was still thinking it might be something he wanted to do.”

He received an offer for a GTA film from a producer in Los Angeles. Eminem was in talks as an actor and Tony Scott (Top Gun) to direct. Rockstar would have received “5 million dollars on hand” for it.

Ewing got in touch with Houser, but he just said he wasn’t interested.

“At that point, they withdrew from all talk of a movie, realizing that the media franchise they had was bigger than any movie that was on at the time,” says Ewing.

What do you think? Would you be interested in a GTA movie?