Fassbender isn’t your typical Co. Cork surname, but there’s no question that actor Michael Fassbender is an Irishman. Acclaimed for his starring roles in independent movies like Jane Eyre and Hunger, this week he hits the big leagues playing an unforgettable villain in X-Men: First Class.

Imagine the best James Bond film you’ve ever seen crossed with a full on superhero movie and you’re getting close to what X-Men: First Class serves up.

This is a film well worth getting into line for because within minutes of its opening, you’ll forget you’re watching a superhero movie at all. Thanks to the acting talent of Irish actor Michael Fassbender (with terrific support from Atonement’s James McAvoy) X-Men: First Class is a thinking persons action film. Which is to say, it’s badass.

There aren’t many actors out there who could convince you they have the ability to raise a nuclear submarine out of the sea through the power of their own thought, but Michael Fassbender makes it look easy.

That’s because he’s blessed with a once in a generation acting talent. He’s an Irish Marlon Brando in the making, and in 2011 the biggest film studios in Hollywood have finally caught on.

Playing a younger version of Magneto, the biggest anti-hero of the X-Men universe, Michael has invested his performance with so much depth and emotion that he’s deliberately blurred the line between fantasy action hero and flesh and blood man.

Better yet, he’s kept his Irish accent. Irish moviegoers will be delighted to hear him speaking in his refined southern Irish accent all the way through the new film.

"When I started filming I tried to take the edge of my accent, but it was something the director Matthew Vaughn actually liked".

“He said the reason that Sean Connery was the best James Bond was that he had this weird sort of quirk to his accent and it wasn’t straight English. I think that’s why he wanted me to maintain an element of my own Irish accent.

“I was like great, I can make Magneto Irish! He was in hiding in Cork or Kerry for a couple of years after the war. That’s where we sort of went with it.”

“You feel like a bit of an idiot. I mean, I put Magneto’s helmet on and I thought I’m a grown man, for God’s sake. Then you just realize you have to commit to it,” he says.

“It might look awful and it might be the wrong idea but I go for it 100%. And full credit to James McAvoy, he’s a great actor to partner up with in terms of availability and sensitivity. I knew I had a good ally there.”

Michael freely admits he wasn’t very interested in Magneto’s mutant superhero talents. He was, he says, more intrigued by the complex, damaged individual that Magneto is.

“I just liked the idea of blurring the line between villain and hero as much as possible. I wanted to show Magneto as a man with a huge pool of sorrow, there’s massive emotional hurt in him.”

“That’s way more interesting than just some guy, some baddie, who breezes though an action film. It adds a whole new dimension to the idea of a villain.”

“It was very clear to me what Magneto’s opinions were in terms of how much humanity can be trusted (not at all).”

“And listen, I love people, I believe we all need each other, that’s the essential thing for me in life. In the world it gets lost nowadays when people are all about the I -- how can I become successful, how can I get ahead?
We’re obsessed about the individual as opposed to working together. And it does seem to be a human trait that when we see something we’re afraid of we try to destroy it rather than understand it.”

There’s a gently made parallel in the film between the way the X-Men mutants are treated by human society and the way minorities, for example, are treated by the wider culture -- they’re grudgingly tolerated for their particular skills, but when push comes to shove they’re first to go.

“I agreed with everything Magneto said,” says Fassbender, commenting on his character’s distaste for the human society that he knows will discard him the moment he is no longer useful.

Meanwhile, Michael is looking for a quick trip back to Ireland.
“I didn’t catch President Obama’s visit to Ireland but Liam Cunningham (the Irish actor currently seen in the Irish made drama Camelot on the Starz network) sent me a text asking if I was coming over for it. But I’ve been going flat out for 18 months now with one 10-day break. Usually I get back around three times a year, usually around Easter time because my dad and I share a birthday in April. I actually really wanted to get home this week but it just wasn’t possible but I will be going in the next couple of weeks. I can’t wait!”


Original Source is Irish Central