Michael Fassbender is officially a Hollywood leading man

Cork actor takes Hollywood by storm but stays close to his Irish origins

Michael Fassbender is having a banner year. The Irish actor, whose breakout role as Bobby Sands in Hunger first catapulted him to fame, will soon be seen in the sure fire summer blockbuster X-Men: First Class. Meanwhile he’s starring in Jane Eyre, an accomplished new period drama that will settle his status as a romantic Hollywood leading man. CAHIR O’DOHERTY talks to the actor whose mother is a descendant of Michael Collins and who, for all his fame, always remembers his Irish origins.

Michael Fassbender, 33, is pouring himself a cup of coffee in the penthouse of the Waldorf Hotel on Saturday morning. Wearing a simple grey designer t-shirt, jeans and sneakers, he looks more like a typical New Yorker than a Hollywood clotheshorse.

But when he turns slightly to say hello and flashes a megawatt smile there’s no denying his charisma or his good looks, because this man is a movie star after all.

“Would you like cup yourself?” he asks, in the Irish way, and for a moment one of the hottest male actors in the world is a Starbucks barista.

Meeting him isn’t like meeting other international celebrities, in other words -- possibly because he’s brighter, more charismatic and, I suppose, Irish. You’ll wait a long time for a Hollywood type to offer to make you coffee.

Fassbender has starred opposite Brad Pitt in Inglourious Basterds, he’ll play the lead in this summer’s highly anticipated X-Men: First Class, and he’ll also do the honors in the reboot of director Ridley Scott’s Aliens franchise, this time titled Prometheus.

Add to that his turn as psychologist Karl Jung opposite Keira Knightley in A Dangerous Method and a new version of Excalibur directed by Madonna’s ex-husband Guy Ritchie, and you’ll notice his dance card is quite full.

Quietly, without much fanfare, the softly spoken Co. Kerry resident has become a sought-after star, but it’s his award-winning role as Bobby Sands in Hunger that still gets him most animated.

“That job is still one of the closest to my heart and I’m actually reunited with the director Steve McQueen here in New York,” Fassbender tells the Irish Voice. “We’re doing his new film, we’ve done one week already and we’re back in tomorrow again. It’s called Shame and I can’t really say anything other than that.”

It’s an interesting inheritance, being both Irish and German, and he’s the first one to laugh at it himself.

“It’s totally schizophrenic isn’t it? Irish and German is such an odd mix. It’s discipline and something else isn’t it?

“I do think I have the German discipline in my work but I don’t have it in any other aspect of my life! I do my homework; I’m very serious about preparing my roles. And the Irish part is that we’re steeped in such cultural riches, for such a small island.”

Although Fassbender speaks fluent German there’s no doubt where his loyalties lie. Pride in his country comes out in discussion.

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Nster.com