Sunsets, crime and cars: The glamorous and grimy worlds of Vice City are once again waiting to be explored - albeit only at some point in 2025. For now, all GTA fans have to go by are rumours and an action-packed trailer. — Photo: Rockstar/Business Wire/dpa
MIAMI: A mysterious and seemingly high-budget production brought assault rifles, a car explosion and a hovering police helicopter to downtown Tampa, Florida, earlier this month. Then came speculation that Rockstar Games was behind the filming.
After a decade-plus in development, the studio’s “Grand Theft Auto VI” is due out this fall – and could very well become the biggest video game of all time. With the game set in a thinly-veiled Florida known as Leonida and the Miami-esque Vice City, eagle-eyed gamers have been parsing scant footage from leaks and the official trailer for over a year seeking clues that it will feature a version of Tampa, too.
When people noticed the similarities between an actor’s costume at the Tampa shoot and a GTA VI character from leaked game footage, it set off a cycle of online sleuthing and debate. Was Rockstar shooting a commercial, or maybe even motion-capture content for the game?
Or was the shoot just some very elaborate GTA fan fiction timed to the upcoming release for maximum clout? (A photo posted from the set by extra Charlie Shrem, a famed Bitcoin investor and one of the first people to ever do time for crypto violations, had some guessing it was crypto-bro-funded GTA fan fiction.)
Shrem and others involved told the Tampa Bay Times they’d been sworn to secrecy.
The film permit was issued to Five Stars Movie LLC, “five stars” being a clear reference to players' “wanted level” in the GTA games, but revealing little more. The city permitted fake gunfire near Perry Harvey Sr. Park, a carjacking on Water Street and a police chase in Ybor, among other scenes.
When the Times reached director Todd Wiseman Jr., he said he could not “confirm or deny” anything specific about the project or who he may or may not be working for.
Wiseman recently directed his first feature film, titled “The School Duel,” about a near-future Florida where gun control is outlawed. The thriller, which he also wrote and produced, stars Oscar Nuñez from “The Office” as the state’s governor. Wiseman said he recently moved to Tampa and aims to turn it into a film production city like Atlanta.
The recent three-day shoot in Tampa employed a crew of about 100 people, Wiseman said.
As for the production’s connection to GTA VI, people are going to have to wait and see. Rockstar Games did not respond to inquiries from the Times. The company’s involvement seems unlikely. To date, the company has never released a live-action commercial. – tca/dpa
