With the Golden Globes taking place in Beverly Hills this weekend, nominee Michael Fassbender has said that signing up to portray Steve Jobs in Danny Boyle's biopic of the same name was like "standing on a train track, tied to it and a train approaching".
In an interview with US film website Indiewire, Fassbender talked candidly about the pressure he felt after taking on the role of the Apple co-founder, saying that it was more intense than on any other film in his career to date.
"It really was pretty terrifying when I took on the job, and the weeks leading up to the first filming day," he said. "Once we started filming, I knew I was in it and I was in it from then on and I had to throw away all of those anxieties. But absolutely - leading up to that point, for lack of a better way of putting it, I was s******g myself."
The Kerryman also said that he questioned director Boyle's desire to cast him as Jobs. "I said, 'Thank you so much, I'm very flattered. But I don't look anything like the man - are you sure? [Laughs] You feel this is the right choice?' And he said, 'Well, I'm not interested in a lookalike kind of thing or an imitation. I just really want to focus on the essence'. And so from that moment on, that's exactly how we approached it."
While that approach did not translate into box office success, Fassbender has also received Screen Actors' Guild, Satellite and Broadcast Film Association nominations for the intensity of his performance in Steve Jobs, and is expected to be among the nominees when the Oscars shortlist is revealed next week.
"I know that I gave every waking hour to it so if I wasn't working at home by myself, I was rehearsing," he told Indiewire. "It was just total immersion in terms of all the hours of the day that were available to me."
He paid tribute to his co-star and fellow Golden Globe nominee Kate Winslet, who plays Apple executive Joanna Hoffmann, for helping him make his performance in the film so memorable. Last summer, Winslet memorably described the demands placed on Fassbender for the dialogue-heavy film as "like Hamlet, times two".
Winslet and Fassbender in Steve Jobs
And receiving his International Star Award from his co-star at the Palm Springs International Film Festival last weekend
"I have to say I really owe a lot to Kate, she had my back from the beginning," said Fassbender. "She's just such a supportive partner. She booked me a hotel [during filming] in Big Sur! She was like, 'Are you eating enough? You need to take a rest this weekend! I booked you a hotel'. She was wonderful, really wonderful."
