IFTA winner Michael Fassbender talks about his portrayal of Bobby Sands in the multi-award-winning 'Hunger'.
Question: How difficult was the decision to take on this role? Politically, did you have any qualms?
Michael Fassbender: Yeah, I did, actually. I was worried because things are really on the mend in the North, and Belfast is a fantastic city. I didn't want to spark off anything that would, in any way, reignite that. But the thing is, what I like about the film is you look at it and it's not about a political thing, it's about how people treat each other, and how people can be cruel to each and how that affects them as well.
You know, I think it's about how one can use their body as a weapon, and that's very relevant today in terms of suicide bombers, Guantanamo Bay - these are issues that are relevant in 2008, let alone 1981. And also, doing it, people in London were asking us, 'What are you doing at the moment?' And I'd say, 'Oh, I'm playing Bobby Sands. Have you heard of him?' And they're like, 'Um, yeah . . .' And it's almost like, 'Was he in a rock band or something?' So, you know, I think people need to know. As long as you have the information you can make up your own mind. This was only 27 years ago and there's [sic] still a lot of people that don't know it happened."
Watch Michael Fassbender's interview with RTÉ.ie at the IFTAs.
Q: Ken Loach's 'The Wind that Shakes the Barley' was vilified in certain sections of the UK press. Did you expect that to also happen with 'Hunger'?
MF: I thought it would happen. But also 'The Wind that Shakes the Barley', [what the film is about really] happened. So I don't really understand where the backlash comes, whether it's a defensive mechanism or what. This is history. People do bad things to each other all the time. It's not that it's English, it's always the way. If you're some superpower there's somebody that's underneath you: it's life. Knowledge is important and to have the knowledge, and then you can sort of do with it what you want. But pretending it never happened - isn't that really the wrong way to deal with it?
Q: Did this role affect you when you went home at night?
MF: You know what? I'm pretty good at leaving my work behind. When I started out I used to pull my hair out and get all self-obsessed. But no, I try and just let it go. Go home and rest, and come in the next day.
Q: You were very young when the hunger strikes happened, but can you remember anything about them?
MF: Well I was four when it happened. My mother's from the North, so all my relatives were up there. We used to go up there for summer holidays, Christmas, so yeah, it's always been a part of my growing up.
Q: Was 'Hunger' physically gruelling apart from losing the weight to portray Bobby Sands? It's a very brutal film and the violence is extremely realistic.
MF: Actually, yes, I had a few bruises and scratches at the end of the day, but the stunt team were great, and they're just working off me. They're not throwing me at the wall; I'm running at the wall. I can judge how hard I hit it. So it's all controlled. But then you want it to look vicious.
Q: How close to '300' did you make 'Hunger' because you had to bulk up for that film?
MF: '300' took like a year of computer animation and graphics. We finished filming '300' in January 2006. We started in September 2005, and we did 10 weeks of training, and then we started filming in November [2006] for three months."
Q: How did you get into acting in the first place?
MF: Through laziness [laughs]. No, it's weird, actually. I didn't know what I was going to do. Journalism, actually, was what I was interested in. And I liked the idea of lawyer or architect, but I was never going to get the points at school for that, you know?
And then this guy Donie Courtney, who had studied at the Gaiety, came down and he started doing classes on a Wednesday, drama classes, comedy classes, so I came along to that with my friend and thought, 'Wow, this is great. I really like this.'
Then he stopped doing them, and I met him on the street and said, ‘What happened to these classes?' And he said, ‘Oh, I've started up a professional company in Killarney. Why don't you come and do some part-time stuff with us?' We did pantomime and pub theatre, and then it started from there.
I studied in Cork for a year, and then I went to Drama Centre London and did a three-year course - although I dropped out after two-and-a-half years. I'd had enough.
Q: Why?
MF: Ugh, drama school. You know, it gets so competitive and Drama Centre was renowned for being quite sort of brutal. My year started off with 32 students and when I left there was 18 left, and that's through like term-by-term assessment. Then people start bitching, and then it gets closer to the agents showing up. I got an agent and I was like, 'OK, I've learnt as much as I'm going to get out of here.' But it was a mistake, actually. Nobody knew who I was then for ages, because I missed it when all the agents and casting directors came.
Q: So how long was it before you got your first gig out of drama school?
MF: It was on and off. I went out of drama school and I think I was four weeks out when I got a play, 'Three Sisters', with Oxford Stage Company. Then I was out of work for eight months or nine months. And then I got 'Band of Brothers', so that was my first TV job. I thought that's the way TV always works. I thought, 'Spielberg, this is it. Hollywood here I come.' Then two years later all the money's gone and I hadn't been working for a year. It was like Skid Row and I thought, ‘S***, what else can I do if this acting thing doesn't work out?' So, you know, I did a lot of bar work.
'Hunger' is out now on retail DVD.
