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Ahmed Samir
Ahmed Samir
Michael Fassbender is an Irish German actor, born on 2 April 1977. He was born in Heidelberg, Germany, to a German father, Josef, and an Irish mother, Adele, originally from Larne, County Antrim, in Northern Ireland. His mother is also the great-grand-niece of Irish revolutionary, soldier, and politician Michael Collins. Fassbender was raised in the town of Killarney, Ireland. His family moved there when he was two years old, and his father was a chef, so he ran a West End House restaurant. He studied at the Fossa National School and, after that, at St. Brendan’s College.
He became well-known in the United States after his role in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Bastards in 2009. He also appeared as Magneto in X-Men in 2011, an important role he played in this movie. Michael Fassbender has acted in several films and won many worldwide awards and recognitions.
Michael Fassbender’s Personal Life:
Michael lived in London from 1996 to 2017, although he lived in Ireland and the United Kingdom. He was fluent in German and even appeared in a German-language film. He is a big fan of Liverpool football club.
He likes to keep his personal life private, although he said in an interview in GQ in 2012 that he saw actress Nicole Beharie as much as possible after working with her in the movie Shame. In 2014, he started dating Swedish actress Alicia Vikander after filming The Light Between Oceans. They married in a private ceremony on 14 October 2017 in Ibiza and now live in Lisbon, Portugal.
Michael Fassbender’s passion for acting led him to tour with the Oxford Stage Company to perform in the play ‘Three Sisters’ and do several odd jobs, including labour and bartending, before landing his first on-screen role in the 2001 war-drama television miniseries Band of Brothers. He also acted in many series and movies before landing a role as a Spartan warrior in the film 300. He gained more popularity and earned critical acclaim due to his roles in movies like Shame, Inglorious Bastards, Prometheus, A Dangerous Method, Fish Tank, X-Men: First Class and Macbeth. Let’s get to know more about his movies and series:
Michael Fassbender’s Movies:
300 (2006):
A film based on the 1998 comic series of the same name, the movie and comic are fictionalized retellings of the Battle of Thermopylae within the Persian Wars. Michael Fassbender played the role of a Spartan soldier called Stelios. The story talks about King Leonidas, played by Gerard Butler, leading 300 soldiers into battle against 300,000 Persians. The movie was released on 9 March 2007. It received positive reviews from critics but also received criticism for its depiction of the Persians, which some characterized as bigoted or Iranophobic. 300 was a massive success at the box office, gaining over 450 million dollars; its opening was rated the 24th largest in box office history.
Hunger (2008):
It’s a historical drama film talking about the 1981 Irish hunger strike. The film premiered for the first time at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, winning the Camera d’Or award for first-time filmmakers. Michael Fassbender appeared in the movie as Bobby Sands, the Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteer who led the second Irish Republican Army hunger strike and participated in the no-wash protest in which Irish republican prisoners tried to regain political status after it had been revoked by the British government in 1976.
Fish Tank (2009):
It is a British drama film that talks about Mia Williams, a socially isolated 15-year-old who lives with her single mother while her mother’s boyfriend, Conor, falls in love with Mia, which results in an affair between them but in the end, it seems that Conor was not entirely what he seems. The movie stars Michael Fassbender, Katie Jarvis, and Kierston Wareing. The film won many awards, including the Jury Prize at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and the BAFTA for Best British Film. Released in theatres on 11 September 2009, Fish Tank featured on BBC’s list of the 100 greatest films in the 21st century, ranking 65th.
Inglorious Bastards (2009):
The film is a war film directed by Quentin Tarantino, starring Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Michael Fassbender, Eli Roth, and Diane Kruger. The film tells a story about two plots to assassinate Nazi Germany’s leadership, one planned by Shosanna Dreyfus Laurent, a young French Jewish cinema proprietor and the other by a team of Jewish American soldiers led by First Lieutenant Aldo Raine Brad Pitt. Christoph Waltz co-stars Hans Landa, an SS colonel tracking down Raine’s group and who is connected to Shosanna’s past. The film’s title was inspired by Italian director Enzo G. Castellari’s macaroni combat film The Inglorious Bastards (1978).
The script was written in 1998, but the director didn’t come up with an ending; instead, he worked on the two parts of Kill Bill. After that, he returned to work on the movie filmed in Germany and France with a 70 million-dollar budget. The film was released on May 20, 2009, gaining 321 million dollars worldwide. Also, the film was nominated for many awards like Academy Awards for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role (Christoph Waltz), Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Achievement in Directing, Best Writing, Original Screenplay, Best Achievement in Cinematography, Best Achievement in Film Editing, Best Achievement in Sound Mixing, and Best Achievement in Sound Editing.
X-Men: First Class (2011):
It’s a superhero film based on the X-Men characters in Marvel Comics. The film talks about the period of the Cuban Missile Crisis and focuses on the relationship between Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto (Michael Fassbender). The film was released in the United States on 3 June 2011. It was a great success, becoming the seventh highest-grossing in the series and received positive reviews from critics and audiences, who praised its acting, screenplay, direction, and action sequences.
Jane Eyre (2011):
A romantic drama film based on Charlotte Brontë’s 1847 novel of the same name. The film was released in the United States, United Kingdom, and Ireland. The film’s costume design, led by Michael O’Connor, was nominated for an Academy Award. The film stars Michael Fassbender, Mia Wasikowska, and Judy Dench.
Shame (2011):
The film is a British drama filmed in New York City, starring Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan. The film’s explicit scenes reflect the protagonist’s sexual addiction. It was released on 13 January 2012.
A Dangerous Method (2011):
A German Canadian film in 2011, the screenplay was adapted by writer Christopher Hampton from his 2002 stage play The Talking Cure, based on the 1993 non-fiction book by John Kerr, A Most Dangerous Method. The takes set on World War I, A Dangerous Method describes the turbulent relationships between Carl Jung, founder of analytical psychology; Sigmund Freud, founder of the discipline of psychoanalysis; and Sabina Spielrein, initially a patient of Jung and later a physician and one of the first female psychoanalysts. The film premiered at the 68th Venice Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival 2011. The cast includes Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender, and Vincent Cassel.
Prometheus (2012):
A science fiction film, it is set in the late 21st century and centres on the crew of the spaceship Prometheus as it follows a star map discovered among the artefacts of several ancient Earth cultures. Seeking the origins of humanity, the crew arrives on a distant world and discovers a threat that could cause the extinction of the human species. The film was released in the United Kingdom on 1 June 2012, gaining 403 million dollars worldwide with a budget of 130 million. The film received great compliments on the design and acting, especially Michael Fassbender’s performance as the android David. At the same time, plot elements that remained unresolved or predictable were the primary source of criticism. The movie stars Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, and Charlize Theron.
12 Years a Slave (2013):
It’s a drama film based on an adaptation of the 1853 slave memoir. The movie talks about an African American who was kidnapped in Washington by two conmen in 1841 and sold into slavery. He was put to work on plantations in Louisiana for 12 years before being released. The film stars are Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Lupita Nyong’o, Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt, and Alfre Woodard.
The movie was named the best film in 2013 by several critics, with a budget of only 22 million dollars and gained over 187 million dollars. Also, the film was nominated for many awards and won three Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress for Nyong’o, in addition to the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Drama. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts recognized it with the Best Film Award and the Best Actor Award for Ejiofor. 12 Years a Slave was named the 44th most excellent film since 2000.
This film was a stepping stone in Fassbender’s career since he took on a different role than he had previously used to. This time, he played the villain so masterfully that he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role.
Steve Jobs (2015):
The film was based on a book of the same name, published in 2011. It covers the life of personal computing innovator and Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs. In supporting roles, Michael Fassbender portrayed Jobs’s character alongside Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen, Katherine Waterston, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Jeff Daniels.
The film was first released on 9 October 2015. People close to Jobs, such as Steve Wozniak and John Sculley, praised the film’s performances, but it also received criticism for its inaccuracy in some scenes. Michael was nominated for Best Actor at the 88th Academy Awards.
Macbeth (2015):
A British-French drama film based on William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, it stars Michael Fassbender in the title role and Marion Cotillard as Lady Macbeth. The film was released in the United Kingdom on 2 October and then in the United States on 4 December. The film received generally positive reviews from critics who praised Fassbender and Cotillard’s performances and those of the rest of the cast. Although the movie had a positive critical reaction, it wasn’t a success at the box office and only gained 16 million dollars with a budget of 20 million dollars.
Assassin’s Creed (2016):
It is an action movie based on a video game starring Michael Fassbender, who was also a producer, Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Irons, Brendan Gleeson, Charlotte Rampling and Michael K. Williams. The original story expands the series’ mythology, taking place during the Spanish Inquisition. The film was released on 21 December in the United States and had negative reviews from critics, but some said it was higher quality than most video game film adaptations. It gained 240 million dollars worldwide with a budget of 125 million dollars, becoming a box-office bomb and losing as much as $100 million for the studio.
X-Men: Apocalypse (2016):
A superhero movie, it’s based on the fictional X-Men characters that appear in Marvel Comics and is the ninth instalment in the X-Men film series. It is the sequel to X-Men: Days of Future Past 2014. The stars are James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Oscar Isaac, Nicholas Hoult, Rose Byrne, Tye Sheridan, Sophie Turner, Olivia Munn, and Lucas Till. The film was released in London on 9 May, 2016 and in the United States on the 27TH of May.
The Light Between Oceans (2016):
A romantic drama film based on the 2012 novel The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman. The film tells the story of a lighthouse keeper and his wife who rescue and adopt an infant girl adrift at sea. Years later, the couple discovers the child’s true parentage and faces the moral dilemma of their actions. The movie premiered at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival on 1 September 2016. The stars are Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, Rachel Weisz, Bryan Brown, and Jack Thompson. The film had mixed reviews and gained 26 million worldwide.
Alien: Covenant (2017):
The film is a sequel to Prometheus (2012), a science fiction horror movie. The film is the second instalment in the Alien prequel series and the sixth instalment overall in the Alien film series. The film was released on 12 May 2017 in the United Kingdom and received great reviews from critics. The film gained 240 million dollars worldwide with a budget of 111 million dollars. The movie stars are Michael Fassbender and Katherine Waterston, with Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, and Demián Bichir in supporting roles.
The Snowman (2017):
The film is a psychological crime horror based on the novel of the same name. The story revolves around a detective who tries to find a serial killer who uses snowmen as his calling card. The stars are Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Val Kilmer, and J. K. Simmons. The film was released on 13 October 2017 and earned 43 million dollars on a budget of 35 million dollars.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019):
Fassbender’s most recent movie, Dark Phoenix, gained 252 million dollars worldwide with a budget of 200 million dollars, so that makes it the lowest-gaining instalment in the series. The film was not favoured by critics, with many viewing it as a disappointing and anticlimactic conclusion to the X-Men series. The movie is a superhero film based on the Marvel Comics X-Men characters. It is the twelfth instalment of the X-Men film series and the sequel to 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse. The movie stars are James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Sophie Turner, Tye Sheridan, Alexandra Shipp, and Jessica Chastain.
Michaels Fassbender’s Series:
Fassbender worked on several TV productions through the 2000s, so in the next part, we’ll see some of his series.
Band of Brothers (2001):
An American war drama miniseries, it was the first Fassbender series. The series was based on historian Stephen E. Ambrose’s 1992 non-fiction book Band of Brothers. The executive producers were Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, who had collaborated on the 1998 World War II film Saving Private Ryan. The first episode aired on 9 September, and the series won Emmy and Golden Globe awards in 2001 for best miniseries.
The series dramatizes the history of “Easy” Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, of the 101st Airborne Division, from jump training in the United States through its participation in significant actions in Europe up until Japan’s capitulation and the war’s end.
Gunpowder, Treason and Plot (2004):
It was based on the lives of Mary, Queen of Scots and her son, James VI of Scotland; the series was filmed in Romania with a Scottish crew. The story is divided into two parts; the first film shows the relationship between Mary and her third husband, James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell. Scottish actor Robert Carlyle stars as James VI in the second part, which concentrates on the Gunpowder Plot, planned by Guy Fawkes, to blow up the Houses of Parliament to rid the nation of a Protestant monarch. The series stars are Clémence Poésy as Queen Mary, Kevin McKidd as James Hepburn, Robert Carlyle as James VI, Emilia Fox, and Michael Fassbender as Guy Fawkes.
Hex (2004-2005):
The story is set in a British television program, a remote English boarding school with a mysterious past. Series one explores the supernatural relationship between a fallen angel named Azazel and a student named Cassie, also a witch. In the second series, the story centres on 500-year-old anointed one Ella Dee and Azazeal’s son Malachi. The show was cancelled in April 2006 after the end of the second series. The series starring Michael Fassbender, Christina Cole and Jemima Rooper
The Devil’s Whore (2008):
A television series of four parts set during the English Civil War. It centres on the adventures of the fictional Angelica Fanshawe and the historical Leveller soldier Edward Sexby and spans 1638 to 1660. The script was started in 1997, and its budget was 7 million dollars. The series was filmed in South Africa, as the producers said that they didn’t find suitable “old English” locations in England.
Michael Fassbender Nominations and Awards:
Let’s look at Michael Fassbender’s nominations and the awards he has won throughout his career.
He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the movie 12 Years a Slave and Best Actor in a Leading Role for Steve Jobs. He won the Best Supporting Actor Award in 2014 at the AACTA International Awards for the film 12 Years an enslaved person and was nominated for Best Actor for his roles in Shame and Steve Jobs. He won the Best Actor Award in the British Independent Film Awards for his film Hunger in 2008 and the same award for his role in the movie Shame in 2011.
In 2010, he won the award for Best Ensemble in the movie Inglourious Basterds in the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards. In the Irish Film and Television Awards, he won the Rising Star Award and Best Actor in a Lead Role in a Film in Hunger in 2009. In his film Shame and Steve Jobs, he also won Best Actor in a Lead Role in a Film in 2012 and 2016. In the London Film Critics’ Circle, Fassbender won the British Actor of the Year for his movie Hunger in 2009 and the same award in 2010 due to his role in the movie Shame. In 2011, at the Venice Film Festival, one of the most famous film festivals in the world, Michael won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor for his role in the movie Shame.
Things you don’t know about Michael Fassbender:
- Michael Fassbender had to read the script of Macbeth 200 times before attending the first table read.
- Fassbender served as an altar boy at the church his family attended.
- He discovered he wanted to be an actor at age 17 when he was cast in a play by Donie Courtney.
- Before he found work as an actor, he did auditions interspersed with bartending stints and postal delivery.
- Michael Fassbender produced, directed, and starred in a stage version of Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs along with his production company.
- When he was 19, he moved to London to study at the Drama Centre in London.
There’s no denying that Michael Fassbender has become a renowned name in the entertainment business over the last decade. From war dramas to sci-fi to romance, he could handle different roles and master several film and television genres. His talent will undoubtedly continue to grow over the years to come.
