August 20, 2010 12:40

Google movie in the works

Story of founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin's rise to hit screens

A new film about the founders of search engine Google and its rise to online dominance is being made. Michael London's Groundswell Productions, who produced the Oscar-winning Milk, has acquired the rights to Ken Auletta's book Googled: The End Of The World As We Know It.

The book will be the basis for a screenplay which tells the story of Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page's road to success.

Auletta, the media columnist for The New Yorker, published his book last year after watching the search engine giant generate over £12 billion in advertising revenue alone.

Unlike the upcoming Facebook film The Social Network, which documents the in-fighting between the Harvard-educated founders, the Google story explores Stanford men Brin and Page's ethos of "You can make money without doing evil".

Speaking to Deadline, producer Michael London said: "It's about these two young guys who created a company that changed the world, and how the world in turn changed them.

"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."