Fans can now see the antics of "Grand Theft Auto V" protagonists Michael, Franklin and Trevor brought to life in a new video by Zapruder Pictures. This production company recreated one of the first trailers for "GTA V" in live action, including car chases, bank robberies and helicopter searches. The short film is produced by Guillermo de Oliveira and Javier Esteban.
For the short film, Spain's capital of Madrid was used as a stand-in for the "Grand Theft Auto" city Los Santos, an analogue for Los Angeles. It features shots of fields, hills and city streets, with the camera angles and editing copying the original trailer almost exactly. The shots are filled with a plethora of actors dressed to replicate those in the game trailer.
The Zapruder short even features the original game trailer in the corner, so viewers can judge for themselves how faithfully they reproduced the best-selling game. The original trailer was released by series creators' Rockstar Games in November 2011 as the first teaser for the latest "Grand Theft Auto" game.
In a separate behind-the-scenes video, Esteban and de Oliveira discuss some of the challenges in creating the short -- in Spanish, though. Images of using computers to change the convertible featured in the short from white to red, filming miniatures for the car chase down Madrid's streets and digitally creating a helicopter flyby betray the difficulty in reproducing a AAA video game in the real world.
Zapruder Pictures has created other fan films devoted to video games, including one short film based on "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare" and another short depicting "Max Payne."
With no plans announced by "GTA"-developer Rockstar Games, this may be the closest we get to an actual film for years. Rockstar's "Max Payne" was made into a film in 2008 that starred Mark Wahlberg; the fact it currently has a 16% rating on Rotten Tomatoes may indicate why there hasn't been a "Grand Theft Auto" film yet.
"Grand Theft Auto V" was released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in August 2013 and shipped over 32 million copies. A remastered version has been announced to launch in the Fall for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
