Kirk Ewing Discusses Rockstar’s Rejection of GTA Movie Featuring Eminem
Speaking on a podcast, Kirk Ewing, co-founder of virtual avatar app Veemee, revealed that Rockstar Games had once turned down the opportunity to create a movie based on Grand Theft Auto featuring Eminem. According to Ewing, his conversation with Sam Houser, Rockstar’s co-founder, nearly led the project to be greenlit.
Late-Night Talk Turns into Movie Proposal
Ewing recalled how he and Rockstar’s co-founder got together for a late-night chat about the possibility of making a film. It was around the time Grand Theft Auto 3 was released and Eminem’s career was just starting to take off. While in Eminem’s hotel room, one of the producers from Los Angeles called Ewing with an offer to star Eminem in a Grand Theft Auto movie directed by Tony Scott for $5 million. However, Sam Houser was not interested.
“Rockstar’s Franchise Is Bigger Than Any Movie”
Ewing explained that when Houser said he was not interested, Rockstar realized the value of their media franchise and decided to halt discussions about creating a film at the time. The popularity of Grand Theft Auto 3 was already evident, as it became the best-selling video keyboards of 2001 and made over $300 million in sales. Eminem’s movie 8 Mile had also been released around that time, which was successful at the box office.
Would You Have Liked to See a GTA Movie Starring Eminem?
As for whether fans would have liked to see a Grand Theft Auto movie featuring Eminem, opinions varied.
For more GTA news and updates on the development of Grand Theft Auto 6, stay tuned to our coverage from this year’s Rockstar hack.