Assassin's Creed - Michael Fassbender starring and co-producing

No fooling.

:O

Must. Fucking. See.

So, wait. Who is Fassbender playing? All the article says is 'iconic hooded hero'. Is that Desmond? Altair? Ezio? Connor? Who?! TELL ME, ARTICLE!

I heard Desmond elsewhere (Empire, to be exact), but it's possible that he could play multiple roles. Family resemblance and all that.

Whoever he plays, I'm sure he'll be awesome.

edited 9th Jul '12 12:06:52 PM by Mort08

I like Michael Fassbender. I like Assassins Creed. I like this.

Imagine Ezio's theme on the big screen!

WHO IS HE PLAYING DARN IT! I don't even care too much for the series but damn if I want to see a good videogame movie! And considering that Ubisoft is actually making their own studio in order to keep the quality good, this hopefully will turn out well!

edited 9th Jul '12 12:08:44 PM by phoenixdaughterAM

So I wonder how they'll do this. Obviously the series is quite plot heavy and there are a lot of important elements that need to be understood by the audience (genetic memory, the Pieces of Eden, the conflict between the Assassins and the Templars, a 20 Minutes into the Future setting and a setting in the past...)

Will they adapt the storyline of the games or go for an all-out original story using the elements from the series? Or a blend of elements from various games?

Considering the nature of the Assassins Creed series, they could introduce an original guy if they wanted couldn't they?

Not that they should mind you.

No, it would be best if they just adapted Assassin's Creed 2. It's perfect for a movie.

Going from the fact that Fassbender looks a lot like Desmond, I'm gonna say they're sticking with the games.

Personally I'd rather they just did a period piece about a different, original Assassin in X time period rather than trying to adapt one of the games.

I think the animus is something that really only works in the games because the whole point of it is to lampshade video game tropes. As such I really don't see it translating to film.

I just think making an original story about Assassins vs Templars in whatever time period would be best.

You can't do that because they will almost certainly mess it up. No, the best thing to do is condense the video game. Otherwise they'll go crazy and make something that isn't like AC at all.

Of course, there's a lot of important details to get into a film. Getting all the elements (Desmond, Ezio, genetic memory, Assassins, Templars, Pieces of Eden, etc) properly established and understood is actually the big challange here. Obviously the more time you have in your film the easier that'll be, but would someone take the risk of trying to make a video game into an Epic Movie?

edited 11th Jul '12 4:17:33 AM by TheBatPencil

How so?

Ubisoft is the one with the creative control here so assuming their original writers have some role in what goes on then it would suggest that whatever they come up with will be true to the setting.

Honestly none of the games would work well as films.

Desmond's plot works as a game because he's in a video game analogue- it seriously won't translate well into film and will be largely unnecessary in a film. Altair's storyline is quite simplistic and would need to be reworked thoroughly to not feel so repetitive and episodic...at which point you might as well do an original setting and Fassbender couldn't do Arabic. AC 2 is the only one that could work as a film but even that game has a pretty disappointing ending that I wouldn't care to see on film- not to mention Minerva's role also wouldn't work that well. It's brilliant in the game because she looks directly at the player and talks to him. Since film audiences don't have the same agency that scene would lose so much. It'd be like trying to make Psycho Mantis work in an MGS film.

I just don't see Desmond and the animus working on film.

I never thought the Assassin's Creed games were particularly good, but I guess this could still be interesting. Adaptions are often better than the things they are adapted from.

What sort of bizzaro universe are you from? I'm optimistic about this particular project, but the vast, VAST majority of video game adaptations are complete piss.

edited 11th Jul '12 5:57:00 PM by DirectorCannon

They said most adaptations, not video game adaptations in particular.

Your statement still stands, though.

edited 11th Jul '12 8:29:30 PM by Mort08

I've never played any of the games, but I'm looking forward to this. Fassbender is just so... absorbing. He has an Oscar in his future, mark my words.

This is one adaptation that could be classy as all hell.

For me, he's becoming a Just Here for Godzilla kind of actor. The only reason I was interested in Prometheus and Jane Eyre at all is because he was in them.

And while I haven't played the games either, I'd be playing the shit out of them if I had the right console and was comfortable with M-rated games. They sound right up my alley.

Really, it's one of the softer M rated series I have played. Aside from a couple of Precision F-Strike moments, from 2 on most cursing is actually in Italian. There is a bit of Squick inducing kill animations, but compared to, say, most of Rockstar's games, it's pretty tame.

edited 11th Jul '12 10:07:06 PM by DirectorCannon

Perhaps I'll watch a Let's Play or two, then.

Yeah, I said adaptations, not video game adaptions.

I seriously never got the point of the Animus/Desmond plot in the games. You could remove it and nothing would be lost. It seems like the developers felt they had to justify why a video game feels like a video game. That's just silly.

I know, I was just applying your general statement to our specific topic of discussion.

A writer has been chosen, an "acclaimed English playwright" named Michael Lesslie. He hasn't done much to indicate himself before, though, so while it won't do much to assuage anything at least it doesn't make things look any bleaker. Interesting, it will be.

Not sure which entered the project first so I can't tell whose presence it explains but the producer, Conor Mc Caughan, has worked with Fassbender before, on Eden Lake, which was considering the subject reasonably well received.

edited 21st Jan '13 9:19:28 AM by LE0Night

I'd rather they take their own spin and direction with elements of the series rather than doing a full blown adaptation. It's just not possible, honestly.

If they were to take one of the games as inspiration, though, it has to be the second one. Like someone said earlier, that game is quite cinematic already.