Grand Theft Auto Game Series Film: Harry Potter Star Daniel Radcliffe Looks Unrecognizable in Movie

Daniel Radcliffe
Daniel Radcliffe at the 2014 San Diego Comic Con International |

When he made his first ever movie appearance, Daniel Radcliffe was the wide-eyed boy wizard who had a lightning scar on his forehead. As "The Boy Who Lived," Radcliffe was a charming young Gryffindor student eager to do the right thing and find out more about his mysterious past.

Radcliffe has taken on several more roles since then, and each one is significantly different from the other. But now that he will star in the BBC film called "The Gamechangers," set to air on BBC Two on September 15, Radcliffe is once again proving his acting prowess by taking on another persona.

In the film about the development of the Grand Theft Auto game series, Radcliffe plays Sam Houser, described in the new trailer as "the creative genius behind the most lucrative video game ever."

The film centers on the legal battles hounding the Grand Theft Auto series after they released Grand Theft Auto III and faced the "Hot Coffee" scandal right after the release of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

The 30-second trailer featured Radcliffe as "Player 1" with a heavy beard as he excitedly says, "We're going to create the world's first truly adaptable hero."

"Player 2" was the serious-looking Bill Paxton playing the attorney Jack Thompson before he was permanently disbarred in 2008. Before he was disbarred, Thompson spent most of his career fighting against objectionable content in video games, particularly those released by Rockstar Games. He lamented on the trailer "what little regard these Brits have for the welfare of our children."

Grand Theft Auto was created by the brothers Dan and Sam Houser, Leslie Benzies, and Aaron Garbut. The game enables players to engage in roleplay where they can do several activities such as driving, third-person shooting, do stealth activities, and even go racing.

There is no denying the success of the game, which has already sold over 150 million units as of September 2013. However, the game has often been criticized for displaying violence, crimes, sexism, nudity, drugs, and many other things.

Grand Theft Auto V, in particular, pushed the boundaries when they allowed players to engage in sexual role play with prostitutes, then murder them in the end just so they can get their money back. Many people in the industry condemned the game for it and even encouraged distributors to stop selling Grand Theft Auto V, and Target, in particular, heeded to their requests.