Fass Class: An Education in Michael Fassbender

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Fass Class: An Education in Michael Fassbender
by White Rabbit on 17 September 2011

The ascent to stardom has been a strong and steady process for German-Irish actor Michael Fassbender. A decade in the making, his body of work displays capability, versatility and great deal of good old gumption. If you haven’t heard his name at least once this year, it’s time you came out from under that huge boulder you must’ve been trapped beneath, and say hello to Hollywood’s latest A-Lister.

Here, we’ve compiled a list of ten of Fassy’s must-see features, complete with trailers and trivia to help educate you in the masterful ways of Fassbender, and how the talented fellow rolls.

Name: Michael Fassbender
Date of Birth: 2 April 1977
Place of Birth: Heidelberg, Germany


300 – 2006

Role: Stelios
Co-Stars: Gerard Butler, David Wenham, Dominic West, Lena Headey, Rodrigo Santoro
Genre: Action-Fantasy
Director: Zack snyder
Synopsis: King Leonidas and a force of 300 men fight the Persians at Thermopylae in 480 B.C.
Fassbender on Stelios: “He’s very spontaneous, very passionate, and he’s the kind of guy that this sort of opportunity is a dream come true for him, to take part in such a history battle and go down with the names of all the greats – Achilles, and all the gods of war [...] I mean I know that all the Spartans are sort of in that direction, but I think he sort of, definitely encompasses all those things.” (video)
Trailer:


Eden Lake – 2008

Role: Steve
Co-Stars: Kelly Reilly, Jack O’Connell, James Gandhi, Thomas Turgoose
Genre: Horror
Director: James Watkins
Synopsis: Loved up couple Steve and Jenny (Reilly)’s romantic getaway dissolves into a nightmare when they are targeted and tormented by a gang of violent youths.
Review Snippet: Seriously bloody horrible in every particular, and uncompromisingly bleak to the very end, this looks to me like the best British horror film in years: nasty, scary and tight as a drum. It is a violent ordeal nightmare that brutally withholds the longed-for redemptions and third-act revenges, offering only a nihilist scream and a vicious satirical twist in our perceived social wounds: knife-crime, gangs and the fear of a broken society. (TheGuardian)

Hunger – 2008

Role: Bobby Sands
Co-Stars: Liam Cunningham, Liam McMahon, Gerry Campbell, Stuart Graham
Director: Steve R. Mcqueen
Genre: Drama
Synopsis: Based on real events, Hunger centers on the republican leader of the 1981 Irish hunger strike, Bobby Sands.
Trivia: The scene which features a conversation between Sands and a Catholic priest about the decision to go on hunger strike was filmed in one continuous 16-minute take on the first day of filming in Northern Ireland and took Michael Fassbender and co-star Liam Cunningham four attempts to complete. (IMDB)
Trailer:


Inglourious Basterds – 2009

Role: Lt. Archie Hicox
Co-Stars: Christoph Waltz, Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Mélanie Laurent, Eli Roth, Jacky Ido, Daniel Brühl
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Genre: War Drama-Adventure
Synopsis: In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as “The Basterds” are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis.
Trivia: British actor Simon Pegg was originally set to play Lt. Archie Hicox but was forced to pull out of the project because of scheduling conflicts. Michael Fassbender replaced him. (IMDB)
Trailer:

Fish Tank – 2009

Role: Connor
Co-stars: Katie Jarvis, Kierston Wareing, Harry Treadaway
Director: Andrea Arnold
Genre: Drama
Synopsis: A tempestuous teenager’s (Jarvis) life is disrupted by the arrival of her mother’s new boyfriend (Fassbender).
Trivia: Critically acclaimed Fish Tank won Michael Fassbender much recognition, and his supporting performance was multi-award nominated. He notably won the 2009 London Critics Circle Film award for British Supporting Actor.
Trailer:


Centurion – 2010

Role: Centurion Quintus Dias
Co-stars: Dominic West, Olga Kurylenko, David Morrissey, Paul Freeman, Noel Clarke
Director: Neil Marshall
Genre: Historical thriller
Synopsis: A group of Roman soldiers fight for their lives behind enemy lines after their legion is decimated in a devastating guerrilla attack.
Trivia: Neil Marshall shot the film in such hard conditions that cast suffered some health problems. As written in the Independent: Noel Clarke recovered from frostbite. JJ Feild quit smoking because of hypothermia. Michael Fassbender survived shirtless sprinting in sub-zero temperatures to become the next Daniel Craig. (IMDB)
Trailer:

Jane Eyre – 2011

Role: Rochester
Co-Stars: Mia Wasikowska, Sally Hawkins, Judi Dench, Harry Lloyd, Jamie Bell
Director: Cary Fukunaga
Genre: Romantic Drama
Synopsis: A fresh adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s beloved novel of the same name. An unassuming but strong-willed young woman (Wasikowska) captures the heart of her wealthy and Byronic employer (Fassbender), who harbors a dark past.
Trivia: “There was a horse on the third day of filming [when] we were shooting the scene where Jane and Rochester meet, and every time Michael hopped on the horse it got a huge erection,” Wasikowskia remembered. “And he’d get off and they’d run the poor thing around the block to try to make it go away, and he’d hop on it again and it would happen all over again, and they’d have to get him off and run it around.” (HuffingtonPost)
Trailer:


X-Men: First Class – 2011

Role: Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto
Co-Stars: James McAvoy, Kevin Bacon, Jennifer Lawrence, Rose Byrne, Zoe Kravitz, Nicholas Hoult
Genre: Action-Adventure
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Synopsis: When power-mad Hellfire Club leader Sebastian Shaw (Bacon) threatens to start World War III, the US Government enlists the services of a group of mutants, whose involvement leads to the origins of the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants.
Trivia: To prepare for his role as Erik Lensherr, Michael Fassbender studied Sir Ian McKellen’s performance as Lensherr in the previous X-Films, but also looked through the comics as he decided to make his own version of Magneto: “You want to respect what someone else has done, especially because the fan base really liked what Ian has done with it. But while I could have gone and studied him as a young man and brought that to the performance, I don’t think Matthew is very interested in that. So I’m just going my own way and working with whatever is in the comic books and the script.” (IMDB)
Trailer:

Shame – 2011

Role: Brandon
Co-Stars: Carey mulligan, james badge dale, nicole beharie, hannah ware
Director: Steve McQueen
Genre: Drama
Release Date: TBA
Synopsis: A thirty-something New Yorker (Fassbender) with a sex addiction is forced to adjust when his headstrong younger sister (Mulligan) waltzes back into his life.
Trivia: Shame reunites Fassbender with Hunger director Steve Mcqueen, and premiered at this year’s Venice Film Festival. Fassbender’s fearless performance earned him a prestigious Volpi Cup at the closing ceremony.
First Look Footage:


A Dangerous Method – 2011

Role: Carl Jung
Co-Stars: Viggo Mortensen, Keira Knightley, Vincent Cassel, Sarah Gadon
Director: David Cronenberg
Genre: Drama-Thriller
Release Date: November 23 2011
Synopsis: The relationship between Sigmund Freud (Mortensen) and Carl Jung (Fassbender) is challenged by the dramatic arrival of a disturbed Russian beauty, Sabina Spielrein (Knightley).
Trivia: The movie premiered at this year’s Venice Film Festival, and was in the running for the Golden Lion.
Trailer: