Assassin’s creed
Fassbender gets moody in first look at videogame adap.
Will Assassin’s Creed finally be the movie from a videogame we’ve waited 20 years for? Given it’s by the team that brought us such a soul-shaking Macbeth – Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard and director Justin Kurzel – the chances look good.
“It’s a genre I never thought I’d be involved in – it scares the bejesus out of me! – but it’s really interesting,” Kurzel tells Buzz. “There’s a reason why Assassin’s Creed has 95 million followers. There’s a depth to the game, and the ideas are really substantial. It’s based on historical events and real characters. It’s to do with ancestry, and the fact we’re all made up of those who come before us – the idea of genetics.” For the uninitiated, there are nine main
Assassin’s Creed games to date, and they pit a group of (wait for it) assassins against the Knights Templar, with the main character able to plug into ‘ancestral memories’ to pick up the skills of his forbears (and meaning the game can roam different eras). In the movie, The Fass will play Callum Lynch, who explores the memories of his ancestor Aguilar, from 15th-Century Spain.
“I think it’s a really fascinating concept, just the idea of DNA memory alone,” says Fassbender, who also produces, though he happily admits he’s played the game “only a few times, badly”. Cotillard is excited to reunite with her Macbeth men, but has no idea what she’s in for: “Is the game violent?” she asks Buzz. “I don’t like this. I don’t like to shoot people.”
Her director will no doubt clue her in: “There’s parkour and free running; it’s not superhero; it’s action that’s accessible, relatable,” he says. “It’s by far the biggest budget I’ve had. I get to use a whole lot of skills I haven’t used before. It’s a monster.”