- Title: Michael Fassbender played video games to prepare for "Assassin's Creed" movie
- Date: 1st December 2016
- Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (DECEMBER 1, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OUTSIDE SHOTS OF PRESS CONFERENCE LOCATION ACTORS MARION COTILLARD AND MICHAEL FASSBENDER ARRIVE FOR PRESS CONFERENCE WITH DIRECTOR JUSTIN KURZEL SIGN "ASSASSIN'S CREED" ON WALL WIDE OF PRESS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, MICHAEL FASSBENDER, SAYING: "The fact that we carry the knowledge of our ancestors in our DNA, their experience, their memories we hold that in ourselves. I thought this concept alone is going to elevate this above most of these kind of sort of fantasy sort of genre projects." MEDIA LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, MICHAEL FASSBENDER, SAYING: "And the concept of the Templars and the Assassins you know this idea that there is you know an elite group in the world and we can always identify them that's familiar to us: people that run the world. And they believe in order and they believe in science in terms of the evolution of mankind. And they also believe that some humans are more important than others and that in fact some humans should be enslaved and then you have this group of people called the Assassins, this brotherhood, this creed and they believe that at all cost free will should be protected and maintained. I thought all of those concepts for me thought would make really good cinema." POSTER OF "ASSASSIN'S CREED" CHARACTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, MICHAEL FASSBENDER, SAYING: "I'm not a gamer but I did play it once I had come on board to get an idea of the world to see what the guys at Ubisoft had created and also to get an idea of, you know some of the shapes for the characters and the regressions, the sort of assassins, sort of kill short of shapes, if you will and how they move in the part core elements of it." JOURNALIST TAKING PICTURE WITH MOBILE PHONE JOURNALIST ASKING WHICH GENETIC MEMORY OF AN HISTORICAL CHARACTER OR FAMILY ANCESTOR FASSBENDER, COTILLARD AND KURZEL WOULD LIKE TO EXPERIENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, MICHAEL FASSBENDER, ON WHICH GENETIC MEMORY HE WOULD LIKE TO SHARE, SAYING: "Jesus Christ. He is not a family relative but - erm - maybe he is for all of us" (LAUGHS). JOURNALISTS LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR, JUSTIN KURZEL, ON WHICH GENETIC MEMORY HE WOULD LIKE TO SHARE, SAYING: "He is not dead yet but I think the memories of Keith Richards would be pretty amazing." CONFERENCE HOST JOKING: "He doesn't even remember them." KURZEL: "Yeah, I know, that's why I think that would be pretty amazing." JOURNALISTS LISTENING AND TAKING PICTURES (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, MICHAEL FASSBENDER, TALKING ABOUT HIS CONCERNS ABOUT THE RISE OF XENOPHOBIC TENDENCIES IN THE U.S. AND EUROPE AND THE USE OF HATE AND FEAR TO RALLY UP PEOPLE, SAYING: "That's something that's sort of tried and tested over and over in the generations. I think the problem is: we get kind of arrogant. We think that we've evolved from what happened let's say 60 years ago, over 60 years ago, and I don't think we have really. These sort of things show up all the time, the idea that humans tend to be - we are just very tribal and it's worrying, for sure. It's a worrying time." WIDE OF PRESS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTRESS, MARION COTILLARD, SAYING: "We always have to see what positivity we can take out of darkness and that's spread creativity more than words. I think that through creativity we can find a way to reunite a very divided world." JOURNALIST WRITING PRESS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR, JUSTIN KURZEL, COMPARING HIS LATEST WORK TO PREVIOUS COLLABORATION WITH FASSBENDER AND COTILLARD IN "MACBETH", SAYING: "The enormity of making a film this large it is like a big tanker. With "Macbeth" it was like that little catamaran that you can keep on tacking and change and shift and the three of us were kind of the sailors on it and it was really lovely and intimate. This was just one big chunk of metal heading towards its destination that you could sort of sway left or right a little bit. And I found that really challenging."
- Embargoed: 16th December 2016 12:56
- Keywords: Michael Fassbender Marion Cotillard Assassin's Creed Justin Kurzel
- Location: VARIOUS & BERLIN, GERMANY
- City: VARIOUS & BERLIN, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Reuters ID: LVA0025B1W5E5
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Michael Fassbender had to play video games to prepare for his new film "Assassin's Creed". "I'm not a gamer," the actor said at a press conference to promote the video game adaptation "Assassin's Creed" on Thursday (December 1) in Berlin. He played the popular game to see what the game developers at Ubisoft had created and to get an idea of the shapes and moves of the character, Fassbender said.
In "Assassin's Creed," Fassbender's character Callum Lynch learns that he is the descendant of a covert fighter from the 15th century. His ancestor Aguilar once pledged his life to the secret brotherhood "Assassin's Creed" and swore to protect mankind against the rule of the Templars.
More than 500 years later, Dr. Sophia Rikkin (Marion Cotillard), a member of the Order and leading scientist of the so-called Animus project, uses a revolutionary technology to get hold of Callum's genetic memories.
Fassbender was fascinated when the creators of the video game at Ubisoft told him about the scientific theory of DNA memory. "The fact that we carry the knowledge of our ancestors in our DNA, their experience, their memories we hold that in ourselves. I thought this concept alone is gonna elevate this above most of these kind of sort of fantasy sort of genre projects," he said.
Asked which genetic memory of a family ancestor or a historic figure he would like to experience, Fassbender and the director of the movie Justin Kurzel went on joking: "Jesus Christ. He is not a family relative but - erm - maybe he is for all of us", Fassbender said. Kurzel preferred a more contemporary figure: "He is not dead yet but I think the memories of Keith Richards would be pretty amazing."
After the drama "Macbeth," (2015) "Assassin's Creed" sees another collaboration of Kurzel, Fassbender and Cotillard. The director sees no difference in adapting a video game or a Shakespeare play. It was like using the same muscles, the director said. Yet he found "Assassin's Creed" really challenging.
"The enormity of making a film this large it is like a big tanker. With "Macbeth" it was like that little catamaran that you can keep on tacking and change and shift and the three of us were kind of the sailors on it and it was really lovely and intimate. This was just one big chunk of metal heading toward its destination that you could sort of sway left or right a little bit. And I found that really challenging."
Fassbender, who also worked first time as a producer on "Assassin's Creed," says he wanted something extra for his film that other genre projects didn't represent. "And the concept of the Templars and the Assassins, this idea that there is an elite group in the world and we can always identify them, that's familiar to us: people that run the world.
The actor also voiced his concern about the rise of xenophobia in the United States and Europe and said that fear and hatred were used to rally up people.
"That's something that's sort of tried and tested over and over in the generations. I think the problem is: we get kind of arrogant. We think that we've evolved from what happened let's say 60 years ago, over 60 years ago, and I don't think we have really," he said, adding "it's a worrying time."
"Assassin's Creed" opens in the U.S. on December 21. In German movie theatres, the film is released on December 27. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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