Not only was Michael Fassebender’s portrayal  of Bobby Sands mesmerizing in last year’s Camera D’or winning film “Hunger,”  his physical transformation for the role was equally impressive.

The strapping 6-foot actor, born in Germany and raised in Killarney, lost over 35 pounds for the role to accurately portray the wasting body of Sands as the hunger strike wore on.

Fassbender went to L.A., found a place on the beach and shed weight with the warmth of the sun on his back. Surviving on nuts, berries and sardines, the actor dropped the pounds over a 10-week period.

However, as he recently revealed, the weight wasn’t the only thing he lost.

“I was so focused, it was unbelievable. I felt I had the answers to so many things. What was also interesting was that my libido left me," Fassbender told the Sunday Times Culture magazine.

“Who was that writer who said he was glad when he reached his 70s and his libido left? It’s like the shackles being taken off.”

No better place to lose the shackles than a beach in L.A., as Fassbender went on to deliver a career-changing performance in the Steve McQueen-directed movie of the last 60 days of IRA prisoner Bobby Sands’ life.

Fassbender is on the big screen at the moment in Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds.”