The geek might not have inherited the Earth just yet (but we’ll get there… oh yes, we’ll get there... muhahahahahaaaaa!), but it looks like they’re taking over the movies. With good buzz for David Fincher’s** The Social Network** and its chronicle of Facebook’s chequered birth, Groundswell Productions has nabbed the rights to a book about the beginnings of Google.
Last autumn, Penguin brought out Ken Auletta’s tome Googgled: The End of the World As We Know it. And now producer John Morris has decided that the story of Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page is just the sort of rise-to-glory story that would make for a compelling movie.
The pair came up with the web-conquering idea when they were PhD students at Stanford, sick of using the usual likes of Yahoo. Basing their business model on ideas such as “you can make money without doing evil,” they struggled to hold on to their ideals even as they became billionaires.
"It's about these two young guys who created a company that changed the world, and how the world in turn changed them," Groundswell's Michael London tells Deadline. "The heart of the movie is their wonderful edict, don't be evil. At a certain point in the evolution of a company so big and powerful, there are a million challenges to that mandate. Can you stay true to principles like that as you become as rich and powerful as that company has become? The intention is to be sympathetic to Sergey and Larry, and hopefully the film will be as interesting as the company they created."
There’s no writer or director attached yet, but if a studio does pick it up and start work on an unflattering film, expect it to get visits from mysterious, otherwise unmarked vehicles with Google Street View cameras attached.
It just makes us wonder what’s next? Twitter: The Movie? Oh wait… too late.