Indie Filmmaker Brings GTA's Infamous Six-Star Chaos to Live-Action in Bold New Short

An indie filmmaker just dropped something wild. Todd Wiseman Jr. released Six Stars yesterday, and this thing translates the Grand Theft Auto experience into seven minutes of visceral, uncomfortable live-action chaos.

The short premiered worldwide on Short Frame's YouTube channel on 27 January 2026. Shot in Tampa, Florida, the film follows a French teenager named Mathieu (played by Milo Machado-Graner from Anatomy of a Fall) as he tears through an American rampage.

When Gaming Mythology Meets Reality

Here's where things get interesting. The title directly references GTA's legendary six-star wanted level, that mythical threshold where tanks roll out and chaos reaches maximum intensity. Older GTA titles (III, Vice City, San Andreas) featured this ultimate escalation, where the military would hunt you with Rhino tanks and assault rifles. GTA V controversially dropped it to five stars, leaving many longtime fans disappointed.

Wiseman Jr. taps into this gaming folklore deliberately. While players debate whether the six-star system should return in the upcoming GTA 6, his film asks a different question: what does this fantasy look like when stripped of the controller buffer?

Not Your Typical Fan Film

Don't mistake this for some YouTube fan project. Six Stars premiered as the opening night selection at HollyShorts Festival in August 2025, screening at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. The production features Trevor Gureckis (composer for M. Night Shyamalan's Old) on soundtrack duties, plus wrestlers Mike Rallis and Tom Pestock in the cast.

The film uses steadicam work to mimic GTA's third-person perspective. Everything gets recorded, shared, applauded by an audience glued to screens. Violence becomes content. Destruction becomes entertainment. The social media generation watches, comments, scrolls.

Wiseman Jr. told the press: "As the internet revisits the mythology of the wanted system and the elusive sixth star, the film invites audiences to reconsider the thrill, absurdity, and consequences of escalation culture."

The Filmmaker's Track Record

This isn't Wiseman Jr.'s first rodeo exploring American violence through genre lenses. His feature debut, The School Duel, is hitting US cinemas this spring via Altered Innocence. That dystopian thriller examines masculinity and youth violence, themes that clearly carry over to Six Stars.

The filmmaker grew up with these games. Now he's interrogating what they mean for a generation raised on digital carnage. In festival discussions, he referenced how isolation and violence pervade youth culture globally, not just in America.

Why This Matters for Gaming Culture

Six Stars arrives at a weird moment. GTA 6 hype is reaching fever pitch. Fans dissect every trailer frame. Meanwhile, debates about violence in games persist, decades after the original moral panic. The "Hot Coffee" scandal still gets mentioned. Parents still worry. Politicians still grandstand.

Wiseman Jr.'s film doesn't offer answers. It holds up a mirror instead. What are we celebrating when we play these games? Why does watching chaos feel entertaining? Who's looking, and what are they seeing?

The seven-minute runtime works perfectly for modern consumption patterns. Quick to watch, hard to forget. It's designed for the same audience that devours gameplay clips, trailer breakdowns, and leaked footage.

Producer Christa Boarini and Oliver Sunley from Short Frame clearly believe in the project's reach. Sunley called it "bold, confronting, and unforgettable" when announcing the worldwide release.