Assassin's Creed
Your destiny is in your blood.
Assassin's Creed (2016)
Budget
$125 000 000
Revenue
$240 697 856
Director
Scenario
Composer
Jed Kurzel
Producer
Actors
Michael Fassbender
Callum Lynch / Aguilar de Nerha
Marion Cotillard
Dr. Sophia Rikkin
Jeremy Irons
Alan Rikkin
Brendan Gleeson
Joseph Lynch
Charlotte Rampling
Ellen Kaye
Michael Kenneth Williams
Moussa
Ariane Labed
Maria
James Sobol Kelly
Father Raymond
Short description
Assassin's Creed follows Callum Lynch, a man facing execution for murder who is instead taken to a facility in Madrid run by the Abstergo corporation. There he learns that the organization is a modern front for the Templar Order, which seeks a relic capable of controlling human free will. Using a machine that lets him relive the genetic memories of his ancestor Aguilar de Nerha, an assassin in fifteenth-century Spain, Callum experiences the man's actions during the Spanish Inquisition while gradually acquiring the skills he needs to confront the Templars in his own time.
The film was directed by Justin Kurzel, his fourth feature after Snowtown, The Turning and Macbeth, working from a screenplay by Adam Cooper, Bill Collage and Michael Lesslie. It is based on the video game series of the same name. Michael Fassbender, who also produced, plays both Callum and Aguilar, with Marion Cotillard as Dr. Sophia Rikkin, Jeremy Irons as Alan Rikkin, Brendan Gleeson as Joseph Lynch, Charlotte Rampling as Ellen Kaye and Michael Kenneth Williams as Moussa.
Released in December 2016, the film had a budget of 125 million dollars and took about 241 million dollars worldwide, a return that fell short of its cost. Audience scores sit in the middle range, at 5.6 on IMDb from roughly 219,000 votes and 5.4 on TMDB from more than 8,000 votes, while critics were less favorable, giving it 4 out of 10 across 225 reviews.
What's left behind the scenes
- Director Kurzel did not want his film to resemble a "superhero movie." Instead, he sought to answer the question "What does it mean to be human?" through practical effects and parkour stunts.
- The prop makers received a detailed list of all the weapons used in the video games from Ubisoft as reference material.
- The "Abstergo" complex was built in such a way that most of its rooms were interconnected with each other by corridors, as much as possible, so that operator Adam Arkapaw could shoot long takes without extensive use of editing.
- Stuntman Damien Walters actually had to perform a "Leap of Faith" during filming – from a height of almost forty meters (125 feet). This is one of the highest stunt jumps in cinema in 35 years. It lasted almost 3 seconds.
- Filming took place at Pinewood Studios in London, where a model of the Abstergo complex was built. The same location is used to film James Bond movies.
- Director Justin Kurzel strove for maximum realism, so most of the action scenes, including stunts, were filmed primarily with a camera without the use of computer graphics.
- The cast includes two Academy Award winners – Marion Cotillard and Jeremy Irons – and two nominees for the award – Michael Fassbender and Charlotte Rampling.
- Michael Fassbender decided to take on the role of producer because he wanted to be involved in a project where he could be aware of all aspects of production from the very beginning.
- When portraying Aguilar de Nerha in the past storyline, Michael Fassbender wore brown contact lenses to create an image of detachment from the surrounding world and a slight dissimilarity to Callum Lynch – his other main character from the modern era.
- In September 2015, the film was shot in Valletta (Malta) under the working title TOOM. TOOM is an abbreviation of the phrase "Time Out Of Mind".
- In the film, Aguilar has his ring finger severed on his right hand due to the hidden blade. In the Assassin's Creed game, Assassins had their ring finger severed on their left hand. Furthermore, finger removal was done to Assassins before the 15th century so it wouldn't interfere with the blade's deployment. After the blade was modernized, finger amputation was no longer required.
- Director Justin Kurzel wanted the events unfolding in medieval Spain to look historically realistic, not fantastical.
- Historical scenes in 15th-century Spain were filmed in Spanish. According to the director, they initially tried to shoot them in English, but the decision to use Spanish was too obvious and correct. Furthermore, it added exoticism and complexity to the film. However, in the video games, scenes in the past and present are spoken exclusively in English, explaining the absence of a language barrier with the Animus's built-in translation program.
- With the exception of the CEO of "Abstergo Industries," Alan Rikkin (who makes a brief appearance in the first video game), completely new characters were created for the film, and an original story was written.
- The film's release date in the US and a number of other countries – December 21 – is a reference to the date of the fictional apocalypse in the Assassin’s Creed franchise.
- Director Justin Kurzel did not want to portray the Assassins as heroes and the Templars as villains, or vice versa, because neither of these ideologies can be categorically called right or wrong, and both can be corrupted and fall into extremes: anarchy in the case of the Assassins and totalitarianism in the case of the Templars.
- Quadcopters (drones) were used to film the most dynamic action scenes in the movie.
- According to Jean-Julien Baronnet, CEO of Ubisoft Motion Pictures, Michael Fassbender was the first choice for the role of the iconic hero in a hood.
- Michael Fassbender actively participated in post-production, including editing.
- Actor Brian Gleeson played the role of young Joseph, while actor Brendan Gleeson played Joseph in the present day. In real life, they are son and father.
- The filmmakers redesigned the Animus to make it more interactive for the actors, and Ubisoft liked its new look so much that they decided to include it in the next game in the series.
- Fassbender decided to participate in the project because he wanted to star in a fantasy film with a scientific bent. Additionally, he found the idea of a confrontation between the Templars and Assassins intriguing.
- The film is based on the video game of the same name. Actor Michael Fassbender had never played any of the nine games in the series before filming and didn't even know they existed until Ubisoft offered him the lead role.
- The film's release was initially scheduled for 2015, but the world premiere was eventually postponed to 2016.
- Michael Fassbender and Ariana Labed performed 95% of all fight scenes themselves.
- The cast is very multinational: Michael Fassbender has Irish-German roots, Marion Cotillard is French, Jeremy Irons and Callum Turner are English, Brendan Gleeson is Irish, Michael Kenneth Williams is American, and Ariane Labed is Greek.
- Alicia Vikander turned down a film role to participate in the upcoming Jason Bourne project with Matt Damon.
- This is Michael Fassbender’s second role in a video game franchise. He also voiced the character of King Logan in the game Fable 3 (2011).
- All of the Assassin costumes were handmade, and it took 2–3 months to create them. There are eight variations of each costume, and a whole team of costume designers was assigned to each Assassin.
- Michael Fassbender had previously worked with four of the actors in this film: with Marion Cotillard in "Macbeth" (2015), with Michael Kenneth Williams in the drama "12 Years a Slave" (2013), with Denis Ménochet in "Inglourious Basterds" (2009), and with Brendan Gleeson in the action film "London Has Fallen" (2016).
- According to the producers, Justin Kurzel needed very little time to shoot large-scale action scenes thanks to his high level of organization. For example, five weeks were allocated for filming the scene with horses, but the scene was ultimately shot in just three days.
- As a producer of this film, Michael Fassbender lobbied for director Justin Kurzel and actress Marion Cotillard to be involved.
- In the film "Assassin's Creed," Jeremy Irons plays the villain. In the series "The Borgias" (2011), he plays Rodrigo Borgia – the main villain in the second part of the Assassin's Creed video game series.
- During the construction of the courtyard set in Malta, a waterspout collapsed onto the set and caused significant damage.
- According to Marion Cotillard, the main reason she agreed to the role in the film was the opportunity to work with Michael Fassbender and director Justin Kurzel again, who had previously worked with her on the film "Macbeth" (2015).
- Over 900 extras in 15th-century clothing were involved in the filming in Malta.
- The film is based on an original screenplay written specifically for the production and does not follow the plot of the games.
- This is the second joint project for Jeremy Irons and Brendan Gleeson after Ridley Scott's "Kingdom of Heaven" (2005).
- Actress Olivia Mann expressed interest in this project.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
