Assassin's Creed, the big-budget film adaptation of Ubisoft's video game franchise, will premiere at the end of the year and director Justin Kurzel says that while filming, both he and the film's actors were mindful of what made the game great
In a new featurette about the making of the film, both Kurzel and star Michael Fassbender said many of the elements that players love about Ubisoft’s franchise will be displayed prominently in the movie. The parkour moves, for example, will play a pretty big part in the storyline and they wanted to incorporate it as much as they could to pay proper homage to the game.
"It was very important for us to get the parkour elements," Fassbender says in the video. "You know, the fans are going to be looking for it."
Fassbender added that the Assassin’s Creed universe seemed like something that "would lend itself very nicely to the cinematic experience." For director Kurzel, it was important to make the film feel as immersive as possible, mirroring the experience players get when they’re actually exploring the different worlds Ubisoft has built over the years.
"We’re really determined to make the audience believe that this world and these characters exist," Kurzel said.
Part of the way they tried to ensure that the film felt authentic was by foregoing heavy use of CGI and using stunt work whenever possible. That included having an actor perform a 125-foot free-fall jump, making it one of the tallest stunts in 35 years, instead of just generating it.
Assassin’s Creed will be one of the last blockbusters to be released this year, hitting theaters Dec. 21.
