Michael Fassbender Read Free Page B

translates as ‘cooper’, Fass meaning ‘barrel’ and bender the person who made the barrels. But kids being kids, they were not interested in such humdrum explanations and took great delight in calling Michael ‘Slowbender’.
    After hearing from the parish priest, Father Galvin, that the spirit of God was always right next to them, Michael would make room for the spirit in his bed at night. ‘I’d make room for the teddy bears, Jesus and me,’ he smiled. At the age of 12 he became an altar boy and was given the responsibility of holding the keys to the church, which he had to open in the morning and lock at night. On a couple of occasions he overslept and, in a panic, rushed acrossfields to the church to find the whole congregation waiting to be let in.
    Michael was later to liken performing in a solemn Catholic church ceremony – mass, baptism or funeral – at the altar to being on stage. ‘The suspension of reality – the idea that wine turns into blood and bread turns into flesh – was a very visceral thing to deal with, and the ritual and theatre of it.’ But, he always wondered, why did he need to go to a priest for confession? If God was always by his side, why couldn’t he communicate directly with him?
    As a shy 12-year-old, Michael’s pastimes included making a bamboo bow and whittling tree branches into arrows for archery. He had a natural musical ear and learned to play the guitar and the accordion. Each week he attended Fossa Youth Club and joined in when some of them entertained local senior citizens, playing the accordion and being part of the dance team.
    Josef was keen that his son should work hard at school and Michael remembers him as being difficult to please. ‘If I came home with eighty per cent in a test, he’d ask, “What about the other twenty?” My dad drove it home to me that, if you’re going to do something, do it properly.’ This has certainly been his approach to acting. His intense preparation for each role would often amaze his co-actors and directors.
    Adele also inadvertently helped to shape her son’s future career. She had a passion for arts and loved movies. The German film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder –known as the ‘enfant terrible’ of the New German Cinema during the 1960s and 1970s for his provoking and often disturbing films – was one of her favourites. Although he was no relation to Josef Fassbender – and the spelling is different – Michael always joked that the similarity of names was one of the reasons why his mother had married Josef.
    Adele was particularly fond of 1970s American cinema. Her favourite actor was John Cazale, who played Fredo Corleone in The Godfather and Sal in Dog Day Afternoon . Sadly he died of cancer in 1978 at the age of 42, having made just five feature films. They are all widely regarded as classics, however, the other three being The Conversation, The Godfather: Part II and his final film, The Deer Hunter .
    Michael became as big a fan of Cazale as his mother, along with the stylish yet naturalistic crime films of the era, including Mean Streets, Serpico and Taxi Driver . ‘It was a golden era and Cazale didn’t put a foot wrong with his movie choices,’ Michael once explained. ‘He played unappealing, cowardly, sickly characters. He was very good at releasing any ego and bringing these characters to a very real space without making them very clichéd.’ Cazale would be a big influence when Michael turned to acting. Other actors he admired included Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Gene Hackman, Sean Penn, Robert Mitchum and Montgomery Clift.
    As the awkward adolescent years kicked in, Magnum P.I . was usurped as his favourite TV show by Wonder Woman . This starred Lynda Carter as a sexy superhero who would quickly change into her skimpy outfit of tight, cleavage-enhancing bodice, pants and