That Fassbender Guy

Newly released images of Michael from last summer's Comic Con.

Michael with Hollywood biz dude types and Christoph Waltz at the NYFCC in January.

I received a very nice email from a reader today complimenting Fassinating Fassbender on being her favorite Michael Fassbender website. And since FF hasn't been updated in a week, I'm sure her contacting me was to also give me a kind nudge to hurry and write a new blog entry. LOL! I've been very busy on top of there being no new information to write about Michael. However, it was my intention to post something today. Uh huh, I swear!

I was reading at ONTD! about an Inglourious Basterds party from the weekend. And although many cast members and A-D list celebrities were in attendance, Michael Fassbender was no where to be found. A person succinctly posted that "he's busy working!" Damn right! Fassy is in Ireland now working on 'Knockout', he doesn't have time to party in Hollywood at an Oscar pimping party for Basterds. Again, this just demonstrates that Michael is an ACTOR, not a "celebrity".

In regards to another film Michael will be filming this year, the one you all are very excited about as per the current FF poll, 'Jane Eyre', this evening it was announced by The Hollywood Reporter that Sally Hawkins ('Happy Go Lucky') and Dame Judi Dench will also be in the movie. Very good news as I like these ladies. This is forming up to be a high quality re-visioning of Jane Eyre.

And lastly, I just happened upon the new website of two regular posters here at FF. It seems that Elena and Olga have established their own fan website celebrating the career and life of Michael and I encourage you all to check it out as it has a lot of older images of Michael that I have never seen. It's a nice historical fan collection of Michael at the beginning of his acting career. Some links to images are not working properly at the moment, but hopefully they will fix them soon. If you're interested, go check out http://www.michaelfassbender.org .

Inglourious Basterds Oscar nominations [updated]

Like millions of other Oscar lovers, I watched with abated breath as the Academy announced the 2009 Oscar nominations. So far, Inglourious Basterds has been nominated in 8 categories that were announced live a few moments ago, they are:

Best Picture: Inglourious Basterds - Lawrence Bender
Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz
Original Screenplay: Inglourious Basterds
Best Director: Quentin Tarantino
Cinematography
Film Editing
Sounding Editing
Sound Mixing

No other acting nominations besides the wonderful Waltz, I was hoping either Kruger, Laurent, or Fassbender would pull surprises, but the academy went with the flow and was safe.

More Oscar coverage as I learn of the other categories that Basterds was nominated in.

Ok, after reviewing the full list of nominees and seeing which films and performances made the cut, my usual whine mode clicked on as I realize who was snubbed and who got in. I'm really, really pissed that The Road didn't get shit. Not even Cinematography which is a great category to be nominated in and win IF you get fucked over in all other categories. Also, I realize that IB was not listed in Costume or Art Direction. That is a snub of the highest order and would have given the Basterds 10 nominations, and don't get me started with an 11th by having another valuable cast member nominated.

Last night, I used redbox for the first time to rent 'The Hurt Locker', and OMG, that movie was brilliant! I would not be irritated in the least if it won Best Picture, and Kathryn Bigelow would absolutely deserve Best Director. But I'm still rooting for Basterds. And although I have seen and completely enjoyed Avatar, it does not deserve to win Best Picture of Best Director.

So, these next 5 weeks are going to be a trip. I reckon Michael Fassbender need not bother to get his tux steam cleaned for the March 7th ceremony. Besides, he'll be busy filming in Ireland/New Mexico on 'Knockout'.

POTW: Work it boy!

Fussy Fassy hair!

There's no doubt he's a glorious red head. Why have people been hiding these pictures?

Ginger Ray bans to match his hair! Michael knows how to accessorize! Photos by Dave Edwards

The POTW is coming a day early (added two more for a treat). I won't be online at all Friday. And I'm not even going to lie, I have been so busy the past two days prepping for a hot job interview today with a cool Japanese company, so I was not able to update FNN this week as promised. So please understand and cross your fingers for me.

Anyhoo, the Fassy Gods tossed me some crumbs and I found this dated, but just added to cyberspace photo of Michael. He's playing with his hair, doing with it what we only dream of doing to it. Amongst other things we think of doing with/to him. And according to this EW.com article on Michael, when he's recognized, cool things happen: In the rare instance when he does get recognized, it's likely for his dapper — and quotable — British army lieutenant in Inglourious Basterds. Just how quotable? ''I was at a restaurant yesterday talking to the bartender,'' says Fassbender, who'll be seen as a henchman in this summer's Jonah Hex. ''He was like, 'Well, if this is it, old boy, you don't mind if I go out speaking the King's?' That was very cool.'' Just like the man himself.

Inglourious Basterds signed posters up for auction!

I just received an email from Jean of the SAG Foundation informing me of a hot auction for two signed Inglourious Basterds posters benefiting the foundation. The posters are signed by Michael Fassbender, Diane Kruger, Melanie Laurent, Brad Pitt, Eli Roth, Rod Taylor, Christoph Waltz and Quentin Tarantino. It's a must have for a die hard Basterds fan.

Go here and here to bid on these posters! Good luck!

Fassbender Fotos: Oldies but Goodies

In light of all the Inglourious Basterds chatter since the Best Ensemble win at the SAGs Saturday night, Fassinating Fassbender has been receiving record visits to the blog. Hiya! Amazingly still, loads of people don't know much about Michael. I was able to find a few images that I have not seen before that I thought old fans as well as new fans will find value in.

Michael at the London '300' premiere in 2007. Three whole years ago. At the NYmag.com interview, a poster was clueless about Michael being in '300'. WTH? But, I understand what her problem was. She said she watched it five times and wasn't looking at their FACES. LOL! But only five times? I've seen it well over hundred times, I'm not lying. I even cite all of Stelios' dialogue. For reals.

Don't hate, I'm just doing my j-o-b. These two images are of Michael and his lady friend Leasi Andrews at the Cannes after party for Basterds last year. I just found these pics tonight. He looks very good and happy as hell. Happy smiley Michael is nice!

What's so funny Michael? This was the Jonah Hex press junket during Comic Con last summer after the awkward fan Q&A where none of the no life having arrested development comic geeks didn't appreciate Michael's presence next to their Queen Megan, nor his sense of humor. This is obviously, a more mature and professional audience where Michael is having more fun. Michael was quoted in one interview afterwards saying that the CC experience was different from Cannes, and he was bummed out that the geeks "hated me". Awwwww Michael.

I posted this at the FassFass twitter the other day. I just like looking at it. I don't have an interest to see 'Eden Lake' again, but Michael did look fantastic in it... before shit hit the fan. I love horror films, I even rented the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre today, but I can't watch repeatedly an actor/actress that I adore get brutalized. It's just not normal.

Michael Fassbender @ SAG and red carpet

One day, these two fine actors will star in a film together. Michael Fassbender and Daniel Day-Lewis, the actor that Michael is often compared to as being the next 'DDL'.

Eli Roth, Michael and Jacky Ido on the red carpet of the Screen Actor's Guild Awards. Hollywood Insider Nikki Finke calls the Inglourious Basterds win an Upset. Come on Nikki, you're smarter than that girl!

The Bender Boys have a huggy moment after Basterds won!

It's going to be great seeing Michael and Christoph Waltz work together on David Cronenberg's 'A Talking Cure' with Keira Knightley.

ps. it appears all that gossip talk late last night about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie breaking up was false.

I'll post more pictures later as I find them, especially non watermarked versions.

The Basterds Won the SAG Award!

Michael and the cast of Inglourious Basterds on stage at the Screen Actor's Guild Awards winning Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture!

LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 23: (L-R) Actors Michael Fassbender, Christoph Waltz, Jacky Ido, B.J. Novak, Diane Kruger, Omar Doom and Eli Roth accept the Cast In A Motion Picture award onstage for 'Inglourious Basterds' onstage at the 16th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards held at the Shrine Auditorium on January 23, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

I knew in my heart that the cast of Inglourious Basterds would win the Screen Actor's Guild Award for Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture! And as I speculated, Michael Fassbender attended! Congratulations to the cast of Inglourious Basterds, you deserved this win and this win strenghtens your Oscar chances!

If Michael was on the red carpet, I will track them dang pictures down and post them asap!

Will Michael Attend the SAG Awards?

The Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG) will air Saturday night, 23 January. Inglourious Basterds is up for the coveted Best Ensemble award and the winner of this award is an excellent precursor for which film could win the Best Picture award at the Oscars. I have been reading the SAG Predictions and Analysis thread at Gold Derby and it seems that a lot of people strongly feel that Basterds have this award in the bag. I mean, come on, look at this ensemble cast listing:


FILM ENSEMBLE:
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
(Daniel Bruhl, August Diehl, Julie Dreyfus, Michael Fassbender, Sylvester Groth, Jacky Ido, Diane Kruger, Melanie Laurent, Denis Menochet, Mike Myers, Brad Pitt, Eli Roth, Til Schweiger, Rod Taylor, Christoph Waltz, Martin Wuttke)


In Inglourious Basterds, you have a cast of actors that hail from North America, France, England, Germany, Ireland, and Austria. The film has dialogue in English, French, Italian, and German. And there is no weak link - all primary actors did an outstanding job in their performances. There are A-list celebrities, along with rising stars, and newcomers. So with that all said, it would be a great injustice if Basterds does not win the SAG for Best Ensemble. All actors listed above qualify to receive a SAG award if they win.

I believe Michael is in LA at the moment, or will be soon enough, and if that's the case, I am hoping he plans to attend the event. It would be excellent to see him with his cast members up on stage holding onto his very own SAG award. Although I have to work, I'll write about it and post pictures from the red carpet as soon as I can that evening. Also, Christoph Waltz has an opportunity to win two SAGs as he is also nominated for Best Supporting actor. He's on a crazy streak and I see no reason for him to go empty handed from SAG.

Here are a few more images of Michael from New York last week that I found tonight. And I would like to thank Razia for her wonderful comment in the guestbook. xoxo

Michael is Ireland bound!

After Michael finishes filming new scenes and re-shooting scenes for Jonah Hex this month in LA, he will head off to Ireland to start filming 'Knockout' in the Dublin area for several weeks. According to the Kerryman and The Irish Times, big production films like this helmed by an Oscar winning director like Steve Soderbergh can bring work to hundreds of people during these difficult economic times in Ireland. The city is quite excited about Michael's movie being filmed at Dublin Docklands, Dublin Airport, the Shelbourne Hotel, as well as other locations in the city centre and Co Wicklow. Knockout was written to specifically feature Dublin as the city the film is centered around. Kudos to Dublin!

This is the first film since Hunger that Michael will have filmed in Ireland, so he must be excited and proud about that. And even though Knockout is not at the top of the Fassy Must See Movie list as per the current poll, I know all of us are interested in it and will go see it in droves... it's just that you all are more interested in the classic period piece love story of Jane Eyre that you want to see Michael in the most. And speaking of Hunger just for a moment, according to some of the interviews Michael has given recently, I have learned that his weight actually got down to 126 lbs. He LOST 30 pounds to get to that, so his natural weight is around 156-160. What a tiny dude! And speaking of him being slender, Nathaniel Rogers wrote an article at Towleroad about Michael in Fish Tank (in the article he provided a link to FF), and although the comments were supportive of Michael's role and felt his entrance scene was worth the price of admission, some people deem him to be way too skinny.

By now, Michael must be exhausted by all the interviews he has done as of late, but there are still a few interviews out there that stand out and make you laugh and learn even more about Michael. Today Metro.co.uk posted their interview with Michael and I love it. When asked about Katie Jarvis and how was Michael when he was her age, he said, "I was pretty clueless and irresponsible when I was 17. I had long hair and wanted to be the guitarist in a heavy metal band. When I realised I wasn’t good enough to be a guitarist, I decided I wanted to be an actor." I reckon he made the right choice. But I would love to see a picture of him when he was just a wee lad with long hair and a clueless attitude. He also reveals that his aunt's evil poodle bit him in the ass when he was ten, and if he were a kangaroo, he would have a bottle of whiskey in his pouch. The dude is mental and I love it!

Anyway, back on the Irish chit chat. As you see, the FF banner has been changed to green because I'm yapping about things Ireland. See, I didn't lie to you about the changing color façade of the banner. I'll keep it up throughout February since he'll be there. And since he will be in Ireland for several weeks, I'm hoping Michael plans to attend the Irish Film and Television Awards on February 20th. He has received a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his excellence in Fish Tank, and he is in competition with: Simon Delaney (Happy Ever Afters), Michael Gambon (Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince), and Aidan Quinn (The Eclipse). I'm hoping Michael wins this category as it will be his second year in row winning an IFTA award. Last year he won the Best Actor for Hunger, and the Rising Stah award!

If you go to the IFTA website, you will see all the nominees for this year. And to my surprise, on their front page, they still have the same celebrity banner from 2007 and earlier. I thought that maybe they would have incorporated Michael Fassbender onto this year's front page since he was a double winner last year and promises to be a hot acting Irish commodity for years to come. So why not capitalize on his growing popularity, his double wins last year, and feature him on an updated celebrity montage for the IFTA front page? Oh, if only I ruled the world...

I will post a Fassy News Network newsletter later this week. It will be published bi-weekly and again, I cannot stress enough how each subscriber needs to make sure that FNN is not going into their spam folder and reaching you in a timely matter. If you have any questions about FNN, want to read a past issue, or have comments, please don't hesitate to contact me via email.

Along with the delicious Fish Tank screencap at the top of this article, just below are a few more images that I found this morning that are dated, but still new to the lot of us. Enjoy!

Michael Fassbender is in the Big Leagues

My head is swirling a bit at the moment in trying to keep track of the constant bombardment of interviews with Michael this week in preparation for the wide US release of Fish Tank. But I'm doing a good job in filtering through the interviews and finding the articles that are true gems. I want to share with you three Michael interviews as I feel they each highlight something unique in each interview and bring out something in Michael that makes the interviews more informative and fun to read.

As I post nearly daily at Awards Daily (AD), I discovered this morning that one of the regular contributors at AD, Stephen Holt, interviewed Michael! I quickly read the interview and just came to admire Stephen's interview style and his ability to make it an informal and personal interview with Michael. I reckon it's the standard formality of interviews with Michael that has made some of the interviews repetitive in tone and generic. It's no fault of Michael, but what most interviewers lack that Stephen has is a real genuine appreciation for the art of film making, and having a true interest in the subject matter. Upon reading Stephen's interview with Michael, it's clear he is a massive fan of Michael, and surely Michael picked up on that and came to feel more relaxed and comfortable in the interview. And as you will read yourself, it is revealed that Stephen and Michael shared a mutual beloved friend who died on January 2nd. Michael became emotional during the interview in discussing their friend understandably. And because Stephen knew their friend, Michael Dwyer, a highly respected openly gay film critic in Ireland, it just made this moment more honest and evokes our sympathies.

SH: Going to be at the Oscars?

MF: Yeah, well, it’s pretty crazy. Y’know, I’ve sort of watched it from a young age, and then to, you know, be amongst it, would be great.

SH: I think you’re just as fine an actor as Daniel Day Lewis is. You’re sort of like the younger version. For your generation. The Next Generation.

MF: Whoa…thank you, man. That’s a massive compliment. That’s very sweet. Obviously, for me, Daniel Day Lewis is in a league of his own. I think that he’s amazing. And he’s always been a benchmark of excellence. So that’s a massive compliment, absolutely massive. Thank you.

SH: You’re welcome. And you’re so polite. And you know something? You knew a friend of mine who just died, recently, Michael Dwyer.

MF:(choking up) Oh god! I know! Oh, how terrible! I know! He went to the same school as me! And I missed his funeral!

SH: In Tralee?

MF: In Killarney. He went to the St. Brendan’s College.

SH: I have a TV show here in NY and I also cover film festivals, and he was a regular on my program, everytime he was in Toronto.

MF: And want a beautiful man he was!

SH: He was incredible! We talked about you at one point.

MF: Oh really?

SH: He knew all your family. He said, your father is from Germany. And your mother is Irish.

MF: We sat together in Cannes. I met him in Cannes for “Hunger,” and I said, “Well, come and join us.” And then we all had a meal together. My parents were there with me.

SH: I’m gonna give Michael a moment here.

MF: Yes, let’s do that.

I asked Stephen if it was ok for me to post a link to his interview as well as post a link to his show on YouTube. He delightfully gave me his permission and specifically stated that if we wanted to see the interview between him and Michael Dwyer, in which they discuss Michael Fassbender during TIFF 2008, I could post that link too. And so I shall. Go here to see the Dwyer interview, it's lovely. And to read Stephen's interview in its entirety at Awards Daily, go here. I hope to meet Stephen at TIFF 2010, because as you will see at the end of the Dwyer interview, he's a riot and just LOVES T.O. & TIFF like I do!

And in my emails with Stephen this afternoon, he told me that if I wanted to see just how big Michael is getting, that I should go to the Times Out New York (TONY) site to read their article/interview on him. And yet again, it's another cool and revealing interview with our man. Check out Michael's TONY interview. I just love his attitude and sense of humor.

And last but not least, Slant magazine interviewed Michael and it's funny how he drives the female interviewer crazy with lust. Can't blame the sister can we? Boy, it makes me want to see Fish Tank again, right now! If you're a regular reader of FF who hasn't seen Fish Tank yet but plan to this week or soon afterwards, please share your review of the film. I'm very curious as to how you all thought about it. Hey, sounds like I need to make another poll.