Gran Turismo's Archie Madekwe couldn't believe it was a real-life story
Archie Madekwe has admitted that he couldn't believe his new film Gran Turismo was based on a true story.
The film, which is directed by District 9's Neill Blomkamp, tells the true story of Jann Mardenborough (played by Madekwe), a teenager who mastered the PlayStation video game and went on to become an actual racecar driver.
Speaking to Digital Spy in an interview that took place before the SAG-AFTRA strike came into effect, Madekwe revealed that he "had never heard the story" until he was sent a brief on the project, which he said blew him away.
Related: David Harbour compares Gran Turismo to The Last of Us
The Midsommar star continued: "My entry point was just Jann's story. I was sent a bunch of articles, a bunch of podcasts and I met with [co-writer] Jason Hall just to talk about Jann. I was blown away by the story.
"I couldn't believe it was real, couldn't believe no one had told it before and I couldn't believe a huge studio like Sony were telling this young, mixed-race, English guy's story on this huge scale. I was so excited about how inspiring that story could potentially be."
Since it was decided that Gran Turismo would be in "the spirit" and "essence" of Mardenborough rather than a biopic in which Madekwe directly impersonates him, the actor said he was able to "pick and choose" which of Mardenborough's real-life experiences he wanted to draw from.
"He was so open and honest and lovely about trusting me and telling me everything from the start of his life to where he was now, and having him on set as my stunt driver meant we could continue to talk and continue to share things," he shared.
"Any time I wanted to try and lay something new in, I could pull him as this source immediately."
Stranger Things' David Harbour also discussed how he prepared for the role of Mardenborough's trainer Jack Salter, who is an amalgamation of several real-life people.
Related: Gran Turismo movie lands rave first reactions
"Sometimes I find that when you get to our story, our narrative has its own particular arc to it, its own particular style and its own particular undercurrents of what this guy is doing and who he is," he explained.
"I feel like when you talk to real people, you don't get as powerful an arc. Our lives don't necessarily add up the way a character's life does.
"Sometimes they're tragic in their unpredictable nonsense as opposed to their beautiful poetic edge to them. I don't find that real research as useful as my own personal work."
Gran Turismo is released in UK cinemas on August 9 and in US cinemas on August 25.
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