Michael Fassbender by Jim Maloney Page B

human being.’
    Michael also stressed that the film was non-partisan. ‘To balance all that [prisoner cruelty] we show an IRA man gunning down a prison officer in cold blood, in a nursing home in front of his own mother and a room full of elderly residents,’ he said. ‘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.’
    Both the director and his leading man had much praise for each other. In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter , Steve expressed just how much he admired Michael’s talent as an actor. ‘He’s a game-changer. He’s got a vulnerability and sensuality that is very powerful. He’s got an extraordinary femininity while still being very much a man’s man. That’s what propels him to greater roles. Often with leading actors, there’s a place they go, but they don’t go all the way. There are actors and there are artists, and Michael is an artist.’
    Michael reciprocated by enthusing about the experience of working with Steve. ‘Everything about him was a real joy,’ he said. ‘He certainly brought out the best of me. It’s definitely the best work I’ve done to date and a lot of that’s down to him. He’s a pretty extraordinary person to work with.’
    Michael knew that Hunger would be a life-changing experience and he was truly grateful to be cast in the film.‘For somebody to take such a risk and give me the opportunity to do that was massive,’ he was later to recall. ‘In terms of me breaking into film and leading-man roles in film, Hunger , for sure, changed my life.’
    He also revealed that the ‘faeces’ smeared over the cell walls was actually chocolate mousse – ‘I could have wiped a bit off and eaten it!’
    Michael’s rapport with Liam Cunningham had developed into a friendship that was to last and he felt fortunate to have been working with him. ‘Liam and I had a great relationship when we were making the film and it was so important for our scene together,’ he said.
    While in Cannes he disclosed that he would be playing Heathcliff in a new movie version of Emily Bronte’s classic love story, Wuthering Heights . It was to be directed by John Maybury, who had directed The Jacket and The Edge of Love , both featuring Keira Knightley. ‘I’m very curious who they will cast as Cathy,’ Michael told reporters. ‘Heathcliff is a great role but I’m a bit nervous about it until I get my Yorkshire accent right.’ Pretty Australian actress Abbie Cornish, who had starred in Somersault, Bright Star and Sucker Punch , was later cast as Cathy.
     
    After his success at Cannes, a joyous Michael bid farewell to his parents and flew back out to South Africa to complete filming on The Devil’s Whore . It was then that he was telephoned by Andrea Arnold, a former children’s-TV presenter turned director, who wanted him to be in hernew movie, Fish Tank . It was only her second feature-length movie. Her first, Red Road , had focused on a female CCTV operator on a Glasgow housing estate who spots a face from the past on her monitor – one she had hoped she would never see again. She becomes obsessed with finding out more about this man so she follows him, stalker-like, in real life and on CCTV. The tension builds as viewers wonder what the connection is between the two but it is not until the end that the shocking truth is revealed. The film won several awards, including the Prix du Jury in Cannes in 2006 and the Carl Foreman Award at the British Academy Awards. A previous short, Wasp , had won an Oscar in 2005 for Best Live Action Short.
    Andrea gave Michael the concept of Fish Tank and told him the role she wanted him to play but not a full synopsis or even what would happen at the end because she did not want her cast to know the whole story. Michael had seen and enjoyed Red Road and he accepted the role without having read the