Michael Fassbender has done everything right since his epic portrayal of Bobby Sands in Steve McQueen’s 2008 biopic Hunger put him on the map. There have been powerful roles in critically acclaimed indies (Fish Tank) and eye-catching support turns that gained him Hollywood credibility (Inglourious Basterds).
His biggest hit to date, X-Men: First Class, in which he played a young Magneto in Matthew Vaughn’s franchise reboot, was one of the best blockbusters of the summer; and he left a smouldering impression as Rochester in Cary Fukunaga’s Jane Eyre in September. In the early months of 2012 he’s turning assassin for Soderbergh in Haywire; and going toe-to-toe with Viggo Mortensen in A Dangerous Method, David Cronenberg’s Jung-on-Freud psychodrama.
And then, of course, there’s Shame. Rising naked from his bed, carved and sculpted like David’s better-hung brother, Fassbender’s Brandon is a tortured study in emotional anxiety. Degenerate, lost, damned – the depths of this hollow man are explored by Fassbender with unyielding power. Shame is a portrait of an actor coming into full possession of his powers.
LWLies met with Fassbender at the BFI London Film Festival, where he opened up – nervously, often stumbling over his words – about the passions that drive him, and his incredible collaboration with McQueen.
LWLies: The first time you met Steve McQueen was at your audition for Hunger, but beyond that first meeting what actually bonded the two of you together? Why does this partnership work so well?
Fassbender: For me, I just thought this was somebody who was very different, somebody that was very comfortable in himself. He seemed to have a great empathy and interest in human beings – in how we relate to one another and how we relate to ourselves, and how we negotiate getting through life, sometimes in ordinary situations and sometimes in extraordinary situations. I knew that I would learn from him. But we really started to bond through the making of Hunger, and that was just down to working with one another and trying to surprise each other and discover things together. When we got to Shame, it was like we picked up where we left off.
You’ve said that you want to be the De Niro to his Scorsese.That’s a bold ambition.
Yeah, or, you know, Lumet/Pacino, Coppola and John Cazale… You know, you’re always looking for somebody with some kind of connection, where there’s a chemistry that works, and that person will take you to a place that you wouldn’t be able to find on your own.That was always something I was looking for.
Are you both big personalities on set? How does the professional part of the relationship work?
I think we had one stand-off on day one of Hunger where, you know, you’re feeling each other out. There was definitely, sort of, an insecurity on my part involved. You want to make sure you’re being protected… But I have implicit trust in him. The director is the boss – it’s his vision and his story that he’s trying to realise. I have a function within that just as all other departments do, but he’s the captain. Steve knows what he’s looking for, but then there’s the freedom of trying to, sort of, discover it as you move. The only fear and worry in my mind is that I’m keeping my end of the bargain: that I come with the character; that I’m facilitating the character properly or to the best of my ability; that there’s a certain standard there, or quality of work.
How do you make sure you adhere to that standard?
You’re trying to tell a story, and you’re trying to do it without judging the people you’re portraying. You’re just trying to understand them, and sometimes the best way to do that is to ask yourself very honest questions; other times it’s through research or talking to people that are familiar with the material. It’s about coming prepared and coming with ideas and coming with an open frame of mind – to be relaxed, aware and awake.
What was your approach for Shame specifically? Did you do much research into sex addiction to get your head into Brandon?
A lot of it’s in the story itself; I spent a lot of time with the script. What was very helpful, and what I’m very grateful for, is having the opportunity to sit down and talk to people that suffer from the condition. And rather than ask them direct questions… We’re all trying to protect ourselves in terms of what we want to reveal, and so for me, having people tell stories is a good way for me to identify where motivation is born. In particular, what’s really at the core of Brandon’s character is this problem with intimacy. I learned a lot from talking to one particular gentleman about that. I’m very grateful that he was as honest and open with me as he was.
How did that process compare to other roles you’ve played? Was Brandon particularly difficult given the issues involved?
It doesn’t stand out as a particularly difficult character to crack more than any others.You know, it’s always the same process: you write down what you think the characteristics of this personality are, and then you go through them and you go, ‘Okay, I have this one available to me; this one I need to work on a little bit more; as with this one; this one’s okay…’ It’s just a process that I go into when I’m at home, which would be wrong for me to kind of go into [in more detail]. But it’s essentially the same for each character, whether they be fantastical or in a very real environment.
We only see a snapshot of Brandon’s journey – does that make it harder for you to detach from the character, if you don’t know where his story ends?
I have hope for the character – otherwise, what’s the point? We might as well all give up. That’s what I like about the way Steve makes films. It’s almost like when you watch the start of the film, it’s like the film has been going on for however long before you arrived in your seat at the cinema. And when you leave your seat at the end, that life and journey is going to continue on afterwards. The main thing is that Brandon bottoms out by the time he gets to the pier at the end of the movie, and when we see him at the end on the subway, I don’t know what decision he makes at that point but I know that he’s definitely struggling. At that point he has gone to seek help, so I think that’s already a position of hope, or a position of optimism for the guy.
Why do you think there’s a taboo – or at least scepticism – around the subject of sex addiction?
I don’t know. I really don’t know. I think maybe because our first introduction to this was from celebrities who claim to have been suffering from it. People think that celebrities can be quite self-indulgent anyway and so… Maybe it’s an uncomfortable situation for people to face, maybe more people see it in their own lives then they like to admit. I don’t know, I mean, I really don’t have anyanswers.AllIknowisit’sinterestingtopose the questions and provoke thought on the matter. For me, I think it’s a very real situation, I think a lot of people are genuinely afflicted by this and yet a lot of the time people sort of laugh it off.
People might look at this and say it’s a brave role to take on. Do you look at roles that way – as potentially risky or controversial?
I try to take risks and I try to challenge myself and I try not to be complacent or lazy in any way. For Shame, I tried to do justice to the beautiful script that Abi [Morgan] and Steve put together. I’ve got to put myself out on the line and try and represent [that] as best I can. And that’s, I think, just part of my job description, I don’t see it as being exceptional or anything else. The thing is, I try and move forward, you know? I put heart and soul into this film six months ago, now I have to concern myself about the next thing. I can’t linger in the past.
And what’s next? Are you looking to do something you’ve never done before?
I never go, ‘Right, now I have to play a monster…’ It’s never really that planned. You just read scripts and then you think, ‘Okay, this seems like a challenge,’ you know? There’s always an element of fear, I think, that keeps you on your toes and that’s important. So for sure I’m going to continue trying to find things that are challenging and take risks and keep myself guessing, and everyone else. I try not to restrict anything. I look at the things that come my way and if there’s something there that stirs my gut I respond to it, and if not I’ll wait for something that does.
Michael Fassbender (text) by Adam Woodward is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
