When it was announced last year that actor Michael Fassbender would be the face of the jump from gamepad to big screen for the 'Assassin's Creed' series, many fans were left sceptical of how well the project would perform.
An international set
Speaking during a promotional tour in Sydney, the 39-year-old 'X-Men' actor said of the production, "It was great. It was an international set. We also had a French woman, a Swede, a French man, so it was a nice mix. Like the UN."
Fassbender is joined by director Justin Kurzel and actress Marion Cotillard, who he had previously worked with on the big-screen production of Shakespeare's Macbeth.
Other co-stars include veteran theatre actor Jeremy Irons and '45 Years' actress Charlotte Rampling.
The 'Assassin's Creed' series of video-games began in 2007 and have since received yearly sequels. The basic premise of the games involve a millenia-long battle between two secret orders, the Templars and the Assassins, over an ancient artifact that can control minds and rule the world. The player is put in the role of an assassin and each game takes them to a new time period of history. Eras that have been explored include renaissance Italy, the American Revolution, and Victorian England. There was no new game in 2016 but a reboot set in Ancient Egypt is rumoured to be released next year.
A popular franchise reborn
The games have sold more than 100 million copies and received universal praise for its progress in defining storytelling, artistic visuals, and originality.
In the same interview, Fassbender also admitted his unfamiliarity with videogames and the films based on them, saying, "I haven't seen any of them.
I saw half of 'Tomb Raider'. I am not a gamer. This world that I was introduced to through Ubisoft was a new world to me.
"I thought it was really fascinating. This concept of DNA memory, genetic memory, it was something like what people call a sixth sense. This knowledge and experience that's been passed down from our ancestors to us."
'Assassin's Creed' will be released in the United States on December 21st, 2016. A UK release is expected in the new year.
