"IRL" is a new feature film by well-known director Erik Leijonborg. The premise of the movie is that a young boy is bullied and escapes into the virtual world known as, you guessed it, The Secret World.
Footage from 'The Secret World' is used extensively throughout the film, and the audience get to see Elias and Scarlet visit in-game locations such as Transylvania, New York and more. Funcom worked closely with the filmmakers on developing the main character's virtual avatar and to make sure that the scenes taking place inside the game were portrayed as realistically as possible in relation to normal gameplay. The film is directed by Erik Leijonberg, written by Alex Haridi and produced by Martin Söder and Thomas Backström for Eyeworks Film & TV Drama.
"More so than any other massively multiplayer game out there, telling captivating stories with an emotional tie has always been an important part of 'The Secret World'," says Joel Bylos, Creative Director at Funcom. "Making our online world available to the filmmakers, so that they could use it to tell their story, has been an exciting experience and I think the end result is absolutely fantastic. The entire team is very proud seeing the game up there on the big screen!"
Check out an interview with Leijonborg on The Secret World's site.
