October 24, 2007
Leading Hollywood Actors to Star in Ubisoft’s
Beowulf
Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins and Ray
Winstone among the talent to lend voice and likeness
Today, Ubisoft announced that some of the leading
actors from the Beowulf film will lend their voice and likeness to the Beowulf
video game. Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins, Ray Winstone, Brendan Gleeson
and Sebastien Roche will all provide their voices and likeness to the 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 and artistic beauty 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 Anthony Hopkins, Beowulf, played by Ray Winstone,
Wiglaf, played by Brendan Gleeson, and Wulfgar, played by Sebastien 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 Ray 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.”
“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,” said Gabrielle Shrager,
writer and lead story designer for the Beowulf video game. “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, the PLAYSTATION 3, the PSP 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.
