As one of Ubisoft's biggest franchises, it was only a matter of time before Assassin's Creed made it's way to the big screen, and Michael Fassbender is making it happen.
His company, DMC Film, is teaming up with Ubisoft Motion Pictures, with Fassbender set to star. "Michael Fassbender was our first choice" to play the franchise's iconic hooded hero, said Jean-Julien Baronnet, CEO of Paris-based Ubisoft Motion Pictures. "Michael is an extremely smart, talented, versatile and committed actor." Fassbender's profile in Hollywood has definitely risen as of late. First gathering attention as Stelios in "300," he went on to hunt down nazis as Lt. Hicox in Tarantino's "Inglorious Basterds," and gave a great origin story for the mutant Magneto in "X-Men: First Class" (a role which it seems he'll be reprising).
But under which hood will we see Fassbender? The Florentine nobleman Ezio Auditore da Firenze? The Syrian Assassin Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad? Or the tomahwak wielding Connor Kenway?
Apparently, none of the above. It seems as though Fassbender will play the tie that binds all three together, that of Desmond Miles. According to Variety, the "plot revolves around a man who learns his ancestors were trained assassins after he is kidnapped by a secret organization with ties to the Knights Templar, and sent back in time to retrieve historical artifacts." Yep, sure sounds like Desmond all right.
If Ubisoft and DMC can get this right, they'll have a great set up for an amazing trilogy.
However, Ubisfot Motion Pictures doesn't have the best track record for movie adaptations of its video game property. Teaming with Disney for "Prince of Persia," the film garnered a 33% from rottentomatoes.com, despite the acting chops of Ben Kingsley and Elfred Molina.
This time around, Ubisoft is planning to develop the film independently so they can keep creative control. They even plan on doing visual effects work in house, using their own game studios like Hybride Technologies. They also have plans to develop films for two of its other franchises, both Clancy titles, "Splinter Cell," and "Ghost Recon."
