'Once' Director Helming Steve Carell in 'Dogs of Babel'

John Carney, who directed the acclaimed musically-themed Once, has just inked a deal to direct Dogs of Babel, Mandate's adaptation of the Carolyn Parkhurst novel starring Steve Carell.

Carell is producing, as are David Heyman, Corey May and Dooma Wendschuh.

Babel will serve as the Irish filmmaker's biggest project to date, and his first American-produced one as well.

Steve Carell Attached to Star in 'Dogs of Babel'

STEVE CARELL EYES DRAMA 'DOGS OF BABEL'

Steve Carell is taking a turn for the serious, attaching himself to star in Dogs of Babel, a drama for Mandate Pictures.

Carell will also produce the project, an adaptation of a novel by Carolyn Parkhurst, along with David Heyman of Heyday Films, Corey May and Dooma Wendschuh of Sekretagent Productions.

The novel, described as a tragic story of love and loss centers on a linguistics professor (Carell), who returns home one day to find his wife dead in their backyard. Though police rule her deat...

Corey May and Assasin's Creed Brotherhood Win WGA Best Video Game Writing Category

2011 Writers Guild Awards Winners Announced

LOS ANGELES, NEW YORK -- The Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) tonight announced the winners of the 2011 Writers Guild Awards for outstanding achievement in writing for screen, television, radio, news, promotional, videogame, and new media writing at simultaneous ceremonies at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel-Grand Ballroom in Los Angeles and the AXA Equitable Center in New York City.

Storytellers Of The Decade: Corey May Interview

We asked the writer of Assassin's Creed to explain his thoughts on interactive narrative, characters, and his favorite game stories.

As part of our cover story on this decade's 30 greatest characters, we chose several creative voices from across the gaming world that have contributed profoundly to the growth of storytelling in the medium. After careful deliberation, one of the storytellers we chose was Corey May, script writer for Assassin's Creed 1 and 2. We asked May several questions about the way he understands story and character...

Marketers Trade Tales About Getting to Know Facebook and Twitter

A New York Times article referencing our PSA for Coca-Cola, "The Hand Revolt," as an example of the role of social media in advertising.

Ambush Entertainment Sets Next Pic

Ambush Entertainment, which made a splash at the Toronto Film Festival with its raucous film Super, is next making a thriller. It has set Xavier Palud to direct Below The Surface from a John Kelly script that will begin pre-production in Puerto Rico in February. Palud, who directed The Eye and Them, takes on the story of a group of scientists and a military escort who are sent to a secluded South Pacific island to investigate the disappearance of a medical research team. The film will be produced by Ambush partners Miranda Bailey and Matthe...

The (Ubisoft) Office

Matt Turner and the creative team of Assasin's Creed created a lighthearded and funny video inspiring people to work for Ubisoft.

Why do video games make such bad movies?

Do you think the idea of Jake Gyllenhaal playing a time-traveling Arabian swordsman seems far-fetched? Then consider Raul Julia as a gravity-defying, Third World despot, or Sir Ben Kingsley taking on the role of a bloodsucking vampire king. Sadly, as illustrated by "Prince of Persia," the latest film adapted from a popular video game, the more things change, the more they play the same. Decades after the debut of "The Wizard," a thinly disguised, feature-length Nintendo commercial, the marriage between Hollywood and gaming remains rocky a...

2009 BAFTA Video Game Award Nominees Are In

The annual British Academy Video Game Awards has revealed this year's nominees, with Assassin's Creed II, Uncharted 2, Modern Warfare 2, and Arkham Asylum poised to win big, and the GAME Award of 2009 awaiting your votes.

2010 Writers Guild Awards Video Game Writing Nominees Announced

Los Angeles and New York ? The Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) have announced nominations for outstanding achievement in videogame writing during the past year. The winner of this year?s WGA?s Videogame Writing Award, which recognizes writers as a major creative force in today?s burgeoning gaming industry, will be announced at the upcoming 2010 Writers Guild Awards to be held on Saturday, February 20, 2010, at simultaneous ceremonies in Los Angeles and Ne...

Time Travel Gets Closer to Reality

Ubisoft A rendering of Piazza San Marco, in Venice, from Assassin's Creed II.

We go to look at old cities and ancient buildings, in large part, for the visual glimpse they offer into the life of their time. But new buildings and tourist hordes often blur the experience. Seeing the past re-created in movies has a fatal flaw, too: The audience is a passive observer. While the advent of videogame technology gave us interactivity, videogames haven't labored to reproduce historical settings with great precision. Consumers were too young to care about details, and the programming technology had a way to go.

With th...

On the Scenic Tril of Intrigue: Adventures in 15th-Century Itly

Whatever the Italian tourism board is paying Ubisoft for making the spectacular new game Assassin’s Creed II, it isn’t enough.

O.K., that’s a joke. There is absolutely nothing to suggest that any secret payments are flowing from Rome to Ubisoft’s headquarters in a Paris suburb.

But perhaps there should be. That’s because Assassin’s Creed II may interest more young men around the world in visiting Italy than any advertising campaign or entertainment sensation since Sophia Loren.

Over the next fe...