'Assassin's Creed' film adaptation to star Michael Fassbender

Assassin's Creed film to star Michael Fassbender.

The film adaptation of popular video game franchise Assassin's Creed will star Michael Fassbender, who will also co-produce through his DMC Film production company.

"Michael Fassbender was our first choice" to star in the adaptation, said Jean-Julien Baronnet, CEO of Paris-based Ubisoft Motion Pictures. "Michael (Fassbender) is an extremely smart, talented, versatile and committed actor."

Ubisoft was in talks with Sony last fall to develop a series of Assassin's Creed-based films. Since negotiations halted, Ubisoft executives now plan to develop the film independently in order to retain creative control.

Sony may still distribute the film; however Ubisoft Motion Pictures will first hire a writer and director before continuing to negotiate with the studio.

"We're open to re-discuss with the key studios once the production package is finalized," he added.

The games publisher launched Ubisoft Motion Pictures last year, headed by Baronnet, to create film, television, and digital adaptations of its video games. Ubisoft plans to use its "26 in-house games studios" to handle visual effects work, Baronnet stated.

Fassbender previously starred in titles such as Shame, Haywire, and more recently Prometheus. Throughout the last year he and business partner Conor McCaughan, worked to develop new productions. Assassin's Creed will be their highest profile project to date.

The upcoming Assassin's Creed 3 is scheduled to release October 30th in North America.