The phrase "Leap of Faith" has a very special meaning to those of you who have played the Assassin's Creed video games. You know that it means jumping from a near suicidal height into a bail of hay hundreds of feet below in order to evade capture. It's a signature element of the games, but seemingly impossible in real life -- or so we thought. A new stunt video from the upcoming Assassin's Creed movie has just landed, and it's sure to induce anxiety in anybody with a fear of heights. Check it out below to see for yourself.
We've seen some insane movie stunts before, but that video has got to represent one of the most phenomenal filmmaking feats in recent memory. The clip chronicles how Michael Fassbender's stunt double, Damien Walters, slowly but surely works his way up to a massive 125-foot Leap of Faith. Incrementally increasing the height of the fall through several practice runs, he eventually perfects the art of the swan dive and prepares for the real deal. Eventually the moment of truth comes, and Walters has to endure an actual Leap -- allowing gravity to take hold and plummet his body 125 feet onto a safety mat below. No wires, cables, just a very small target that he has to hit in order to survive the fall.
This Assassin's Creed film stunt isn't just impressive; it's downright historic. According to the video, this 125-foot free fall is the highest jump completed by a stunt person on camera in 35 years. We've known for some time that Assassin's Creed has shaped up to potentially become one of the best video game movies of all time -- which admittedly isn't hard to do -- but now it seems that the filmmakers have really pulled out all the stops in an attempt to amaze members of the audience.
To the average person, this might seem like an unnecessary risk, but fans of the Ubisoft franchise know that getting something like the Leap of Faith right makes all the difference. Although the film will not follow the usual series lead, Desmond Miles, the upcoming adaptation has gone to painstaking lengths to recreate several key elements from the legendary game franchise and ground them in reality with as little CGI as possible. From the use of free running sequences, to the design of the signature hidden blades of the titular Assassins, director Justin Kurzel has gone all out in ensuring that the film looks and feels familiar to those who have grown up with the franchise. Let's hope it pays off in the end.
Seeing the amount of love and passion that has gone into the upcoming Assassin's Creed movie has gone a long way towards instilling confidence in the project. People have put their lives on the line for it, and as such we have a feeling that it could very well break the dreaded video game movie curse. We're just going to have to take another Leap of Faith ourselves when Assassin's Creed hits theaters later this year on December 21.
