Jann Mardenborough on being the real life inspiration behind Gran Turismo

The AU Review

It’s the incredible true story that you may have never heard of.  The latest film from acclaimed District 9 director Neil Blomkamp, Gran Turismo is a biographical sports drama based not only on the iconic race simulation game from Playstation, but the true story of Jann Mardenborough, a British Gran Turismo player who harnessed his skills from the game and transferred them to a professional racing career.  Heralded as one of the 50 most marketable athletes in the world, Mardenborough’s incredible rise from his simulated surroundings to dominating the racing stage grounds Gran Turismo with an emotional resonance that is sure to take many audience members by surprise.  As the film gears up to ride cineplexes across the globe, Peter Gray spoke with Mardenborough about being the inspiration behind the screen, if his co-stars sought out his advice, and, most importantly, why he listens to Kenny G and Enya before he races?

Transcript

00:00 - Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello.

00:05 - How you doing?

00:05 - Good, I feel like I have to get

00:08 the really important question out of the way.

00:10 When did you realize that the music of Kenny G and Enya

00:14 calmed you down in terms of your pre-race?

00:19 - So Neil, the Neil Blomkamp, the director,

00:23 he asked me last year in June.

00:26 We were texting all the time, he was ringing all the time,

00:28 because of me, and he actually, he just asked me,

00:31 so dude, what music do you listen to before the race?

00:34 And I'm like, okay, most of the time,

00:37 I need to be brought down levels,

00:40 'cause that's how I perform.

00:42 And this particular, I've always loved saxophone music,

00:45 ever since I was a child.

00:46 My dad played it when I was a child,

00:49 and this particular song by Kenny G always brings me down.

00:53 I love it, it's, without fail, it brings me down,

00:57 I need to be calm, and that's the music I listen to.

01:00 It's, people find it weird, but that's for me,

01:03 it's, I put it on, there's all people around me,

01:06 commotion, and I put that on, and I'm like,

01:08 my own world, before getting into the car.

01:10 - And because, I mean, given that this is your story,

01:15 and you serve as your own stunt double,

01:17 which I thought was incredible,

01:19 and how creatively involved are you

01:24 when the film was being made?

01:25 Do you have, you know, like Archie and Jimon,

01:28 Jerry coming up to you, asking about you and your family,

01:30 as the film's going on, or did you kind of step back

01:33 and let them sort of create their own versions

01:35 of people that you know?

01:38 - Well, I've been talking to script writers and producers

01:42 since 20, I think 2018.

01:45 So, for multiple days, heavily,

01:49 they came over from America,

01:50 so heavily in depth of my life before racing,

01:55 and also at Silverstone during the Academy,

01:58 then meeting Archie, we met actually before the set,

02:01 and he asked me so many questions,

02:03 he was very attentive, wanted to know all the details

02:07 about family, and before racing, emotions,

02:11 but it's not like it's an exact,

02:13 it's not like he's replicating how I walk,

02:15 that's not the vibe.

02:17 And I've been heavily involved in the scripts as well,

02:21 so the first one that came through, all of them.

02:25 So it's, for me, they wanna put out something

02:27 which is representative of my life,

02:29 and it's a very mutual kind of,

02:32 we're on the same path, same kind of,

02:34 we're aligned on that, and I'm happy with it,

02:36 because my name is on it, and I feel great.

02:39 - I mean, it's like, as you said,

02:41 like it's great that we're getting, you know,

02:44 a film like this, like seeing it in cinemas

02:46 where it sort of deserves to be seen,

02:48 and I was someone who, I didn't grow up with Gran Turismo,

02:52 but like, I did play it, and like, I,

02:54 it was one of those things that I never knew

02:56 the backstory to all of this, like have you,

02:59 has it been surprising for you, like reaction-wise,

03:02 to have people come up and go, oh, like I wasn't aware

03:05 that there was so much behind, like this story?

03:09 - Yeah, so I was having this conversation

03:11 literally at breakfast this morning,

03:12 and in motorsports, the bubble I've been in for 12 years

03:16 is very small, so everybody that knew of,

03:20 everybody in that bubble knew of GT Academy,

03:22 knew of the process of Game of Theresa,

03:25 and I assumed that other people did outside of that sphere.

03:28 So now I'm getting, you know, so many messages

03:31 from people that have seen pre-screens,

03:33 or they've seen that the movie's coming out,

03:34 and they're excited, and they've never heard of,

03:37 or even if they're involved in motorsport,

03:38 but yet they've never heard of the story.

03:40 And it shocked me, not in a way of like,

03:45 everybody should know me, but it's,

03:47 I'm glad that it's percolating out wider,

03:50 because I just want people to take positivity from it.

03:54 So, yeah, it surprised me in a good way.

03:59 - I think that's the best thing to take away from this,

04:03 as you said, positivity,

04:04 'cause it really is one of those films

04:06 that speaks to someone having a love of something

04:10 and being not afraid to just go,

04:12 "You know what, this is what I wanna do.

04:14 "I'm gonna stick with it.

04:15 "I'm gonna go all the way."

04:16 So I think it's amazing to have a film

04:19 like this sort of speak to a whole new generation of people

04:23 that wanna follow their dreams.

04:25 So I just wanna say congratulations on the film.

04:28 I definitely was taken by surprise by a lot of it.

04:31 Emotionally, some stuff I was not expecting,

04:33 got a little bit teary in some scenes.

04:35 So yeah, you need to be incredibly proud

04:38 of what's happened here, and everybody involved,

04:41 'cause it really is, it's a great story to have told.

04:45 - Thank you, man, appreciate it.

04:47 - No worries, thank you so much.

04:48 Thank you.

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