In an alternate earth, Top Gun director Tony Scott teamed up with Eminem to direct a Grand Theft Auto movie

Image via Universal Pictures

There’s a certain ethos, bordering on parody, that video game adaptations for the big screen should draw upon over time. For example, I am not surprised that a Super Mario Bros. Animated film starring Chris Pratt, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, and Seth Rogen as Mario, Bowser, Toad, and Donkey Kong, respectively, receives such widespread, if disingenuous, attention.

But perhaps the craziest video game adaptation in history never quite made it, much to the dismay of Tom Cruise, Eminem, and Vice City Stans everywhere. Indeed, according to a BBC report, there was a time when top gun director Tony Scottmodern hip hop icon eminemand the favorite Rockstar Games franchise Grand Theft Auto almost came together in an earth-shattering theatrical arc. Unfortunately they weren’t able to get Sam and Dean Houser, the creators of the GTA franchise on board, and the project eventually fizzled out.

BBC reports that gaming industry veteran Kirk Ewing is known for such titles as Earthworm Jim 3Drevealed that a Hollywood agent had offered the House brothers a $5 million deal for the rights to a GTA Film that would have been directed by Scott and starring Eminem. Despite this abundance of star power, the brothers simply stated that they weren’t interested and have not publicly addressed the issue since.

That was in 2001 when Grand Theft Auto III first brought the franchise into the realm of 3D graphics, subsequently catching the world’s attention and cementing the franchise’s place on the game map. Eminem, meanwhile, had published The Marshall Mathers EP a year earlier, in 2000, an album that catapulted him to the forefront of pop culture consciousness and therefore made him one of the most lucrative assets of the time.

Still, it will never be too late for the Houser brothers to change their minds, even when the staff moves from Tony Scott and Eminem to Joseph Kosinski and Lil Nas X; a pairing we would be equally, if not happier with.