MUMBAI: As per Ubisoft, Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins and other leading Hollywood actors will star in Ubisoft’s Beowulf video game based on Paramount and Shangri-La’s feature film.
Other than Hopkins, Ray Winstone, Brendan Gleeson and Sebastien Roche will lend their voice and likeness to the Beowulf video game adding to the authenticity of the interactive adaptation of Paramount Pictures’ and Shangri-La Entertainment’s upcoming motion picture, Beowulf, directed by Academy Award® winner Robert Zemeckis. The reprisal of their film roles in the Beowulf game marks the actors’ first-ever appearance in a video game, and further demonstrates the close collaboration between Ubisoft, Paramount Pictures and Shangri-La Entertainment.
The Beowulf video game is an interactive experience that captures the spirit of the film while offering an even deeper look into the epic tale of Beowulf. The video game features exclusive content that is unexplored by the film and even the classic tale, extending the adventure through 30 years of the Beowulf story. The roles of King Hrothgar, played by Hopkins, Beowulf, played by Winstone, Wiglaf, played by Gleeson, and Wulfgar, played by Roche, have been greatly expanded and adapted to the interactive realm to deliver amazing performances that can only be found in the game.
“This is the first time I’ve worked on a video game, and I must say it was one of the hardest working days of my career,” confessed Winstone after the intense recording sessions for the Ubisoft production. “But it was vital to capturing the power of the film and translating that into a great gaming experience. Beowulf is a brutal character, a dark age-gangster with both hero and monster in him … as a player, I can identify with the monster slayer,” he adds.
Writer and lead story designer for the Beowulf video game, Gabrielle Shrager stated, “These performances stir us like a great soundtrack does – you get shivers. The starring actors lend authenticity and intensity to The Beowulf video game experience, something that was indispensable in order for us to extend the story beyond the movie. The actors seamlessly translated their characters’ depth and emotion, breathing life into their video game roles as they did for the film.”
The Beowulf video game is an action combat game currently in development for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the Playstation 3 computer entertainment system, the PSP (PlayStation Portable) system and Windows PC. It is being developed by the award-winning team that created the original Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter in Ubisoft’s Tiwak studio and is scheduled for worldwide release in conjunction with the movie’s opening in November 2007.
