Ubisoft: Assassin's Creed Movie Will Be a "Milestone" Film That Breaks History of Mediocre Video Game Movies

The next major video game movie, Assasssin's Creed, lands in theaters later this month. As part of the build-up to its release, the movie's stars and director appeared on an Xbox livestream today to discuss the film and their hopes for it.

Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Irons, and Michael Kenneth Williams are interviewed in it by Microsoft's Major Nelson, while director Justin Kurzel and Assassin's Creed brand director Azaizia Aymar answer questions as well.

The stars talk about why they were drawn to the project and also reveal that, while they don't all play the video games, they aimed to respect the franchise and deviate where necessary to adapt the game for the screen.

"On screen is a different experience, of course. As a gamer, you go into a world, and it's your world. You enter a universe and you decide where to go," Fassbender says. "In this film, we're presenting a universe and you're somewhat of a passenger."

Fassbender says he was drawn to the Assassin's Creed movie because its universe is "so dense, so fascinating, and so sophisticated." In terms of the characters and story, things aren't exactly black and white, Fassbender said, adding that from a moral perspective, it's "very murky."

We also learn in the Q&A that Fassbender and another star, Ariane Labed, performed 95 percent of their own stunts. A stunt performer, Damien Walters, stepped in to execute a 120-foot Leap of Faith scene. He did tests at lower heights first, and one did not go so well, as the stunt performer landed on the crash pad the wrong way and it felt like someone smashed his head with a baseball bat, Fassbender says.

Another interesting takeaway is that Fassbender reveals he signed on for the movie after just one meeting with Ubisoft. It was Fassbender who, after working with Kurzel on Macbeth, approached Kurzel to ask if he'd be interested in directing. Fassbender is a producer on Assassin's Creed, too, and is reportedly signed on for multiple sequels in the future.

Finally, Aymar made the bold prediction that Assassin's Creed will break through the history of video game movies being mediocre or worse.

"I really think it's going to be a milestone movie," he said. "It's going to be the very first time that a video game studio creative works with movie creatives altogether to share a vision and give them the tool to express themselves; rather than have an adaptation. There's going to be a 'before and after Assassin's Creed movie' for sure."

Assassin's Creed opens on December 21.