Assassin’s Creed Movie – Impressions From the Set Outside Almeria, Spain

Within the first 10 minutes, I see Michael Fassbender in full Assassin costume, sauntering through the set in character as Aguilar. He’s greeting each crew member with a handshake and sharing a brief word or moment before moving on to the next. This is when it finally sinks in: I’m on the set of the Assassin’s Creed film. And before I tell you more about this incredible set visit, let’s go back a bit in time to another moment when I stood speechless.

Photo Credit: Kerry Brown

I can clearly remember meeting the Assassin’s Creed development team in Montreal for the first time in the summer of 2005. I was able to see and learn a bit about the game, and I asked how many people were working on it. “The entire floor,” they said. I stood speechless. It was a huge endeavor, but it was backed by a core belief in wanting to create an all-new experience for gamers, and by the talent, resources, passion, and dedication to deliver.

As I worked on launching Assassin’s Creed, and later Assassin’s Creed II, I knew Ubisoft had something special. The game’s signature moments were unforgettable. The first time you free-ran across Acre or began to climb buildings with ease. The combat and fight mechanics and animations were unlike anything seen or played before it. And the most poignant moment was the Leap of Faith, a head-first dive from high above the city and into a haystack. Sure, the landing was more video game than reality, but it was the pivotal flight down from the Viewpoint that was a complete adrenaline rush of speed, courage and faith.

The Leap of Faith

Witnessing a real-world Leap of Faith, in person, is beyond surreal.

But there he is, professional stuntman and parkour expert Damien Walters, standing atop a rig that lifted him 120 feet above the desert floor outside of Almeria, Spain. He’s waiting to take his biggest free-fall jump ever onto the smallest air bag he’s ever worked with. Tension is high throughout the entire set. Everyone freezes, their eyes raised and locked on the man who’s waiting for the helicopter to circle around so it can get a good shot from above. Walters, wearing Aguilar’s Assassin costume, signals that he’s ready. The cameras roll. He jumps.

Photo Credit: Kerry Brown

“Why do CGI when you can do it for real?” asks director Justin Kurzel after one of Walters’ jumps. “It’s a guy out there for the first time, it’s the highest he’s ever done, and that’s what’s in the film. It’s that extra bit of human risk and endeavor that makes it actually possible for a human to be an Assassin.”

As he rapidly falls to earth, Walters holds the exact pose that’s been executed in-game millions of times by millions of players, whether they assume the roles of Altair, Ezio, Conner, Aveline, Arno, Jacob, or Evie. After he lands, he gets up and makes a sign that he’s “all good.” Some clap, some gasp in amazement, and others simply stand there, shaking their heads in disbelief.

The Creed

After witnessing that unbelievable Leap of Faith and hearing Kurzel talk about it, it suddenly struck me that this moment epitomized the process of making the Assassin’s Creed film. It has been a very calculated and precise project, with some of the best talents in the film industry coming together to create something amazing.

Ubisoft Motion Pictures and New Regency and have put together an outstanding production team and cast to help bring Assassin’s Creed to the big screen for the first time. The production team reads like an all-star team of Hollywood’s elite, including Frank Marshall (producer), Justin Kurzel (director), Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Patrick Crowley (producer), Andy Nicholson (production design), Sammy Sheldon (costume design), and so many other talented people.

DF-05144.tifPhoto Credit: Kerry Brown

The film is a big–budget spectacle, and the entire production team worked hard to bring its huge Spanish Inquisition set pieces to life. As the day began, Crowley explained that this was easily one of the biggest on-location shoots ever assembled for a film. He described extensive rigging equipment, numerous trucks and cars outfitted with camera gear, a helicopter, horses, multiple working carriages designed to fit the period, and two huge cranes with specially outfitted camera equipment to capture the Leap of Faith.

The costumes by Sammy Sheldon are immaculate and incredibly detailed. Each one is hand-made, and Sheldon shared that Assassin’s Creed is easily the biggest project she and her team have ever worked on. She had to create the Assassin costumes and the Templar costumes to be believable and functional – not an easy task once she saw the fight movements, the parkour, and the fact that so much of the shoot takes place on-location amidst the dust, dirt, and other elements.

While we weren’t allowed to take photos from the set that day, it was an unreal experience to see the production team and cast simultaneously rehearse multiple scenes in different locations, and then shoot them one by one, working each scene with precision. So while Walters was preparing and setting up his Leap of Faith, Fassbender worked to perfect his own stunt of climbing onto a moving carriage while fighting a number of Templars. And at the same moment, another unit of the production team was blocking out and setting up a completely different scene elsewhere on the location set.

TOOM-00960.tiffPhoto Credit: Kerry Brown

Now, after having seen the first teaser trailer and visited the set, I simply cannot wait to see Assassin’s Creed on December 21. We’ll have more from the set visit tomorrow, when the director and cast open up about their work on the film for part two of this story. In the meantime, check out UbiBlog’s previous coverage:

Filming Wraps On Assassin’s Creed Movie

Assassin’s Creed VR Experience Announced

Assassin’s Creed Movie Tickets And Merch Presale Begins On Kernel

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