Assassin's Creed: The Movie
SCREENPLAY BY
"Surgere"
BASED ON UBISOFT'S ORIGINAL VIDEO GAME,
"ASSASSIN'S CREED"
Key:
EXT/INT = external/internal
scenes are underlined
DISSOLVE IN
The CREDIT TITLES are SUPERIMPOSED on still objects that are in scenes that give a visual summary of DESMOND MILES's life up to now. The scenes FADE INTO each other. The OPENING TRACK plays, and the scene's sounds are muted, so words are indecipherable.
We first see Desmond as a child. The sun is almost breaking the horizon when a loud bell goes off. A grown-up man whose face is never seen, presumably DESMOND'S FATHER, walks in and gestures for Desmond to get out of bed, before leaving. Desmond rubs his eyes and sits up, half-awake. He looks out and notices the sun hasn't even come up yet. Desmond moans and slaps a palm to his forehead.
We next see Desmond a little older, but still a child. He is being forced into exercises by his father. Desmond gets a bloody lip from a spar during training, and his dad points out the flaws of Desmond's form and makes Desmond try again. Desmond sends a confused and hurt look after his father, whose back is turned and therefore can't see Desmond's face.
Desmond, now 16, is running from the small community he has grown up in to the woods; a view of the right half of his lips is blocked (by trees, Desmond's hand as he runs, or something else), so we don't know if he got a scar from the spar or not. Shadowed figures of DESMOND'S MOTHER and father call for Desmond to come back, but he doesn't look back.
Desmond is walking the length of an old dirt path; the right half of his lips still can't be seen. A small car pulls up, and the pair of young girls inside ask if he needed a ride. The car drives off, leaving only the woods and a dirt path. Desmond had taken their offer.
Desmond is standing in front of a busy dance bar as the car drives off; the right half of his lips still can't be seen. He enters the bar and appears to converse with the faculty, before a bartender hands him a shaker and gestures to a bar.
We see a popular bar in New York City. Desmond is now a little older, having grown into a handsome young man, and is charming everyone at the bar as he prepares drinks, earning a living as a bartender. A scar on the right end of his lip is obvious, though we don't know the origins of how he got it. A shady character hands Desmond a shot glass and challenges Desmond to drink it. The others at the bar, unaware of the shady character's motives, cheer Desmond on. Desmond smiles and raises the glass, downing the shot. An etching of the Abstergo logo is seen at the bottom of the glass, but no one except the shady character notices.
The OPENING TRACK FADES OUT.
DISSOLVE OUT
DESMOND (narrating):
Beware Abstergo. That's what my parents used to say.
DISSOLVE IN
EXT. BUSY STREET - DAY
As Desmond speaks, the CAMERA GRADUALLY ZOOMS OUT of an Abstergo logo on a building, eventually showing pedestrians passing the building and crossing streets with possessions (cellphones, medicine bottles, watches, etc.) that have the Abstergo logo printed on them.:
DESMOND (narrating):
I didn't know what was so scary about them: Abstergo Industries, the multinational corporation with influence in politics, war finance, high-tech, agriculture. On paper it sounded intimidating, but people everywhere have accepted it, and so far, Abstergo hadn't given a reason to fear them. I thought my parents were just conspiracy freaks. I thought there was nothing to fear.
Screen suddenly goes black.
DESMOND (cont'd; narrating):
Until Abstergo kidnapped me.
INT. ABSTERGO ANIMUS FLOOR - DAY
As Desmond speaks: FADE IN on VIDIC's back; most of his head isn't seen. We follow Vidic's back to a room; from the Abstergo logos printed on technologies Vidic passes, it is obvious the setting is in a building owned and run by Abstergo. He types a numerical password on a pad by the door, but we can't see the numbers he punched in. The door slides open to reveal DESMOND, who is just getting off his bed. Desmond looks up at the door opening.:
DESMOND (narrating):
Now every morning I wake up and lie in a machine called the Animus.
As Desmond speaks, we see the following POV and BACK TO SCENE:
DESMOND'S POV
Vidic's face is seen. Vidic says
VIDIC:
Get up, Desmond. We have work to do.
and gestures for Desmond to leave the room. His voice is distant, or toned down, so we hear Desmond's narration clearly.
BACK TO SCENE
Desmond follows Vidic to the Animus.
DESMOND (narrating):
This creepy Abstergo employee called Dr. Warren Vidic claims the Animus accesses my ancestor's memories and helps him find what his employers want, though he never says what.
As Desmond speaks: Desmond lies down in the Animus. LUCY, a simple but pretty woman behind a computer next to the Animus, smiles at him, and Desmond smiles back. The woman returns to her computer. Vidic is oblivious to the exchange as he walks past them to a set of monitors and other technologies that are connected to the Animus. We catch glimpses of Lucy's computer and Vidic's monitors displaying the Abstergo logo and the text "Subject 17" followed by data about Desmond and his past ventures in the Animus, implying Abstergo knows plenty of Desmond while he knows near nothing of Abstergo's true motives.:
DESMOND (narrating):
His assistant, Lucy, actually sees me as a human being, rather than Abstergo's "Subject 17." I prefer her treatment over Vidic's apathetic one.
As Desmond speaks: Lucy types on her computer and Vidic sits back in a chair, eyes glued to the monitors and technologies before him. A glass panel arches over Desmond's face. We FADE OUT to black as Desmond's eyes slide closed:
DESMOND (narrating):
From the day I was in Abstergo's hands, Vidic has pushed me through the memories of an Arabic ancestor of mine named Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad who has origins merely decades after Christ's death, in Jerusalem.
As we FADE IN from black to a BUSY STREET MARKET IN 1911 Jerusalem - DAY, focused on a BASKET WEAVER selling baskets:
DESMOND (narrating):
My ancestor Altaïr wasn't a basket weaver
As a FEMALE POTTER carrying a pot on her head walks past the basket weaver, and we follow the potter down the street:
DESMOND (narrating):
…or a clay potter.
ALTAÏR, a hooded man wearing white clothing and other gear, suddenly pushes the potter aside, who falls and breaks her clay pot. We follow Altaïr as he runs down the street. Angry, indecipherable voices follow. Altaïr spares a glance over his shoulder, revealing a scar on his lip, before turning to face forward again.
EXT. (JERUSALEM) T INTERSECTION OF 2 STREETS - CONTINUOUS
KNIGHTS' POV
We follow a group of knights with a red cross across their shirts down the street to the same spot we last saw Altaïr.
ALTAÏR'S POV
We see the shadowed back of Altaïr as he watches the knights below, who are looking around for Altaïr in confusion but never turning their gaze up. Altaïr summons the hidden blade on his left hand. We can see that his ring finger is missing.
FRONT KNIGHT POV
We focus on a knight at the very front of the group. We follow the knight's gaze as he looks up, only for Altaïr to descend on him with his hidden blade ready.
BACK TO SCENE
We see Altaïr finish his fall on the knight, before sliding his hidden blade out of the knight's neck and standing up.
DESMOND (narrating):
He was an assassin.
The knights behind him recover from Altaïr's sudden appearance and start attacking. Altaïr notices and starts fighting as well. [insert fight scene]
ALTAÏR'S POV
After Altaïr takes down the last knight, he turns around, only to be surrounded by more knights. Red crosses are painted across their shirts as well.
BACK TO SCENE
CAMERA is facing Altaïr, whose eyes can't be seen since they are shadowed by his hood.
The slow, heavy toll of a bell suddenly sounds.
We see Altaïr smirk. Big church doors behind Altaïr open, and priests dressed similarly to Altaïr shuffle out. Altaïr disappears in the crowd of priests.
The knights search for him among the crowd of white; a few observe the priests walking past them, but look away when they don't see Altaïr.
The FILM THEME FADES IN as the CAMERA GRADUALLY ZOOMS OUT and PANS UP, getting a higher view of 1911 Jerusalem. The FILM THEME gains strength as The MOVIE TITLE dissolves in.
The MOVIE TITLE is still seen as the view of Jerusalem DISSOLVES OUT, before the MOVIE TITLE and FILM THEME also eventually DISSOLVE OUT.
(END OF PART 1)
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