Michael Fassbender takes a trip down memory lane, revisiting most of his most memorable roles — from ‘Band of Brothers’ to ‘The Killer’ and beyond. Michael opens up about landing his big break while working in a warehouse, the brutal training for ‘300’ (complete with swords and sub-zero temps), and why ‘Assassin’s Creed’ didn’t quite hit the mark. Fassbender doesn’t shy away from the messy bits — recalling a rogue horse erection on the set of ‘Jane Eyre,’ a certain purple prop from ‘Inglourious Basterds,’ and yes, using fisting gloves in ‘The Killer.’
He gets candid about the emotional toll of ‘Shame,’ the career-defining impact of ‘Hunger,’ and the unexpected joy of drinking moonshine with Terrence Malick while filming ‘Song to Song.’ From dark dramas to big-budget action films, this is Fassbender as you've never seen him before — unfiltered and full of surprising stories.
He gets candid about the emotional toll of ‘Shame,’ the career-defining impact of ‘Hunger,’ and the unexpected joy of drinking moonshine with Terrence Malick while filming ‘Song to Song.’ From dark dramas to big-budget action films, this is Fassbender as you've never seen him before — unfiltered and full of surprising stories.
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00:00I'm Michael Fassbender, and these are my memories.
00:07Steve Jobs.
00:08Inglourious Basterds.
00:09300.
00:10Hi, I'm Michael Fassbender.
00:11I'm going to share one memory from every movie I ever did, almost.
00:19The killer.
00:22What would come to mind would be fisting gloves, which is what I wore as sort of gloves where
00:30I wouldn't leave a fingerprint, I guess, because they were so sleek, and Fincher wanted something
00:34that would fit my hand like a glove, obviously, but really kind of where you could see the
00:41outline of my finger very clearly, and we found fisting gloves were the best for that.
00:46So I think we actually used so many that there was none left in the company that we were
00:51sourcing them from, so there could have been some unhappy fisters out there because of
00:57us.
00:58Jane Eyre.
00:59What comes to mind is a horse called Prince with an erection as I was sitting on his back.
01:09Okay.
01:12The Life Between Oceans.
01:14Alyssia and I really sort of got together on this film, so it's very special, perhaps
01:19the most special movie because of that.
01:21We were in the middle of nowhere on a peninsula in New Zealand, and so there was nothing much
01:28to do other than get together, which we did, and it's obviously very close to my heart.
01:34Yeah, cool.
01:36300, one of my first films, and reminds me of a lot of exercise.
01:45I think it was the beginning of the CrossFit craze, just training and playing with swords
01:50and running around in leather Speedos in minus 50 degrees.
01:54Our arrows will blot out the sun, and we will fight in the shade.
02:02Jerry was great to me on that film, Jer Butler, because he could have said, I like that line,
02:08I want it for my character, but I was allowed to keep it, and it's always nice when the
02:12lead has got your back, and he did, for sure.
02:15Steve Jobs.
02:16This was probably the hardest movie I've done.
02:20The challenge of just obviously playing somebody who has changed the way we all live, such
02:29an iconic figure, I really felt the pressure on this one, but I'm super proud of it.
02:36I just remember trying to figure out a way of getting out of the job early on when I
02:42was on set rehearsing.
02:44Yeah, but we're very proud of this one.
02:48You came a half inch from putting this company out of business, now who do I see about that?
02:56I'm letting you keep your job.
02:59You get a pass.
03:02The Scottish play, I'm going to say that because I'm superstitious at times.
03:06This was a tough shoot, obviously taking on Shakespeare and bringing it to film is
03:13always going to be a challenge.
03:14Weather conditions were brutal, it was literally horizontal rain, cold locations in Scotland,
03:23and reuniting with Prince, the horse that had an erection on Jane Eyre.
03:28I don't think I gave him an erection this time, though.
03:33Black Bag.
03:34Sphincter muscle.
03:41Assassin's Creed.
03:44Didn't turn out the way I would have hoped it to do.
03:46I think it's such an interesting universe.
03:49The idea of DNA memory, I really believe in that, and the idea of free will as a concept,
03:55but I had a lot of fun doing it.
03:57Reminds me of being on the rooftops in Malta, very hot conditions, sweating a lot, but we
04:08had a lot of fun.
04:14Band of Brothers.
04:17Big break for me.
04:18I'd left drama school about a year when I got this part.
04:23I was working in a warehouse unloading lorries, sounds suspect, but it was all legit, and
04:31I got an audition for Band of Brothers in Pearl Harbor in the same week, and I managed
04:35to get a gig on Band of Brothers.
04:38Wouldn't drink too much if I were you.
04:40Hey, be careful if he offers you a cigarette.
04:42What are they talking about?
04:43If who offers us a cigarette?
04:45Spears.
04:46Who?
04:47Lieutenant Spears.
04:50Opportunity to meet Steven Spielberg, be directed by Tom Hanks, it was a big deal.
04:59Hunger.
05:01Probably my favorite film that I've done.
05:04This was a huge turning point or start of my career, really.
05:10The opportunity to play Bobby Sands, meet Steve, go on that journey with him, and Liam
05:18Cunningham living together in a little flat.
05:23Well, it wasn't little, it was a two-bedroom, it was a normal size, but just working on
05:27that scene every day, eating porridge in the morning, and then running the scene between
05:32Bobby and the priest.
05:35We tried to do it ten times a day for ten days.
05:43Shame.
05:45Shame.
05:46That's what I feel.
05:49No, it was this very special film, special director, Steve McQueen, our second collaboration,
05:57and it reminds me of a dark experience and a lot of nudity.
06:08Fish tank.
06:13Chaos.
06:14I remember it was a very unique experience working on this film.
06:19Andrew Arnold is an amazing filmmaker, and working with non-actors in live situations,
06:28I think it's a great film.
06:38Twelve Years a Slave, third collaboration with the great Steve McQueen, it brings back
06:44memories of New Orleans, barbecue, and really hot weather.
07:04I had my favorite barbecue ever in a place called The Joint, I believe it was, and it
07:12was walking distance from where I was staying down by the bywater.
07:16I think with Steve, even if the material is quite intense, and very often it was with
07:23all of the films, actually, with Hunger, Shame, and Twelve Years a Slave, there's always a
07:27nice, fun atmosphere on set, actually, in between the takes, which always helps sort
07:32of puncture that intense tension that's created on camera.
07:36Inglourious Bastards.
07:39What do I remember from this?
07:42A large, purple dildo.
07:46Quentin, I don't think, likes people to take naps on set, so anybody that was taking a
07:51nap would get photographed.
07:53There was the Wall of Shame, so everybody was on that Wall of Shame with, I think the
07:59dildo's name was Jerry.
08:00Okay, cool.
08:03Song to Song.
08:05The Great Terrence Malick.
08:07I remember drinking moonshine with Terrence Malick and him calling it gasoline and white
08:14lightning.
08:15That was another name he had for it.
08:19The Agency.
08:20What comes to mind?
08:22Cold Baths, early starts in the morning, in a scene with Richard Gere talking about Terrence
08:28Malick.
08:29There's a link.
08:30I love Days of Heaven.
08:31It's one of the great films for me, and Richard Gere's performance is fantastic.
08:36Yeah, pinching myself in a scene with Richard Gere.
08:43Eden Lake.
08:44Early film, director James Watkins, working with Kelly Riley, who I actually did my first
08:52professional job out of drama school.
08:54I was part of Chekhov's Three Sisters.
08:59Kelly played Irina, and I played a small character called Fedotik.
09:03This was a great experience.
09:04A lot of blood, a lot of gore, and getting to work with Jack O'Connell, Tommy Turgus,
09:14great young cast.
09:16Kneecap.
09:18Love these guys.
09:20I hadn't heard of Kneecap until this came to me.
09:26It was my agent, Connor, who'd said the script arrived, a sort of semi-biographical story
09:34about these guys, Kneecap, who were a band, an Irish band, that rap Os Gaeilge, which
09:39is in the Irish language.
09:42There was an offer for me to play the father of one of these guys, and so I quickly Googled
09:49Kneecap and took a look at their music videos, and I immediately jumped on board.
09:55They are funny, intelligent, and it was a great experience working with these guys.
10:01They're born superstars.