Wendy Mitchell in Cannes

Michael Fassbender, star of Un Certain Regard opener Hunger, has been confirmed for the role of Heathcliff in Ecosse Films’ new Wuthering Heights.

HanWay films is handling internationals sales.

John Maybury is directing the project, which is now searching for a new Cathy after Natalie Portman pulled out last week.

Fassbender previously appeared in 300 and also in Joel Schumacher’s forthcoming Creek.

Ecosse’s Robert Bernstein, who is producing, said: “Heathcliff is one of the most powerful and iconic romantic roles, Fassbender is now the most exciting British contemporary actor”.

“Heathcliff is the blueprint for all modern romantic leading men - Fassbender has a touch of genious about him – he’ll be a revelation - brooding, wild and dangerous - he could be a Brando for Britain”, added HanWay’s Tim Haslam.

Posted by Fassinator Forum Staff on 16 May 2008

The premiere of Hunger is taking Cannes by storm!

Congratulations to Michael, Steve McQueen and the gang!

We are so happy that the movie has been received well with the press.

Here is what the press is saying about Michael's performance:

At the 61st annual festival, the first new star has to be Michael Fassbender, who plays an IRA rebel who goes on a hunger strike in a British prison in the early 1980s

It has a raw power, much of it derived from Fassbender’s performance.

As Sands, Michael Fassbender gives an intense, fearless performance, both emotionally and physically.

Michael Fassbender portrays hunger striker Bobby Sands and he's superb.

Michael Fassbender (300) has already received kudos this week for his performance as the hunger-striking IRA leader Bobby Sands in director Steve McQueen's Hunger.

For all the power in this central scene, which features bravura work from McMahon and Fassbender.

Read more in the forum News

Posted by Fassinator Forum Staff on 16 May 2008

The front page has had a few things added to it - first of all, a big congratulations to Michael sign - today, Hunger will premiere at Cannes Film Festival!

Secondly, we have a few new features on the site and its something a few lovely people have been working on for me (thank you ladies! you are amazingly talented)... so, I'd like to tell you all about the new Myspaces that MFO features:

Posted by R-J on 15 May 2008

Dalya Alberge
Source

Method-acting has a new torchbearer, in the emaciated form of an Irish actor who has redefined the notion of suffering for one's art.

Michael Fassbender, 31, starved himself for two months to play the IRA hunger-striker Bobby Sands in Hunger, which had its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival last night.

The film's makers believe his weight loss was essential for a convincing portrait of Sands's final weeks before he died, aged 27, in the Maze prison in Belfast in 1981. Fassbender's appearance was so frail that one doctor's receptionist said on seeing the actor: “That guy is really ill.”

Hunger is the directorial debut of the artist Steve McQueen, a former war artist in Iraq, and is one of the few British films singled out for this year's official programme.

Memory of Bobby Sands returns to haunt IRA leadership
McQueen, 38, told The Times yesterday: “This film is about a person who, in order to be heard, didn't eat. I knew from the beginning that we had to do it for real.

“It [hunger] really focused Michael on the role. He changed as a person, becoming clearer and more inward-looking. He's naturally lean and muscular, and he became skeletal. What was taken away was the muscle. You could see the skeleton on [Fassbender's] rib-cage and the hollows in the side of his head.”

Fassbender, who dropped from 73kg (166lb) to 57kg, survived on a diet of nuts, berries and sardines — about 500 calories a day. “I'd be lying if I said it wasn't tough,” he said.

Sands, who was jailed for weapons offences, was the IRA's most prominent martyr and the first of ten prisoners to die on hunger strike.

Posted by R-J on 15 May 2008

After a few articles of a similar nature, I thought I should post one on the mainpage:

Source

The German-born, Killarney-raised actor Michael Fassbender is in advanced negotiations to play Heathcliff in the new film version of Emily Bronte's 'Wuthering Heights'.

Variety reports that the film will be directed by British director John Maybury ('The Jacket', 'Love is the Devil') and is due to begin shooting in the autumn.

Natalie Portman, who had been due to star in the film, has left the project due to a scheduling conflict.

Fassbender also starred in the blockbuster '300'; his new film 'Hunger', in which he portrays hunger striker Bobby Sands, will be screened at the Cannes Film Festival this month.

Posted by R-J on 12 May 2008

The gallery has been updated with a few merchandise images from 300 - like the board game! Click here for more info! Thank you Lorna for sending me the link :)

Posted by R-J on 07 May 2008

With special thanks to Lorna, you can now view a scan in the gallery of Stelios as featured in the 300 playing cards.

Posted by R-J on 07 May 2008

The gallery has been updated with an article sent in by the lovely Lorna (thank you!) which featured in the Daily Mail today.

Posted by R-J on 02 May 2008

Film on Sands’ hunger strike set for Cannes
Source

Wednesday April 30 2008

A FILM based on the last six weeks in the life of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands is to have its world premiere at next month’s Cannes Film Festival.

The film will portray Sands’ final days before he died in Maze Prison in May 1981, shortly after being elected an MP.

The screenplay for Hunger is by Irish playwright Enda Walsh, whose critically acclaimed plays have included Disco Pigs, Bedbound and The Walworth Farce .

The film is the first directed by Steve McQueen, the British artist who won the Turner Prize in 1999.

“The body as site of political warfare is becoming a more familiar phenomenon. It is the final act of desperation. Your own body is your last resource for protest,” he said.

“What I want to convey is something you can't find in books or archive, the ordinariness and extraordinariness of life in this prison.

“Yet also the film is an abstraction in a certain way, a meditation on what it is like to die for a cause,” he added.

In Hunger, Bobby Sands is played by German-born, Killarney- raised actor Michael Fassbender (31), who featured as Stelios in the historical epic 300, a major box-office success last year.

He first came to fame in a Guinness commercial, as a man who swims the Atlantic to heal a rift with a friend in the US.

In an interview before Hunger started filming, Fassbender said: “Naturally for us in Ireland the theme has special interest, but the unique way in which Steve McQueen will tell the story is something new.”

Dublin actor Liam Cunningham features as a priest in the film, which was financed by Channel 4, Northern Ireland Screen and the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland. It is hotly tipped for the prestigious slot of opening the official Cannes sidebar section, Un Certain Regard.

The 61st Cannes Film Festival runs from May 14 to 25.

Congratulations Michael and we all hope to see you at Cannes!

Posted by R-J on 30 Apr 2008

With many thanks to Lorna for the information:

According to John Simm talking at the BAFTA Awards on Sunday on Sky News, he said they will start shooting soon in South Africa on the Devils Whore.

Posted by R-J on 22 Apr 2008