THE FASSBENDER INTERVIEW: Part 3
TODAY? Los Angeles. Tomorrow? Vienna. The day after that? Now that’s pushing it.
Michael Fassbender’s whirlwind film and promotional schedule has taken him all over the world and while London is his main base, what it always returns to is that Killarney is home and home is where the heart is.
He tries to return to his family in Fossa as often as his hectic schedule permits but his workload has been such, his opportunities to pull up a stool for a pint in a local pub – as he occasionally likes to do – or to spend an afternoon surfing at Inch have been few and far between.
“Killarney doesn’t seem to have changed and it will always be home. No matter where I am in the world I love to be able to say I’m from the Kingdom, I’m from Killarney and I’m from Fossa. When I’m home now I might go to The Speakeasy or Hussey’s for a pint and a chat instead of the busier spots. I now go to quiet places where I can talk to people and catch up with people. I love going out to Beaufort Bar,” he told KillarneyToday.com.
“The interaction in Killarney has been nothing but supportive and very positive. Elsewhere, it can be hard to be anonymous. Sitting in a restaurant you see people trying to film you or take a discreet photograph and it’s so easy to spot it.
“It’s the cult of social media. It’s such a large part of people’s free time and leisure time and people post their daily activities through Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. The upside is that I always get a nice table in a restaurant,” he chuckled.
Michael is anxious to see as much of his parents and sister, Catherine, as he possibly can but, nowadays, that more often than not means they have to travel to him rather than the Oscar nominated actor finding himself touching down in Farranfore.
”I’ve been working fairly solidly for a good few years now so a lot of times I would have mum and dad and Catherine come out to where I’m shooting. I was back home last Christmas and again in August,” he said.
And, of course, he returned briefly in October to accept the highest award his home town can offer, when he was inducted into the Order of Innisfallen.
Up until a few short years ago Josef and Adele Fassbender scarcely found time to travel to see their only son such were the demands of running the busy West End House restaurant in the premier tourist town in Ireland.
“It’s impossible in the tourism industry to get free time. They were working six days a week and the one month they would take off would be November so it’s great to see more of them now. We’re making up for lost time,” Michael said.
Family collection ©
In 2010 father and son Fassbender were fortunate enough to spend the trip of a lifetime in each other’s company when they embarked on an incredible six-week road trip on their motorcycles, touring Europe for over 5,000 miles with mum, Adele, meeting up with them at various locations.
Josef drove to London where Michael was waiting on his BMW 1200 GS and on they motored to Holland, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Croatia and Italy where the Venice Film Festival brought their epic journey to a close.
Josef returned to Ireland and Michael left his bike in Venice while he fulfilled some promotional duties in Toronto and New York. He returned to Venice immediately afterwards, however, hopped back on the bike and negotiated the Alps and down into Spain, taking in Barcelona and San Sebastian before heading back to London.
“It was fantastic. The first week was probably the toughest. We drove non-stop from Holland to Munich, in constant heavy drizzle. It took us eleven and a half hours and we didn’t have any wet gear,” Michael recalled.
The incredible bonding experience was something he will cherish and it made him realise just how determined his father actually is.
“Dad’s tough, he’s tough. I wanted to go camping but Dad said the one thing he didn’t want to do was camping. So we checked into nice hotels or B+Bs. It was one of the highlights of my life. They were great moments to be able to share with Dad.”
One of their encounters was with a local mayor in Croatia who told Michael, in his native tongue, that he reminded him of an animal.
“I had all these majestic animals in my head, like a wolf, or a tiger but then the translator told me that he was referring to a little animal with spikes. The guy thought I looked like a hedgehog,” he laughed.
But the said mayor was obviously a hedgehog lover as he provided a boat and captain for a week to allow the Fassbender family to tour the local islands.
“We all went on that trip and it was a real adventure,” Michael said.
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Tomorrow: Fassbender on his career. How difficult it was to make the breakthrough, his favourite roles and his plans for the future
