In the pantheon of romantic icons, Edward Rochester occupies the central podium among the other smoldering, wounded nineteenth-century iconoclasts like Heathcliff, and Fitzwilliam Darcy, and Newland Archer. Put another way: If there were a Lollapalooza-like festival for literary romantic heroes, Edward Rochester would be the headlining act, with his set kicking off sometime after the guys from Arcade Fire and Radiohead had already cleared the stage.

That's a lot to live up to for any actor who takes on the role of Rochester. Fortunately, Michael Fassbender not only embraces the pressure to perform — he seems to thrive on the stuff.

"What I liked about Rochester in particular is that he's not a good guy or a bad guy; there's ambiguity there. I realized I was taking on the Byronic hero. And once I locked onto that, I had everything I needed for the role. There's intelligence, there's self-destructiveness, there's this idea of a shady past. There's a flawed personality. There's someone who doesn't like the conforms of society. There's a rebel, really."

"Rochester doesn't have any friends. It's the classic thing that he doesn't like himself much. So he does damaging things to himself. He's got so many layers up when Jane comes along and she just starts peeling them off one by one and starts to heal this guy. I think it's quite beautiful when two human beings can come together and start to heal each other."

"Jane's so sure of herself and her morals are very strong, while Rochester's all over the place... He appears to have all the answers but she actually has a better grasp on things than she does. That's what's really cool about it. The Bronte's wrote these books and the women are strong and there is a real balance between the male and the female. It's the same with Cathy and Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights. It's a different sister obviously — Emily Bronte — but in that book as well, he's weaker in certain areas and she's stronger. I love that, when you can put two very strong-willed characters together and see what sparks fly."

For instance, he has yet to see "Jane Eyre" and has no plans to do so until he’s sitting in a packed theater on the night of the film's premiere. "That's kind of what I do every time," says the actor, forever in search of his next stress test. "I wait until the premiere and because it's me being at my peak nervousness I get the full experience."


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