DUBAI: As esports continue to surge in popularity in Saudi Arabia and across the globe, one question comes to mind: Could an esports athlete make it in the analog world? As it turns out, that question was already answered during a grueling 24-hour race in Dubai 11 years ago. Now, in one of the summer’s most eagerly awaited blockbusters, the amazing true story of the first man to go from gamer to professional racing driver will be told.
The film is titled “Gran Turismo,” after the massively popular driving simulator. So, you might expect another CGI-filled video-game adaptation, but that’s exactly what the filmmakers were trying to avoid. To recount the life of British driver Jann Mardenborough, director Neil Blomkamp (“District 9”) as well as stars Archie Madekwe (“Midsommar”), David Harbour (“Stranger Things”) and Orlando Bloom (“Lord of the Rings”) traveled across the world to the actual locations that the driver raced, with Mardenborough himself acting as his own stunt double.
That includes, as we can now reveal, Dubai. Arab News visited the Dubai Autodrome set in secret last December, sitting down with the stars as their collaborators flew past us in actual racecars, painstakingly recreating the events of 2012.
“I have such fond memories of this place,” Mardenborough told us. “The Dubai 24 was the race that changed everything for me. Standing on that podium was the moment I knew I had passed my toughest test. To be back here to film a movie about my life is completely surreal.”
Filming the races so realistically was not originally the plan. It was director Blomkamp who rejected industry norms such as green screen, feeling that modern audiences crave realism. It’s a view shared by stars including Tom Cruise, who famously drove an actual motorcycle off a cliff eight times when filming the latest “Mission: Impossible” — perhaps the film’s main draw.
“Neil wanted authenticity, and initially that stressed us all out. ‘You want to put the actors in real race cars?’ I thought to myself, ‘What’s the difference?’” says South African professional racer David Perel, one of the film’s lead stunt coordinators. “But, the second I saw the footage, the difference was clear. You can see the vibrations of the track on their body — you can see their limits being pushed. Audiences will recognize that, especially these days.”
Archie Madekwe in ‘Gran Turismo.’ (Supplied)
Committing to actual racing meant that the film’s stars had to really know their stuff. For the film’s lead actor Archie Madekwe, that task proved particularly daunting. After all, while he embodied Mardenborough’s spirit, he did not actually have a driver’s license when he landed the part, causing a mad dash to get him ready.
“I got into the car with my driving instructor, and I told her, ‘I don’t know how to drive, but in two weeks I have to pass this driving test or I’m going to lose this job.’ She said, ‘That’s impossible!’ I said, ‘I need you to make it possible.’ Somehow, by the grace of God, I passed.” says Madekwe.
For Orlando Bloom, making the film was a learning experience, not only about the racing world, but about esports in general. What shocked him most was how thin the line between the two has become, even at the highest level of the sport.
“I was texting Lewis Hamilton from the set, telling him that he should come be a part of this, because it’s really something special. He was busy training in the off season, but what I didn’t realize is that he was using a driving simulator to do so. He was telling me about it, and I was marveling. I had no idea all these drivers do the same stuff!” said Bloom.
While nearly every person portrayed in the film, which reaches cinemas in the Middle East on August 10, has a real-life analogue, not every actor found it useful to call up the person they were playing to figure out how to get into character. David Harbour, for one, found more inspiration in his favorite underdog sports movies than he did in the real man he played.
“Real life can tell us reality, but it doesn’t always tell the truth. A lot of people don’t even know their own truths,” Harbour explains. “Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ was based on a real guy, but if you dug up the real Danish prince and stuck him on a stage playing himself, he would stink!”
Madekwe, who, like Mardenborough, is a person of mixed race, found the truth of the situation the day that his six-year-old nephew came to visit him on set.
“That’s when it really sunk in for me. Growing up, I never saw films that depicted a young person of color as a superhero. Seeing him sit in these cars, seeing him look up at me, I knew that’s what I could be. That’s exactly who we’re making the film for. I want kids to watch this and feel like they can conquer their dreams.”
