Fassbender Gives "Assassin's Creed" Film Update

On the stump for the music-themed dramedy "Frank" that is finally set to open in the United States, actor Michael Fassbender spoke with IGN who took the opportunity to ask him for an update on the New Regency Enterprises and Ubisoft film adaptation of the acclaimed "Assassin's Creed" video game series.

 Fassbender has been slated to both produce and star in the project, but recently there was chatter that he had dropped out over  dissatisfaction with the script. When asked about that, he chuckled:

"I know, I love these rumors. It's fantastic. People talk about it, and they're hopefully interested. Nothing has changed, yeah. I'm still a part of Assassin's Creed, and we're working on the script as we speak. Actually, I'm going to go back and see the writers when I get back to Europe."

The story follows Desmond Miles (Fassbender), a bartender who is a descendant of several lines of prominent assassins. The story weaves between present day and ancient times as Miles squares off with the Knights Templar.

Fassy was asked how faithful will this be to the game series? He says that the source material is so rich they have plenty to pick and choose from, but they also want to approach the project as its own thing:

"You know, we absolutely want to respect the game. There's so much cool stuff in the game that we're actually spoiled for choice in terms of what we can use and what we can't, but we also want to bring new elements to it and perhaps our own version of things that already exist in the game. But we're definitely making a feature film, and we're approaching it as a feature film, as opposed to approaching it as a video game. But I love the world. I don't really play that many video games, but when I met up with the guys from Ubisoft and they started to explain this whole world and the idea of DNA memory -- you know, I think it's a very feasible scientific theory. I just thought, 'This is so rich,' and about the possibility of it being this cinematic experience. So I'm really excited about it, and we're working very hard to make sure that we've got the best and most exciting, original package."

Ubisoft will work closely to develop and co-produce with New Regency who is partly financing. The aim is to have a director, cast and script in place by next Summer. There's also plans to tie in the release of the film with a new game launch.

The first game was set in the Middle East during the time of the Crusades, the second through fourth games took place during the Italian Renaissance with the action centered around various Italian cities and in Ottoman-era Constantinople. The upcoming fifth game, "Assassin's Creed III", is set during the American Revolutionary War.

"Minority Report" and "The Wolverine" scribe Scott Frank performed re-writes on the previous drafts of the screenplay penned by Michael Lesslie. At that time Swedish director Daniel Espinosa ("Safe House," "Easy Money") was being wooed to direct. Bill Collage and Adam Cooper were tasked to rewrite the script for the film. Then Justin Kurzel ("Snowtown") was in talks with New Regency Enterprises and Ubisoft to redraft the script.

The game series has sold more than 38 million units worldwide since 2007.