Michael Fassbender in ‘Assassin’s Creed’ (2016). Photo: 20th Century Fox.
Preview:
Netflix has plans for an ‘Assassin’s Creed’ series.
It’ll adapt the popular Ubisoft game franchise.
The games were previously turned into a movie in 2016.
2016 movie ‘Assassin’s Creed’ could well serve as a cautionary tale for those adapting video games. Despite a big name star (Michael Fassbender) and a talented director (Justin Kurzel), it didn’t catch on with critics or audiences.
That isn’t stopping Netflix from planning its own adaptation, this time as a live-action streaming series.
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The company has announced that Roberto Patino (‘Westworld’) and David Wiener (‘Halo’) are teaming up to write and produce a new show set in the world of
Michael Fassbender in ‘Assassin’s Creed’ (2016). Photo: 20th Century Fox.
With more than 230 million units sold, the Assassin’s Creed franchise is one of the best-selling series in video game history.
Developed and first published by Ubisoft in 2007, The franchise focuses on a centuries-long conflict between two secret organizations: the Assassins, who fight to preserve freedom and free will, and the Templars, who believe in achieving peace through control and order.
While we don’t know exactly what elements the new show will borrow, here’s what Netflix has released as the official logline:
“ ‘Assassin’s Creed’ is a high-octane thriller centered on the secret war between two shadowy factions — one set on determining mankind’s future through control and manipulation, while the other fights to preserve free will. The series follows its characters across pivotal historical events as they battle to shape humanity’s destiny.”
‘Assassin’s Creed’ series: the showrunners speak
(L to R) Marion Cotillard, Michael Fassbender in ‘Assassin’s Creed’ (2016). Photo: 20th Century Fox.
Here’s what Patino and Wiener have said about the series they’re developing:
“We’ve been fans of Assassin’s Creed since its release in 2007. Every day we work on this show, we come away excited and humbled by the possibilities that Assassin’s Creed opens to us. Beneath the scope, the spectacle, the parkour and the thrills is a baseline for the most essential kind of human story — about people searching for purpose, struggling with questions of identity and destiny and faith. It is about power and violence and sex and greed and vengeance. But more than anything, this is a show about the value of human connection, across cultures, across time. And it’s about what we stand to lose as a species when those connections break.”
When will the new ‘Assassin’s Creed’ series be on our screens?
It’s far too early for Netflix to lock down a release date, especially with no other creative team members or cast attached yet.
But the streaming service is hoping it’ll find the same success as other video game-based shows such as ‘Castlevania’ and ‘Arcane’.
Michael Fassbender in ‘Assassin’s Creed’ (2016). Photo: 20th Century Fox.
(Left) Jude Law in Warner Bros. ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.’ (Right) Nicholas Hoult in Fox Searchlight Pictures ‘Tolkien.’
Australian director Justin Kurzel clearly has a thing for true crime stories. And he’s seen success with a few of them, including ‘Nitram’, ‘True History of the Kelly Gang’ and ‘The Snowtown Murders’. He’s back at the based-on-truth track for a new movie called ‘The Order’.
Jude Law and Nicholas Hoult are aboard to star in the film, which Zach Baylin––no stranger to real-life stories himself after writing the Oscar-nominated screenplay for ‘King Richard’––has adapted from Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt’s book ‘The Silent Brotherhood’.
Here’s the basic pitch for ‘The Order’: In 1983, a series of increasingly violent bank robberies, counterfeiting operations and armored car heists frightened communities throughout the Pacific Northwest. As baffled law enforcement agents scrambled for answers, a lone FBI agent (Law), stationed in the sleepy, picturesque town of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, came to believe the crimes were not the work of traditional, financially motivated criminals, but a group of dangerous domestic terrorists, inspired by a radical, charismatic leader (Hoult), plotting a devastating war against the federal government of the United States.
It’s certainly topical and offers fertile ground for drama. Plus both Law and Hoult have long proved themselves capable of this sort of performance. Kurzel intends to start shooting this May in Alberta, Canada.
Both Law and Hoult have been typically busy of late, with Law joining the ‘Star Wars’ televisual galaxy via Jon Watts’ ‘Skeleton Crew’ series about youngsters caught up in the galactic clash. That should arrive on Disney+ this year. There’s also more mysterious drama ‘Black Rabbit’, a drama he’s been developing with Jason Bateman for Netflix, and which also boasts Baylin as one of the writers.
On the movie front, he’ll be Captain Hook for David Lowery’s latest live-action Disney project, ‘Peter Pan & Wendy’, which doesn’t have a release date yet, but we’re eager to see what the director does with the classic tale.
And in stories based on real-life, Law’s playing Henry VIII opposite Alicia Vikander’s Catherine Parr in ‘Firebrand’, which comes from director Karim Aïnouz.
As for Hoult, he was last seen in ‘The Menu’ and has ‘Dracula’-based action comedy ‘Renfield’ (in which he plays the troubled title character looking to break free from the vampire’s employ) due in theaters on April 14th.
Behind the scenes, the actor has a production company called Dead Duck Films and has been developing a TV series to star in called ‘Wildfire Johnny’. It tells the story of a young man who discovers a discarded straight razor with a note promising whoever possesses this blade will gain access to its particular magic. No word on when that one will be shooting yet.
Opening in theaters, on digital rental and streaming on AMC+ beginning March 30th is the new drama ‘Nitram,’ which is loosely based on the true story of the 1996 single person mass shooting that took place at Port Arthur in Tasmania, Australia.
The movie premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival in 2021 and earned Jones a Best Actor award for his performance.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with director Justin Kurzel and actor Caleb Landry Jones about their work on ‘Nitram.’
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You can read our full interview below or watch a video of the interview in the player above.
Moviefone: To begin with Justin, can you talk about developing this project and the themes you wanted to explore with this film?
Justin Kurzel: I mean, it came to me from Shaun Grant who’s an Australian writer that I’ve worked with a long time. He was living in Los Angeles. He had a very close encounter with a couple of shootings there and it really influenced him in wanting to write an anti-gun film.
He wanted to look at the events that led up to one of the biggest tragedies in Australia, the Port Arthur shootings that happened in the mid-90s in Australia. I guess, he just wanted to understand why and how someone was able to get access to this pretty horrific amount of weaponry without a license and without registration. So, that’s really where it started from.
The script arrived to me and then it became so much more as well in regard to this extraordinary family drama, the aspects of isolation and mental illness in it were all really powerful. So, despite me living in Tasmania and understanding and knowing how controversial the film would be, and how many may not want it to be made, it was such a compelling read that I felt as I just had to make it.
MF: Caleb, can you talk about your preparation to play this character, and how you approached the role?
Caleb Landry Jones: I just met with Jenny Kent, the dialect coach, prior to arriving in Australia and then worked with her while I was there for a bit. Then Justin was just feeding me a lot of material, activities and certain perspectives to look from, and I was lucky to have two weeks of quarantine when I got there and then two weeks prior to the actual date of shooting. I think this time was pretty vital to starting the film. Then as we started, I felt like I knew more and more as we were going, and everything felt like it was informing itself. The road was clearer almost in a way the further going down, I suppose.
MF: Justin, why was Caleb the right actor to play Nitram?
JK: I just think we instantly thought of Caleb when we sat down, and it looked like there was a possibility of making it. Shaun and I have both seen Caleb’s work, which we thought was pretty special. There was, just a sort of an instinct that he would be right. Then we met him in Los Angeles. He had incredibly sophisticated ideas about the script, very detailed and very nuanced. We just instantly knew that he was the one.
The only question mark was the accent, very few actors can pull off an Australian accent, especially Americans, but it was pretty amazing. Every Australian that sees it is pretty blown away by what Caleb did with that accent. But I knew pretty much straight away when we started shooting that he would be okay with the accent. He’s a musician. He’s got a great ear. So usually actors that have great ears are musicians. So, there was a lot that was working in our favor.
(L to R) Caleb Landry Jones, Judy Davis, and Anthony LaPaglia in ‘Nitram.’
MF: Can you also talk about casting Judy Davis and Anthony LaPaglia as Nitram’s parents?
JK: Judy is someone I’ve always hoped that one day I would work with, and she responded really strongly to the material. She brought probably a perspective that wasn’t quite there in the script in terms of that point of view of the mother and the way she senses the danger in her son and then trying to understand how responsible she is. I think Judy was so brilliant at trying to find nuance in that, and not for it to be this blame game. Then Anthony’s someone I’ve really admired. He’s in an amazing film called ‘Lantana,’ which is from Australia that always stood out to me.
Having those first discussions with Anthony, they were about the father as the enabler in the family that is always getting his son out of trouble. He never really tells him off and enables him just out of the desperation of really not knowing what to do and how to be around him. So, they both brought such an amazing perspective in terms of that family drama part of the story and definitely gave the film a lot more color and dimension.
MF: Caleb, what was your experience like working with Judy Davis and Anthony LaPaglia?
CLJ: I think Judy has the hardest job in a way. But I enjoyed working with everybody. I probably enjoyed working with Essie the most, because I could have the most fun and was able to enjoy myself with Helen.
But working with Anthony and Judy, they’re such great actors. Stuff started before it started, and then when we were in the middle of a scene, it felt like some of those things that had already started outside had somehow entered in as well. It just meant keeping up that kind of thing, I guess. Once again, knowing where my place was and all that, but it was a real dream come true, man.
MF: As an actor, how do you view Nitram’s relationship with Helen?
CLJ: I think Helen gave the character an opportunity that he hadn’t had elsewhere, or maybe didn’t even know he could share in. I think she offers love, and I guess in the simplest way, love and acceptance for the character, is everything.
(L to R) Caleb Landry Jones and Essie Davis in ‘Nitram.’
MF: Finally, the film was very well received at last year’s Cannes Film Festival. What has the reaction to the movie from audiences been like for both of you?
JK: It was a really strong reaction in Cannes, and obviously every country has a different reception to it. I think in the UK and Australia; the receptions are similar. I think in America, it’s different. Obviously, the relationship that each of those countries have with gun reform and guns is very different. In Australia, it was met with some people wishing that the film hadn’t been made because it’s too painful or that we’ve brought suddenly a point of view through that particular person.
While others felt it was a really important film and had allowed them to look at a tragedy like that and understand a little better what led to it, but also how those gun reforms were changed in Australia. So yeah, it’s been really interesting, probably more so than any other film I’ve made, how different the responses have been.
CLJ: I think it was very important and fantastic to be acknowledged by the festival in Cannes. I only hoped that that meant some people that had written it off and were going to write it off completely, maybe give it a chance. I can only hope that what we’ve done, as Justin has said before, outweighs the pain that they have of just coming into to see it, the pain that brings up, that the other outweighs that. I hope that, as desperately as we need a film like this in America, that people do see it, the people that need it especially.
