Prepare to immerse yourself in the Darksiders 2 experience with this trailer for THQ's popular game series directed by The Ebeling Group's Leythum for Hammer Creative. This cinematic glimpse at the newest installment of the highly-anticipated game brings live action into the often-CG gaming world with "The Last Sermon," featuring Game of Thrones actor James Cosmo (Jeor Mormont) as The Priest, predicting the impending Apocalypse and the roles of Death and War, the two main characters of the game itself.
Leythum's directorial vision was driven by Creative Director and writer Brett Hocker's dark, visceral story that provided the backbone for the script. "What attracted me to the Last Sermon script was its deliberate focus on the collateral damage in the Darksiders universe," said Leythum (Abdel Abonamous). "Outside the church, Hell, in a very literal sense, is breaking loose, but in our film, we decided to focus on the reactions of a huddled congregation who barely even understands what's happening to them, let alone the bigger picture that the game's plot paints. This storytelling method takes a huge event and transforms it into a low-level personal experience, making us, as viewers, feel like helpless bystanders."
James Cosmo's prolific Priest contributed enormously to the success of the trailer's story. After a wide search for the scripts protagonist, Executive Producer Mick Ebeling found Cosmo, fresh off the success of HBO's Emmy-award winning Game of Thrones. Shortly thereafter the team was busy shooting in a frozen, barren church in Prague. "Working with James was clearly one of the highlights for everyone involved on this project. He was truly a pleasure for the team to work with and I hope we get the opportunity to work together again soon," remarked Ebeling.
The new campaign, conceived by Hammer Creative, consists of three fully CG-animated trailers, the Leythum-helmed live-action trailer, and behind-the-scenes footage. For the Darksiders 2 live-action trailer, Hammer Creative relied on The Ebeling Group's understanding of the integration of cinema and advertising, blending the two fields of production together to create a seamless storyline that looks beyond the traditional advertising, gaming, and entertainment communities.