Hello! My name is ...... The Anonymous 3D Protagonist" In the early 2000s, Grand Theft Auto was moving from a minor 2D hit (and a cause for tabloid frenzy) to a cultural phenomenon, working on games like State of Emergency and Earthworm Jim 3D. A new BBC podcast with Kirk Ewing touches on this period and what was happening.

"State of Emergency" was published by Rockstar, and Ewing was a friend of Dan & Sam Hauser; after "GTA3" was released and was a huge success, Ewing says offers started pouring in from Hollywood.

"I think at that point I was still thinking that [a "GTA" movie] might be what Sam wanted to do," Ewing said, recalling when he and Hauser discussed the prospect late into the night. At 4:00 a.m., he said, he received a call from a Hollywood producer with an offer.

"He said, 'Kirk, it's a Tony Scott [director of "Top Gun" and "True Romance"] movie with Eminem in the lead, $5 million. Are you interested? So I called Sam and said. I want Eminem in the Grand Theft Auto movie and Tony Scott to direct it."

"And he said, 'I'm not interested.'"

"I said, 'I'm not interested.

This is more plausible than one might think from a 2022 perspective. Grand Theft Auto 3 was released in late 2001, and Vice City a year later. Eminem's career was at its peak during this period, with "Marshall Mathers LP" (2000) and "The Eminem Show" (2002) becoming worldwide hits, the rapper proving his acting talent in "8 Mile" (2002), which was a critical and commercial hit (he won an Academy Award for the song "Lose Yourself"). The star was supremely hot and, frankly, his image matched the public perception of GTA at the time.

But the Hausers were beginning to realize that GTA was more than just a blockbuster game; it could become part of the culture. It had the potential to become something bigger than Hollywood.

"We realized that the media franchise we had was bigger than any movie that was going on at the time," says Ewing. as GTA grew, it began to incorporate Hollywood talent, but interestingly, there were some fights in the process.

Ewing says, "We had a lot of fights.

Famously, the late Ray Liotta starred in "GTA: Vice City," and after its release, he lamented that he was underpaid for a role in such a successful film. Sam Hauser's response was simple. The character played by Liotta, Tommy Vercetti, never appeared in a Rockstar game again (he is mentioned briefly in the final mission of San Andreas).

Eminem recently appeared in GTA on Dr Dre's track Gospel, which was included in the GTA Online expansion (open in new tab) thanks to his musical talent. The rapper was also recently tricked into the NFT affair, performing as Snoop Dogg and his monkey avatar. I must say that [Grand Theft Auto] is doing rather well without the Hollywood tie-in. The Hausers were right: GTA is bigger than any movie, not in terms of money (although that is true, GTA is the highest grossing entertainment product of all time), but in terms of cultural impact. It's fun to think about a movie starring Eminem, but let's face it, it probably won't do this star or the game any good.