Michael Fassbender Breaks Down His Career, from 'Inglorious Basterds' to 'X-Men'

Vanity Fair

Michael Fassbender walks us through his legendary career, discussing his roles in 'Band of Brothers,' '300,' 'Hunger,' 'Inglorious Basterds,' 'X-Men: First Class,' 'Shame,' 'Prometheus,' '12 Years a Slave,' 'Frank,' 'X-Men: Days of Future Past' and more.  Director: Adam Lance Garcia  Director of Photography: Grant Bell  Editor: Lika Kumoi Talent: Michael Fassbender  Producer: Funmi Sunmonu  Coordinating Producer: Sydney Malone  Line Producer: Romeeka Powell Associate Producer: Rafael Vasquez  Production Manager: Andressa Pelachi and Kevin Balash  Director, Talent : Lauren Mendoza  Camera Operator: Lucas Vilicich Sound: Paul Cornett Production Assistant: Lauren Boucher &amp; Fernando Barajas  Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin Post Production Coordinator: Jovan James Supervising Editor: Erica Dillman Additional Editor: Paul Tael Assistant Editor: Billy Ward

Transcript

00:00 When we got to Days of Future Past, Ian McKellen was going to be in the same movie as me.

00:05 So I called him up and I was like, "How do you feel about doing my accent, Ian?"

00:09 No, we never had that conversation.

00:12 [music]

00:17 Hi, I'm Michael Fassbender and this is the timeline of my career.

00:21 [music]

00:27 Christensen. Lieutenant Spears.

00:30 I got the name right, didn't I? Christensen? Yes, sir.

00:33 I first discovered acting when I was 17.

00:36 I just had figured out that I wasn't going to be a lead guitarist in a heavy metal band,

00:42 because it just wasn't good enough.

00:44 And then I went to Drama Center London.

00:47 I dropped out after the Christmas show in my third year.

00:52 I've had recurring dreams where I've gone back to drama school to finish the last six months,

00:57 which shows that there's some sort of psychological effect that that's had on me.

01:02 O'Keefe, are you sitting on your bayonet there?

01:05 Why don't you leave the scene to Luz?

01:07 When I got cast in Band of Brothers, I was working nights in a warehouse.

01:12 It was a more physical job than I had planned,

01:15 but I realized that I was just so tired during the day because I was doing night shifts.

01:20 I started at 8 o'clock at night, finished at 7 in the morning,

01:23 and I just didn't have the energy to go to auditions.

01:26 I wasn't getting any anyway, but I felt like I really didn't want to go to them

01:32 because I was just so tired.

01:34 And then I thought, "Wait a sec. Something's got to change here."

01:37 And then I got an audition for Pearl Harbor and Band of Brothers.

01:42 I think within two weeks I auditioned for both those jobs.

01:46 I did a good audition for Pearl Harbor, but they cast Ben Affleck. I don't know why.

01:51 And they actually wrote back to me.

01:55 It was like a sweet response that was good for my confidence.

01:59 And then the other one was Band of Brothers.

02:02 The first day of Band of Brothers, I remember actually going to boot camp.

02:06 We all got together in Hatfield, where they had shot Saving Private Ryan.

02:12 We all met up there, and we got into all our army gear,

02:15 and we got in a bus, and we headed off to boot camp for ten days.

02:19 So I have really clear memories of that first day.

02:22 Our ancestors built this wall using ancient stones from the bosom of Greece herself.

02:30 And with a little Spartan help, your Persian scouts supplied the mortar.

02:36 For 300, I think we trained for ten weeks before we stepped in front of a camera.

02:41 Because the film is so physical, I think I have maybe four lines in the movie, maybe.

02:46 So it's very much physically based character performance.

02:50 And so to get in shape was key.

02:53 But yeah, I just enjoyed the fact that I was getting in shape and getting paid.

02:57 I'm clear of the reasons, Dom.

03:00 I am clear of all the repercussions.

03:04 But I will act, and I will not stand by and do nothing.

03:07 When I first met Steve McQueen, I thought the meeting went really well.

03:11 And he hated me.

03:14 I found out afterwards.

03:16 I remember I got the script for Hunger, and I was thinking,

03:18 "Oh, you know, my mom's from Northern Ireland."

03:21 I was very conscious about doing something that would show respect to everybody that comes from there.

03:28 And so I went in to meet Steve, and I was just immediately taken by him.

03:35 He was just an original mind and an original person.

03:39 I knew I was going to learn a lot working with him.

03:42 And I left the meeting, and I was thinking, "Great."

03:45 And he was like, "I don't want to see that guy again."

03:47 And it was Gary Davey, the casting director, who was like,

03:50 "No, I really think this is the guy. At least call him back to do an audition at least."

03:55 So he called me back. I did the audition, and that was it from that day on.

03:59 We became fast friends and really close.

04:02 It's a subtextual film criticism study of the work of German director G.W. Pabst.

04:08 What shall we drink to, sir?

04:10 Well, um, down with Hitler.

04:14 All the way down, sir.

04:16 Yes.

04:17 I remember when I first saw Pulp Fiction, I was just like, "What is this?"

04:21 It was so new.

04:23 And he was such an influence on me starting out as an actor.

04:27 Reservoir Dogs was huge for me.

04:29 So to be on set working with him was, for me, it was like quite a surreal experience.

04:36 Definitely pinching myself a lot on set.

04:39 And, you know, he loves film.

04:42 He's just an encyclopedia when it comes to anything that's been on screen.

04:48 And he is so passionate.

04:51 And every character that he's written, he knows and loves.

04:54 So you better know and put in the attention, the detail to everything.

05:00 Because he has done it.

05:01 Even that thing of like three, that detail for me, I was like, "Wow, okay, yeah, I realize my dad's German."

05:08 So he always counts first with the thumb.

05:11 And that's such a German thing.

05:13 And I was like, "That detail is like classic Quentin Tarantino."

05:17 To pick up on that detail and to put it in his film

05:20 and to make it such a monumental moment in that scene in the tavern, incredible.

05:25 It was a joy working with him.

05:27 [speaking German]

05:30 Let's just say I'm Frankenstein's monster.

05:35 What really drew me to that story, first class, and the character

05:39 was this idea of an outsider and what it feels like to be an outsider

05:45 and to feel like you don't belong.

05:48 And that for me was an interesting core to work from for the character

05:53 and to find the justifications in what his actions were,

05:57 which again were pretty monumental, the lengths that he was willing to go to

06:02 and what the motivation of that was.

06:04 And essentially the core of it is just, Magneto just needs a hug.

06:09 If you're in there, I'd like you to know that I agree with every word you've said.

06:17 We are the future.

06:18 When we did X-Men First Class, I talked to Matthew Vaughn about the accent.

06:23 Should I go in the direction of McKellen?

06:26 And Matthew was like, "No, your accent's so weird and funny.

06:29 I like it. Stick to your accent."

06:31 So I was like, "Okay."

06:33 And then when we got to Days of Future Past,

06:36 Ian McKellen was going to be in the same movie as me.

06:39 So I called him up and I was like, "How do you feel about doing my accent, Ian?"

06:43 [laughs]

06:44 No, we never had that conversation, obviously.

06:47 So I then was like, "Okay, well I better start trying to speak a little bit more like Ian McKellen

06:54 because we're both going to be in the film together

06:56 and he's playing the older version of Magneto."

06:58 So I actually changed it in Days of Future Past because we were both in the same film.

07:03 Are you still Charles' Raven?

07:05 Or are you Mystique?

07:09 You wouldn't notice it if you watched it because it was all in my head.

07:14 This isn't working out, obviously.

07:17 You need to find somewhere else to live.

07:22 I don't have anywhere else to go.

07:24 It's a very particular addiction.

07:27 Let's say you're addicted to alcohol.

07:29 It's an external thing that you're bringing in,

07:32 and so it's something that you can exist without.

07:35 Whereas when it's sex or food, those sort of relationships, I think, it's super difficult

07:42 because these are things that are innately within us to reproduce.

07:46 You have somebody who is longing for that intimacy but can't deal with it.

07:51 Anything intimate is just like a rash,

07:53 but then at the same time doing very intimate acts with somebody,

07:57 having that compulsion to do it, super complicated.

08:00 I mean, I met somebody who Brandon was based on,

08:05 and just sitting down and talking with him was a big help

08:08 and an insight into that sort of headspace.

08:10 But for sure, for me, that was definitely the darkest of places for me as a character.

08:17 Steve has got a lot of special qualities,

08:23 but also I found he was always very accessible with his intelligence.

08:29 Anytime he was trying to explain something, it was in a very practical way,

08:33 and it was also coming from a personal place a lot of the times.

08:38 He would reveal something about himself.

08:40 The main key thing, and I think I speak for all actors that have worked with Steve,

08:45 I think I can do that confidently, is trust.

08:49 There's such a feeling of trust on set, and trust is the key thing.

08:53 You're opening yourself, you're naked in a lot of respects,

08:56 and showing real sort of sides of yourself and vulnerabilities.

09:00 You've got to go to those places that are not easy to go to.

09:04 And he's also somebody that instills a lot of confidence in your instinct.

09:10 You know, trust your instincts. Don't second-guess yourself.

09:14 Again, because you're in the hands of somebody who is so brilliant,

09:19 you can allow yourself to go to those places

09:21 because you know that he's going to take care of you.

09:24 [Speaking in Greek]

09:31 When I first came on set for Prometheus, Ridley was like,

09:38 "Oh, watch the film The Servant," and Dirk Bogart's character.

09:41 I was like, "Oh, great, I love that when there's a film to take some inspiration from."

09:47 And then when I arrived on set, he was like, "He's like a butler. He checks the dust."

09:51 And that alone, I was like, I was off to the races.

09:54 I knew exactly there and where I was going.

09:56 And also the fact that this character is obsessed with Lawrence of Arabia and this film.

10:02 I was like, "Wow, that's such an interesting little quirk."

10:05 Well, what's the trick then?

10:07 The trick, William Potter, is not minding that it hurts.

10:11 The trick, William Potter, is not minding that it hurts.

10:17 I think the interesting thing for David watching Lawrence of Arabia

10:21 is it's sort of this idea of God and creation.

10:25 And I think it's a great character in terms of what he's achieved,

10:31 what he can achieve, defying all the odds.

10:34 But there's tragedy within the character,

10:37 and I think he finds that maybe curious, studying the human condition.

10:42 And the idea of an AI becoming obsessed with something

10:46 I think is kind of scary in itself, whatever it is.

10:49 Why has he sort of honed in on this particular thing?

10:53 There's something quite unsettling about that, or unbalanced.

10:57 [music]

11:05 Come on, where's your merriment? Move your feet!

11:07 I think dealing with a character like Epps, who does such horrendous things,

11:13 there was a couple of things with the character.

11:16 First of all, he's not a very intelligent man, and he's got a lot of power.

11:21 And that's so scary.

11:23 But then the core of the relationship, which really is Patsy,

11:27 he's in love with Patsy, but there's no way that he can process that.

11:30 He doesn't have the tools to do it, the time that it is,

11:33 his position, his emotional and limited intelligence.

11:37 The results are horrific.

11:39 And you know, when Steve was talking about all the characters in 12 Years a Slave,

11:44 there was never an approach to Epps in terms of a judgment.

11:48 I think that's super important when you're dealing with characters

11:51 that do really despicable things, is just trying to sort of understand them

11:55 and facilitate them, and facilitate what they're supposed to do in the story,

12:00 and not to let judgment get in the way of that,

12:04 because he's got such an important part of all of the characters' stories in there.

12:11 Patsy and Solomon, it's such an important part, you have to do justice to it.

12:16 And by doing justice to it, you can't judge it.

12:18 # Lone standing tuft

12:24 # Defies the foot... #

12:29 Super liberating to work with masks,

12:31 and you know, it's something that if I'm doing workshops with students,

12:35 or you know, Commedia dell'arte is a great tool to sort of, you know, let go

12:40 and get rid of inhibitions.

12:42 Putting on a mask is very powerful like that,

12:45 and certainly that was the case with Frank.

12:47 I knew that it was again physically trying to represent

12:50 what was happening inside the head.

12:53 That was a lot of fun, and also the lack of movement says a lot,

12:57 because you now allow the audience to do some work.

13:01 So the audience are coming there, they're watching this character,

13:05 and they're projecting what they are seeing or thinking or feeling

13:09 onto that character, so it's really interesting like that.

13:12 With masks, you don't necessarily have to do a lot.

13:15 Actually, by being still, a lot can be communicated.

13:19 A long time ago, you asked me a favour before a product launch,

13:22 and I said no. You wanted me to acknowledge...

13:24 If you're about to say you were wrong, I want to prepare this journalist.

13:29 I was 100% right, and you were spectacularly wrong.

13:33 I just remember when I first read the script, I was like,

13:35 "This is incredible, it's the best thing I've ever read."

13:38 He's such a brilliant writer that it's very hard to edit what he writes,

13:43 because everything's interlinked. It's like a brick,

13:45 you pull it out of the wall, the whole wall comes down,

13:48 so you can't edit him. It's there, it's got to stay there.

13:51 I don't have any trouble remembering that, John,

13:54 because of it being the worst night of my life.

13:57 And I forced the vote because I believed I was right.

14:00 I still believe I'm right, and I'm right.

14:03 There's a cadence to how the dialogue has to be spoken,

14:07 and if you don't jump on board with that cadence, it won't make sense.

14:12 There's sense, like Shakespeare, there's a rhythm that he has written it to,

14:17 and you have to obey that.

14:19 If you fall off that rhythm, you kind of get kicked off,

14:21 and you've got to start again.

14:22 There's no room for improvisation, there's no need to.

14:25 Whatever's on the page is excellent.

14:27 Finding the rhythm of how it's written is key to how you deliver,

14:31 and how you discover the character through it.

14:33 My camo is based on a German tourist I saw in London a while back.

14:38 No one really wants to interact with a German tourist.

14:44 Parisians avoid them like the rest of the world avoids street mimes.

14:47 It's a very precise way of working.

14:50 David Fincher is obviously a master of filmmaking,

14:54 and it's somebody that has done it all, you know,

14:57 from working in a cinema, when it was still changing film reels,

15:01 to working in the camera department, obviously, the director he is today.

15:05 It's about everything that's in the frame,

15:07 and so every day is just about fractional stuff.

15:12 Everything is super precise.

15:14 It was an amazing experience, I have to say,

15:16 because he has such high standards again,

15:19 and he holds himself accountable to those standards more than anybody else.

15:25 Object is turning speed. Hustle, hustle. Huzzle, huzzle, buzzle.

15:28 You know what? Forget about it. Forget about it.

15:31 Hup, hup, hup, hup, hup, hup, hup, hup.

15:33 Head on, head on, head on.

15:35 [shouting in German]

15:39 Improvisation is a very specific thing,

15:41 because extensively it's like 90% of the movie is improvisation in Next Goal Wins,

15:46 and you know, you're all doing it collectively.

15:48 You need a good collection of people to do that,

15:50 and of course a great director to sort of be pulling all the strings,

15:54 make sure that this ship has a rudder and it's going in a certain direction.

15:58 You've got to be brave. You've got to, like, throw yourself into the scene.

16:01 You've got to be prepared to fall flat on your face

16:03 and make a fool of yourself and do it many times,

16:06 and through that you discover things in the scene,

16:08 but really you're not--you discover it afterwards,

16:11 because to really do it well, you've really got to be present.

16:14 You've got to listen.

16:15 You know, that's the great thing about improvisation.

16:17 You really do have to listen,

16:18 because the other person's throwing something at you,

16:20 and you've got to be awake and alive.

16:22 Your castle awaits.

16:29 Your landlord is Sione. He lives in the house next door,

16:34 and he's available 7/24 to address your every need.

16:37 7/24.

16:39 Seven days out of every 24.

16:41 Taika's continually throwing stuff at you,

16:44 so he's like, "Say this," and then he'll say, like, 20 lines,

16:49 and you're like, "Okay, well, I can't remember all of that,

16:52 so I'll try and take the essence of it,"

16:54 but that's how we did--you know, that's how we shot the whole thing.

16:56 There's a lot of stuff getting thrown in,

16:58 and it's kind of like a blender of ideas,

17:00 and then you've just got to get a flavor of it, a color of it,

17:03 and then do your own thing with it,

17:05 and that's kind of how the whole thing was formed.

17:08 I feel like I've learned a lot, and I continue to learn.

17:13 Every time I go back on a film set, I have the same doubts and fears.

17:18 When I got back on set, I was like, "This is my job. This is what I do,"

17:22 and then, you know, the same feelings of, you know, responsibility

17:27 and, like I say, doubt and passion--those things remain the same.

17:32 [music]

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