OK, so based on the sales numbers, I knew that gamers weren’t the only ones playingGrand Theft Auto IVthis year. But imagine my surprise when I saw that Darren Aronofsky, director ofRequiem for a Dreamand the upcomingThe Wrestler, used Rockstar’s game as an example when talking to theNew YorkTimesfor a recent “Moments That Mattered” piece.
“Looking over Niko’s shoulder up at the virtual parachute jump inGrand Theft Auto IV‘s version of Coney Island, grabbing a dollar hot dog off the boardwalk to get my health back, then leaping into a bullet-hole-riddled Hummer and smashing through my childhood neighborhood, flying over sand dunes on Manhattan Beach and finally drowning in the sea off Brighton Beach,” wrote Aronofsky, breaking some imaginary “run-on sentence about videogames” record.
He adds: “Man, I wish they made this game when I was a teenager.”
It’s refreshing to hear Aronofsky, not necessarily what you’d call a typical gamer (he’s 39 yearsold and wrotePi, for Christ’s sake), speaking so reverentially about a videogame.Requiem for a Dreamwas already one of my favorite films, like, ever. But now I clearly see that the dudegets it, and I’m getting ready to set up tents to catch the first midnight showing ofThe Wrestlerwhen it hits theaters on January 16.
