Michael Fassbender (12 page)

No one, it seemed, was holding back on their attacks. The
Daily Mirror
highlighted its box-office failure: ‘Having already bombed big-time in the US, our search for the biggest turkey of 2010 ends right here.' ‘It's a loud and subtle-as-a-sledgehammer assault on the senses, though, at 81 minutes, mercifully short,' said the
Daily Telegraph
. And
Empire
magazine called it, ‘an object lesson in how not to adapt a comic book. A crushing disappointment'. Ouch.

Michael had taken time out during the filming of
Jonah Hex
to attend the Cannes Film Festival in May. This event was doubly exciting for him because two of his movies were being presented there for competition –
Fish Tank
and
Inglourious Basterds
. Michael took his parents with him and his father was intrigued to hear his son talking German in the film. ‘It's funny to see and hear Michael speaking German with the English accent,' Josef told Killarney newspaper, the
Kingdom
.

Like his son, Josef found Quentin Tarantino to be a fascinating man. ‘It was so funny. We were sitting in Cannes, in the hotel lobby having a drink, and Quentin Tarantino come over and says, “Do you mind if I sit here?”' he recalled. ‘I said to myself, “Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Tarantino asked if he can sit with us!” But he is a very interesting man. The knowledge the man has – like a computer – and any film you mention he has seen it. What impressed me was his knowledge of Germany. Things that
only Germans would know, he knows. He's a man who does his homework well.'

Josef also remarked on his son's choice of roles and his good fortune in having worked with such top film-makers. ‘He likes to do different things, to be on the edge, I think. He has been very lucky to work with creative directors. Andrea, I know, likes plays with characters and things like that. Steve McQueen is more visual effect. Then he was with Tom Hanks in
Band of Brothers
. He picked some good ones.'

Both films were short-listed for the main award, the prestigious Palme d'Or, but the prize eventually went to
The White Ribbon
, a film shot in black and white about unexplained violent events in a remote German village in 1913. But
Fish Tank
was a joint winner of the Prix du Jury award, which Andrea had won in 2006 for
Red Road,
and Christoph Waltz won Best Actor for
Inglourious Basterds
for Landa – the role that Michael had wanted!

Quentin was asked by the world's press why his movie's title had such an unusual spelling but he refused to explain. ‘Here's the thing. It's not a typo,' he said. ‘I'm never going to explain it. When I do an artistic flourish like that, to describe it would be to invalidate the whole process.'

On its commercial release
Inglourious Basterds
received mixed reviews. The
New York Times
called it, ‘Simply another testament to his movie love. The problem is that by making the star attraction of his latest
film a most delightful Nazi, one whose smooth talk is as lovingly presented as his murderous violence, Mr Tarantino has polluted that love.' The
Los Angeles Times
felt it over-long and rambling – ‘A film that loses its way in the thickets of alternative history and manages to be violent without the start-to-finish energy that violence on screen usually guarantees.'

There was a similar view in Britain from the
Daily Telegraph
– ‘Tension is evoked, but never mounts. Intrigue is created but never sustained.' The
Daily Mail
agreed but with a more critical edge – ‘His warfest is a gore-fest. Yes, it shows off his strengths – clever, suspense-filled dialogue and directorial flair. But it also shows off his weaknesses – long-windedness, a juvenile desire to shock, and unappetising elements of sadism, racism and transatlantic triumphalism.' The British tabloid press proved more receptive. The
People
described it as ‘thoroughly enjoyable and a real return to form for Tarantino' and the
Sunday Mirror
hailed it as ‘a bloody, all-guns-blazing romp'.

Rolling Stone
magazine, while acknowledging that the movie would be divisive, found it ultimately irresistible – ‘Will
Basterds
polarise audiences? That's a given. But for anyone professing true movie love, there's no resisting it.'

By this stage of his career, Michael had managed to leave far behind his initial image as ‘the man from the Guinness commercial' in Ireland. Now he was invited to hold an acting master class at the Galway Film Fleadh in June, which took place on 11 July. As part of the Fleadh's tribute
to him,
Hunger
was screened there. A couple of days later he flew out to Italy to enjoy the revels of the Ischia Global Film & Music Festival before attending Comic Con 2009 in San Diego, California.

If the critics had had their doubts about
Inglourious Basterds
, there was nothing equivocal about their reception of
Fish Tank
when it opened in September. It won rave reviews. ‘A neo-kitchen sink drama,
Fish Tank
immediately ranks her [Andrea Arnold] among the greats of social realism, right up there with Tony Richardson, Ken Loach and perhaps even John Osborne,' said the
Daily Mirror
, which called it ‘the best British film of the year'. The
Daily Telegraph
, too, was full of praise – ‘Well observed and certainly qualifies as one of the most distinctive British releases of 2009.' And
Empire
magazine said it was, ‘a vivid portrayal of life at society's margins with a compelling turn from newcomer Jarvis'.

In America the
Chicago Sun-Times
also compared Andrea with Ken Loach, saying, ‘Arnold, who won an Oscar for her shattering short film
Wasp
, also about a neglectful alcoholic mother, deserves comparison with a British master director like Ken Loach.' And the
Los Angeles Times
said, ‘The brilliant power of the film comes from the gritty reality Arnold creates.'

Andrea had triumphed in her casting. ‘The electrifying Fassbender, so good in
Hunger
and
Inglourious Basterds
, nails every nuance in a complex role. His scenes with Jarvis have a hypnotic sexual energy. And while you're
remembering new high-impact names, add Arnold. In only her second film, after 2006's
Red Road
, she keeps the screen filled to bursting with the beauty and raw terror of life,' praised
Rolling Stone
. And the Australian film magazine,
Film Ink
agreed – ‘
Fish Tank
is well shot and uniformly well acted, but especially so by Katie Jarvis and Michael Fassbender.'

Having worked back to back on a string of movies, Michael could now finally afford to take time off to relax, confident that he had established himself as an actor. Financially comfortable enough not to need to rush into any job offered to him, he did little for the rest of the year. His next movie was to take him back to Ireland, where he would be beaten up by a woman.

D
irector Steven Soderbergh had been responsible for such cinematic hits as
Ocean’s Eleven
and its sequels
Twelve
and
Thirteen
, along with the powerful
Oscar-winning
drug movie
Traffic
and the acclaimed legal drama
Erin Brockovich
. He had seen Michael in
Hunger
and
Inglourious Basterds
and been impressed. ‘My reaction was, “This guy’s a movie star.” It was blatantly obvious to me,’ he recalled. Soderbergh now approached Michael for a brief but scene-stealing role in his new thriller,
Haywire
.

The story centred on Mallory Kane, a highly trained freelance covert operative, hired out by her handler (Ewan McGregor) for hazardous secret missions by the US Government. During an assignment in Dublin with an
Irish assassin, she is betrayed by her employers and pursued across the city by the local police and ruthless hitmen under the command of the CIA official who hired her (Michael Douglas). Realising she can trust no one, she heads back home to hide out at the house of her father (Bill Paxton). As her enemies close in, she is determined to discover the truth and the part played by a shadowy Spanish official (Antonio Banderas).

Spielberg had cast mixed-martial-arts supremo Gina Carano as Kane and turned to Michael to play the cool and clinical killer, Paul, a former MI6 operative now doing freelance work. Michael described him as ‘highly paranoid and self-serving. I don’t think there’s much about him that is compassionate towards anyone or anything. He has a mercenary type of personality.’

Michael had not heard of Gina when Steven told him about her over the phone and asked Michael if he minded being beaten up by a woman! Michael said he didn’t mind and then started to check out some of her fights on YouTube. ‘I thought, “This looks like fun!”’ he recalled. Filming began at the start of February 2010. The scene with Gina was set in a Dublin hotel room, where they are pretending to be husband and wife while on a mission. Gina is suspicious of Paul, who she doesn’t know, but is taken aback when he suddenly attacks her in the room. The impressive but brutal fight sequence involves them throwing each other around and picking up whatever comes to hand to hurt each other with.

The movie’s stunt team were the same ones that Michael had worked with on
300
so he felt comfortable with them. They, in turn, knew his capabilities so he and Gina were allowed to do the whole fight sequence themselves. ‘I had a lot of fun doing that. We did all of that ourselves, which actors get very proud about!’ Michael told
Total Film
magazine. ‘I enjoy doing physical stuff. Fight scenes are fun but someone like Gina can literally do it for real. I’m good at pretending!’

It took a lot of effort, careful choreography and precise timing by both of them to make it look so realistic. ‘It looks really violent but the classic thing when you’re doing fight sequences is that the person who’s getting thrown is doing the leading and the person who’s grabbing someone’s hair, they’re doing the following. So you just try and make it look frenetic and violent, when actually you’re just looking out for each other and making sure nobody gets hurt.

‘Because you’ve got to do it over two days and you’ve got to keep repeating it, there’s no point getting all
gung-ho
and losing control. I don’t like doing fight sequences with people who lose control. It’s not a comfortable place to be and that’s when people get hurt.’

But neither of them escaped completely unscathed. When Gina had to smash a vase against his head, Michael was told to turn his head as the specially constructed vase hit him. But instead he looked at it and took the full force in his face. ‘Everything went bright for a few seconds and, of
course, that’s the take they used!’ he laughed later. This incident was balanced out by Gina breaking her finger on Michael’s shoulder! In another fight scene with Ewan McGregor, McGregor accidentally kicked Gina in the head. But she wasn’t bothered and asked him if
he
was all right.

Michael joked that in real life Gina ‘would beat the shit out of me. The fact that Gina is a very physical person and she’s got great command over her body, it made her the perfect partner – because then you can really push things and know that she’s capable. She was actually saying, “Drive me into the television. But really hard.” I was like, “You know, we’re acting here, Gina, we’re not in the ring. Let’s establish that before it’s your turn to start hitting me!”’

After the adrenalin of the fight scene had worn off, Michael admitted that he was physically sick. ‘We filmed that whole fight over two days and at the end of the second day I just remember I came back to my hotel room and I puked up,’ he said. ‘It’s amazing when your body’s running on adrenaline and then you reach the finish line it just goes, “fuck it!”’

Michael got on well with Gina. ‘I really liked her a lot. She’s brave as an actress as well,’ he told
In Style
magazine. ‘She was ballsy and open to adapting on the spot. Just really game. She’s lethal but she’s really sweet and quite a shy person actually. So there’s a great paradox there, which I guess is really interesting for directors. She’s got a vulnerability but also a real steeliness.’

Michael believed that Soderbergh’s decision to cast Gina in the lead role, despite her having barely any experience of acting, had been brave and inspirational. ‘Steven doesn’t really adhere to any set of rules. He’s always willing to try things if he has a gut instinct about somebody. He sees something and then runs with it. It’s really exciting and inspiring to be around that.’

It was also in Dublin that one evening Steven saw how the actor had acquired his reputation as a party animal. ‘He’s a blast,’ the director told the
Hollywood Reporter
. ‘We’re out one night and it’s 3.30am, and we’re in someone’s kitchen and Michael is singing. I’m like, ‘”Dude, I gotta go.’” The phrase Michael uses most often is, “So where are we going now?” He’s the Duracell movie star!’

Michael also got on well with Ewan McGregor, whom he considered to be down to earth. Like Michael, Ewan is a keen motorcyclist and they spent much of their time talking about bikes.

The ice-cool, debonair yet ruthless Paul brought to mind James Bond. At the time
Haywire
was released Daniel Craig was filming his third 007 movie,
Skyfall
, and it prompted some to wonder whether Michael was aiming to be the next actor to slip into Bond’s tuxedo. He found himself being asked this by interviewers on several occasions and, while doing his best to play it cool, he couldn’t hide the fact that he fancied the role. ‘I think Daniel [Craig] is doing a great job and I don’t think too far
into the future. It’s one step at a time right now,’ he told
Total Film
, before adding, ‘Of course, every guy knows the feeling of walking round the house singing the song to himself, walking around corners with an imaginary gun. Let’s see what happens.’

While back in Ireland Michael was invited onto RTE’s top chat programme,
The Late Late Show,
hosted by Ryan Tubridy. When asked whether the fame and accolades that came his way in the wake of
Hunger
had affected him, he laughed and replied, ‘Most of the time it’s like, “Jesus, I’ve managed to get away with another one.” You’re always expecting a fall after stuff like that. But I don’t read reviews. Noel Coward said that, if you read the good reviews, you have to read the bad ones. And it becomes a distraction as well.’

At the end of the interview Ryan surprised him by saying that there was a rumour that he could ‘hold a tune’. Michael laughed and looked a little embarrassed before Ryan told him to ‘get over there with the band’ To applause and cheers from the audience, he got up and walked over and launched into a rousing performance of the Beatles hit
Twist and Shout
. The rendition sounded like that of a young John Lennon – more of a dynamic, hoarse yell than singing. It underlined Michael’s natural and sometimes subconscious ability for mimicry – echoing Lennon one moment but also adept at Sinatra-like singing. He could also do excellent impersonations of Quentin Tarantino and Christopher Walken.

Back home in Hackney, Michael attended the London Critics Circle Film Awards at the Landmark Hotel on 18 February, where
Fish Tank
won awards for Best British Film, Best British Director, Best Young British Performer for Katie Jarvis and Best British Actor in a Supporting Role for Michael. There was success, too, for
Inglourious Basterds
, with Christoph Waltz named as Best Actor of the Year for his portrayal of Colonel Landa and Quentin Tarantino collecting an Outstanding Achievement award.

A day later Michael and Liam Cunningham went to Ireland’s top musical awards ceremony, the Meteor Ireland Music Awards, in Dublin, where they enjoyed live performances from the likes of Florence and the Machine, Pixie Lott, The Script and Westlife.

Michael would miss out on glory at that year’s IFTAS in Dublin, where Colin Farrell won Best Actor for his performance in Neil Jordan’s
Ondine
, but by then he was already thinking about his next role – Mr Rochester in
Jane Eyre
. Then came a bolt out of the blue. Always cautious about talking about his private life, he was about to have it splashed across the world’s newspapers, websites and news bulletins.