The Assassin's Creed movie's Animus is built inside a Templar church

The Assassin's Creed movie continues to look like it could very well break that 'videogame movies are painful at worst and mediocre at best' mould. The attention to detail for the silverscreen debut of the history-hopping franchise is reaching impressive levels of dedication to the stabby series. Not only does the new claw Animus for jumping into the past look incredible in action, Justin Kurzel has revealed that it has a specific connection to the eternal Assassins vs. Templars war.

While Fassbender's Callum Lynch is stuck inside a facility run by modern day Templar corporation Abstergo, the Animus itself is inside something much more significant and it's all because director Justin Kurzel is on a quest to make the 21st century and the Spanish Inquisition flow together seamlessly. “The real challenge is how you breach the present and the past. We have many devices that we’ve worked into the present that almost feel as though the history of the film is shadowing the present day,” he explains in an interview in the new issue of SFX magazine

"Even the Animus is built in an old Templar church. They’re surrounded by the weaponry of past Assassins and past murals of Templars. I wanted a space where you could put something very modern in, which is this Animus machine we’ve created, but for it all to seem connected to some sense of history and place in the past.” 

This on top of the fact that Kurzel decided to shoot the historical sequences in Spanish adds another string to the already deadly authenticity bow. Even better is the fact that we don't have long to wait. The Assassin's Creed movie is out in US cinemas on Dec 21, 2016, while we'll have to be a little more patient until January 1, 2017 in the UK. 

Read the full interview with director Justin Kurzel, as well as stars Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard in the brand new issue of SFX magazine out now. Alternatively, subscribe to future issues here

Louise Blain

Louise Blain is a journalist and broadcaster specialising in gaming, technology, and entertainment. She is the presenter of BBC Radio 3’s monthly Sound of Gaming show and has a weekly consumer tech slot on BBC Radio Scotland. She can also be found on BBC Radio 4, BBC Five Live, Netflix UK's YouTube Channel, and on The Evolution of Horror podcast. As well as her work on GamesRadar, Louise writes for NME, T3, and TechRadar. When she’s not working, you can probably find her watching horror movies or playing an Assassin’s Creed game and getting distracted by Photo Mode. 

Latest in Assassin's Creed
Naoe looks over at a dense, lush, green forest in Assassin's Creed Shadows from a viewpoint
Getting Assassin's Creed Shadows on PS5 and Xbox Series X was all about adding "dynamism" to the open world, but the devs seem most proud about the trees
Naoe and Yasuke walk in the sunset in a screenshot from Assassin's Creed Shadows
Following Assassin's Creed Shadows controversy, Baldur's Gate 3 publishing director says "every big AAA game could be better," but players shouldn't be mad "just because some dude told you to"
Assassin's Creed Shadows Wanted Status
How to remove Wanted status in Assassin's Creed Shadows
Naoe kills a target with a black and white filter over the camera highlighting the red of blood spray in Assassin's Creed Shadows, with an On The Radar orange frame
Assassin's Creed Shadows "has a little bit of Tarantino flavor", but its real secret ingredient is intrigue: "It's almost like you're watching an episode of Shogun"
Assassin's Creed Shadows Naoe facing off against samurai warrior on red bridge
An Assassin's Creed Shadows fan is showing off some of the RPG's most impressive little details, and it's done more to get me interested than Ubisoft ever did
Assassin's Creed Shadows Yaya shouting at Tetsuo
How to recruit Yaya in Assassin's Creed Shadows
Latest in News
Pillars of Eternity
10 years later, in a post-Baldur's Gate 3 and Avowed world, Obsidian is giving its own throwback CRPG Pillars of Eternity a turn-based combat mode
Destiny 2 Lightfall
When Destiny 2 "weekly active users dropped lower and faster than we'd seen since 2018," Bungie assembled an A-Team to put out some fires: "We needed to do something"
Velma, Daphne, Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby-Doo looking at a giant key which is also a clue
Netflix is rebooting Scooby-Doo as a live-action series from the producer of Supergirl and The Flash centered around a "supernatural murder" at a summer camp
Astro Bot
Astro Bot went through 23 pitch iterations before its director promised PlayStation "happy gameplay" and "overflowing charm," though it did once end with robot decapitation that made "some people really upset"
Tomb Raider
5 years after Avengers, 2 years after its last layoffs, and who knows how long before Perfect Dark and Tomb Raider return, Crystal Dynamics announces another round of layoffs
AI Limit
"AI is not as effective as it might appear": Dev of AI-focused Soulslike RPG says they didn't use any AI-generated content and it can't match "genuine creativity"