Electronic Arts Expands Turf with 'Godfather' Saga

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By John Gaudiosi

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Hours before actors James Caan and Robert Duvall walked down the red carpet, press and retailer VIPs lined up in the frigid air of New York's Little Italy recently to get a first look at Electronic Arts' "The Godfather" video game. As locals gathered to see what all the fuss was about, the message was clear: EA was unveiling its new title like Hollywood opens a movie.

The game publisher, which has made a mint from such Hollywood-licensed film franchises as "Harry Potter," James Bond and "The Lord of the Rings," is utilizing next-generation technology to bring Francis Ford Coppola's Oscar-winning film to the interactive realm.

But the source material is just the beginning of the game experience. The film's distributor, Paramount Pictures, and its Viacom Inc. parent granted Electronic Arts the rights to expand the fiction beyond the scope of the film and Mario Puzo's novel.

"We took the movie as a starting point and looked at the story of five families competing for turf," said Hunter Smith, senior producer of "The Godfather" game. "You're not playing the movie game with this experience, you have your own original story that intersects with characters and high points from the first film."

Beyond the virtual versions of Caan, Duvall and Marlon Brando, an additional 20-plus actors from "The Godfather" will appear in the game, including Lenny Montana (Luca Brasi) and John Martino (Paulie Gatto). Many characters will receive larger roles in the game since the 40-plus hours of gameplay allow for a longer story line, and new characters -- including a love interest for the player -- will be added.

Smith said no dialogue from the film will be used for the game because the sound quality is too dated to meet today's technology standards. Instead, all of the game's dialogue has been recorded anew. Brando spent four hours in a booth reprising his role of Don Vito Corleone before he died last year.

"Marlon Brando understood games, and he saw how interactive entertainment could open the door for roles to actors regardless of age and appearance," said EA creative director Philip Campbell, who wrote the game's script with input from novelist Mark Winegardner ("The Godfather Returns").

Duvall and Caan each will spend eight hours recording dialogue for the game, bringing consigliere Tom Hagen and Sonny Corleone back to life. In the game, Hagen will teach the player about the art of negotiation, and Sonny will point out the importance of intimidation. The player will interact with each of these characters throughout the game. To succeed, the player must balance the line between intimidation and negotiation.

During the Feb. 10 New York event, EA played a sound bite from Brando that said, "In a game, it's the audience that's doing the acting."

Caan took the stage and said that getting into the recording booth was fun and that Sonny's voice came right back. Duvall joined him and added that working on the game was like doing looping for a movie he shot a week ago.

EA then showed a scene from the original film between Caan and Duvall, followed by their individual voice recording session, and then showed the in-game sequence. Even on current-generation consoles, the graphics were impressive. Two of the in-game sequences shown featured Xbox (news - web sites) 2 graphics, the first public unveiling of Microsoft's new console that is expected to come out in the fall.

Back at EA's Redwood Shores Studio, a team of 100 is working on the first of what is expected to be a new franchise for EA. The publisher has the rights to create multiple games, and Campbell said the mythology will allow future games to go forward or backward in the timeline. The game's expected Mature rating will remain true to the fiction, and EA hopes this offer is something gamers cannot refuse.

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