Another photoshoot from Interview Magazine, I swear this mag has some creative stuff mixed with a fine sense of aesthetics (see Michelle Williams, Cate Blanchett and Marion Cotillard's) This time I bring you a fiery set of photos featuring Michael Fassbender, captured by Sebastian Kim, accompanied with an excerpt of the interview (or rather a chat) between Fassbender and Josh Brolin.
BROLIN: You’ve done two movies now with Steve McQueen, and you’re gonna do a third, 12 Years a Slave. I met Steve when I met you for the first time. In Toronto, right?
FASSBENDER: That’s right. In Toronto in 2008.
BROLIN: We ended up having a blast in a hotel room—laughing, having drinks, whatever. It was you, me, Sean Penn, Steve McQueen, and a few other people, and I remember Steve giving a speech about how he was so grateful to have this film, Hunger, under his belt. Nobody really knew about it at that point except the few who had seen it. But when he gave that little speech, I remember thinking, “What a sweet guy. I can’t wait to see this movie.” Then I saw the movie and I go, “This is really severe. This does not parallel with the guy I just hung out with at all.”
FASSBENDER: That’s the thing with Steve. He’s kind of like a little boy and an old man at the same time. He’s sort of masculine, and yet he’s also got a very feminine quality. The first thing that struck me when I met him was that he doesn’t pull any punches. There’s no room for bullshit with him. To give an example, on Shame we were doing a scene that was pretty full-on, and he came onto the scene, and I was like, “Yeah, that’s pretty good for a first take. You know, not bad.” Then he said, “Let’s have a chat.” So we went into a separate room, and he was like, “Some actor geezer just came into the room here. That wasn’t Michael Fassbender. I know what you’re doing, but you’ve got to find something different.” [both laugh] I was like, “Oh, shit.” So I went back to the drawing board and tried to pare things down and just make them honest. It’s such a clichéd thing to say, but it’s true. His philosophy is to just go for it—go to a place and see what comes of it, because we’re all gonna die one day, so what have you got to lose? If you fall flat on your face, then you fall flat on your face. It makes for a scary environment, but a very exciting one as well . . . And then I see the grip, who’s been in the business for, you know, 35 years, and he’s like, “Show him that you’re brilliant. Don’t let Steve down.” [Brolin laughs] So that feeling he creates is not just between the actors and director but literally throughout the entire crew making the film. You know, if you can keep the crew guessing and interested in what you’re doing, then chances are . . .
READ THE REST OF THIS INTERVIEW HERE
