Oscar Winner Marion Cotillard Joins Michael Fassbender in 'Assassin's Creed' Movie

After the confirmation of "The Last of Us" film adaptation being on track, film buffs will be treated to yet another AAA videogame adaptation. It has been confirmed that French actress Marion Cotillard will be joining the cat of the upcoming Assassin's Creed film.

Cotillard is a critically acclaimed actress whose talent was acknowledged by the Hollywood film academy through an Oscar-winning performance in the 2007 film "La vie en Rose," where she essayed the role of singer Édith Piaf. Despite her roots in French cinema, she is well known in Hollywood for "Nine," "Public Enemy," "Big Fish" and mainstream blockbuster hits such as "Inception" and "The Dark Knight Rises."

Cotillard will be joining Michael Fassbender, whose association with the project was revealed last month as reported by Gamespot. Interestingly, director Justin Kurzel, Cotillard and Fassbender have also worked together in an adaptation "Macbeth," which will be hitting the theatres this year.

Those concerned about the adaptation straying far away from the videogame's plot would like to know that although the movie is being produced by The New Regency and 20th Century Fox, Ubisoft still retains creative control through its film subsidiary Ubisoft Motion Pictures group according to The Verge. While the movie hasn't received a title yet it was earlier revealed earlier that it has entered production. The film is expected to hit the theatres on Dec 21, 2016.

"Assassin's Creed" isn't the only videogame getting the Hollywood treatment. The post-apocalyptic action game, "The Last of Us", will be adaptated into film as well. The director of the original videogame, Neil Druckmann, has revealed that the film will include some "big changes" but will also be faithful to the critically acclaimed PlayStation game.

Druckmann, who has been credited with the games success, was asked whether the film adaptation would be faithful to the original game in an interview with Game Informer. He clarified that the film would entail big changes; however, the tone and the essence of the story will be faithful to Naughty Dog's universally loved game. The film is in the early stages of development. In other words, the script is still being finalised, so expect some more changes along the way.

However, at the very least, it can be inferred that the game will stay true to the post-apocalyptic story that explores the complex dynamics between the two main characters and how they react with loss within a hostile and ever-degrading world. This comes as Druckmann's comment In August last year, where he had simply stated that the film's story would be "quite different" to that of the game according to VG247.

When asked about the status of the script, Druckmann assured that he has finished the second draft and the entire process is coming out "really well". He further informed that the production team has already gone ahead with a read-through with "a bunch of actors." It must be noted that a read-through is an important production milestone signifying that a film is well on its way.

"The Last of Us" film will be distributed by Screen Gems, with the production handled by Sam Raimi. Raimi is a well-known fixture in Hollywood, with cult classics such as the "Evil Dead" series of horror films, "Xena: The Warrior Princess" series, and the relatively more recent "Spiderman" film trilogy under his belt.

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Assassin's Creed 3 (credit: Ubisoft YouTube channel)