The Social Network Makes Way For A Google Movie [Not A Parody Trailer]

Since the release of the movie trailer for David Fincher's The Social Network, we've seen numerous trailers parodying the formation of various other huge internet properties: The Other Social Network, about MySpace, "The Video Website,"about YouTube, The Twit Network, about Twitter, and The Auction Site about eBay. There has yet to be a parody movie trailer for "The Search Engine" or the formation of Google, and today Deadline is reporting that the movie is actually happening for real. I'm not kidding. This is not a joke. There is no funny/clever fake trailer embedded after the jump.

Michael London's Groundswell Productions and producer John Morris have acquired the movie rights to Ken Auletta's book Googled: The End of the World As We Know it. Released in November 2009, the book tells the story of Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page.

The official book description follows:

A revealing, forward-looking examination of the outsize influence Google has had on the changing media Landscape. There are companies that create waves and those that ride or are drowned by them. As only he can, bestselling author Ken Auletta takes readers for a ride on the Google wave, telling the story of how it formed and crashed into traditional media businesses-from newspapers to books, to television, to movies, to telephones, to advertising, to Microsoft. With unprecedented access to Google's founders and executives, as well as to those in media who are struggling to keep their heads above water, Auletta reveals how the industry is being disrupted and redefined. Using Google as a stand-in for the digital revolution, Auletta takes readers inside Google's closed-door meetings and paints portraits of Google's notoriously private founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, as well as those who work with-and against-them. In his narrative, Auletta provides the fullest account ever told of Google's rise, shares the "secret sauce" of Google's success, and shows why the worlds of "new" and "old" media often communicate as if residents of different planets.

Google engineers start from an assumption that the old ways of doing things can be improved and made more efficient, an approach that has yielded remarkable results- Google will generate about $20 billion in advertising revenues this year, or more than the combined prime-time ad revenues of CBS, NBC, ABC, and FOX. And with its ownership of YouTube and its mobile phone and other initiatives, Google CEO Eric Schmidt tells Auletta his company is poised to become the world's first $100 billion media company. Yet there are many obstacles that threaten Google's future, and opposition from media companies and government regulators may be the least of these. Google faces internal threats, from its burgeoning size to losing focus to hubris. In coming years, Google's faith in mathematical formulas and in slide rule logic will be tested, just as it has been on Wall Street. Distilling the knowledge accrued from a career of covering the media, Auletta will offer insights into what we know, and don't know, about what the future holds for the imperiled industry.

The 432-page softcover book is available on Amazon from around $10-11. And while many people thought (and might still believe) the story of Facebook is not the least bit compelling, it definitely featured a bit more controversy than the rise of Google. I'm wondering if an equally compelling narrative can be formed from this true tale. Producer London provided the following quote:

"It's about these two young guys who created a company that changed the world, and how the world in turn changed them," London told 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.

No screenwriter or directors have yet been hired for the project.

Discuss: Do you think this movie could be interesting? Who should be hired to write and direct the Google story?