The Gran Turismo movie story trailer shares more about its real star

Meet Jann Mardenborough, whose racing career really started with the video game

• With
  
  Owen S. Good
  

• on May 2, 2023 9:05 am

Gran Turismo is the next prestigious PlayStation franchise to get the cinematic treatment (and beyond years to talk about it, as it happened with 2022 Uncharted). On Tuesday, Sony Pictures gave fans another look at what’s to come with a new trailer.

Tuesday’s trailer expands on the film’s story following a brief teaser that Sony showed during CES 2023 in January. Gran Turismo, directed by Neill Blomkamp (Area 9) will be based on the story of the real driver Jan Mardenborougha British professional racing driver whose 12-year career took him to the 24 Hours of Le Mans and Japan’s Super GT series.

Mardenborough’s career began in 2011 at the Gran Turismo Academy, a PlayStation 3 competition where he beat more than 90,000 entrants to earn a place with Nissan in the Dubai 24 Hour. Despite his lack of serious experience in real motorsport, Mardenborough finished third in his class in the endurance event.

So Gran Turismo will tell a classic, fictional sports story, albeit one that discovers its amazing talent thanks to a video game. So it’s kind of like The Last Starfighter, except cars and not Gunstars.

Archie Madekwe will star as Mardenborough, with Geri Halliwell Horner — also known as Ginger Spice, and wife of Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team principal Christian Horner — as his mother, Lesley Mardenborough. Djimon Hounsou leads the cast as Mardenborough’s father Steve, an English footballer of some fame in the 1980s and 1990s. David Harbor and Orlando Bloom also star.

Gran Turismo will open in theaters on August 11.

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