Shooting Gran Turismo Made The Movie's Star Vomit A Whole Bunch
Summer blockbuster season is in full swing, but the upcoming "Gran Turismo" film is just starting its engine. Inspired by the wildly popular video game franchise, the film is based on the true story of Jann Mardenborough, a British gamer-turned-racer who won his initial race seat through GT Academy. "Midsommar" and "See" star Archie Madekwe has been tapped to play Mardenborough, with "Stranger Things" favorite David Harbour playing Mardenborough's trainer, Jack Salter. The trailer shows that the film will lean into the dramatic underdog story at the film's center, but isn't shying away from the high-octane thrills of racing.
In the latest issue of Empire Magazine, the cast discussed what it was like working on the film, which for Archie Madekwe, meant a whole lot of tossing cookies. "You very quickly realize whether you're built correctly for being a racecar driver or not, and I am not," said Madekwe. Apparently, between takes the actor would have to "open the door of the car and just throw up everywhere." He also joked that on set, his car was known as the "Iron Maiden" because "it really was like a torture device."
Perhaps the barf attacks were Madekwe's body adjusting to being in control of a vehicle, because just like Anthony Ramos in "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts," Madekwe had never driven a car before joining "Gran Turismo." As he explained, "I had to pass my test in two-and-a-half weeks to secure my part in the film." Hilariously, driving in the film was also the last time he's been behind the steering wheel. "Can you blame me? I'm scarred!"
Capturing the 'violence'
Fortunately, driving wasn't an issue for everyone on set, as co-star David Harbour was too busy being blown away by the attention to detail to blow chunks. "We went to all the different countries and shot on all the real tracks," Harbour said. "Everything was so authentic. It was real cars going real fast." He told Empire that being in the element captures the "violence" of it all, and overloads the senses. "There's an anger to the sounds of the cars, to the asphalt, to the pneumatic guns that are used to take off the tires," he said. While I've never attended a Grand Prix, I am Midwest trash enough to have attended a NASCAR race (and plenty of monster truck rallies). Considering Super Formula racing goes even faster, I can only imagine how loud things were.
It'll be interesting to see how "Gran Turismo" plays with director Neill Blomkamp behind the wheel because a video game racing movie doesn't seem to "fit" with his oeuvre that includes films like "Elysium," "District 9," and "Chappie." Blomkamp is fully aware of this and indicated that the choice to direct this film was by design. "When you look at 'Elysium,' it does feel like that's a future we're moving towards," he said. "But it's becoming increasingly more difficult to make [films about those topics] because you're asking giant corporations for $100 million to put out something that may be in direct opposition to what the corporation is all about."
Mercifully, this means we don't have to worry about "Gran Turismo" trying to destroy humanity anytime soon. The film arrives in theaters on August 11, 2023.