Episode 21: Justin Kurzel On The Music Of Assassin's Creed, Macbeth & Snowtown

In days gone by, it might have been considered a backward step to go from adapting Shakespeare to adapting a video game. Not anymore – with this week’s guest Justin Kurzel having done just that.

Following his hugely well-received take on Macbeth, the Australian director has now turned his attention to Assassin’s Creed - a movie based on the video game franchise that has sold well over 100 million copies worldwide. Both projects are scored by his brother Jed, and both star one of the actors of the moment, Michael Fassbender.

In the 21st Century, our brief here on Soundtracking applies as much to games as it does to film. Not only is the Assassin’s Creed series fully scored by the likes of Jesper Kyd and Winifred Phillips, but one of the trailers features a cover of Everybody Wants To Rule The World by New Zealand vocal sensation, Lorde. They’re more than just hackathons, too - with big ideas about morality, science, history and fate driving the narrative.

Plenty, then, for Justin to draw inspiration from when transforming the games into a cinematic experience …