“From the start of my career, I’ve been naked,” Michael Fassbender said with a laugh. He was sitting cross-legged on the floor of his hotel room in downtown Manhattan, tearing into a breakfast of eggs, potatoes, bacon, and toast from a room service tray atop an upholstered bench at the foot of the bed. “My first job was a commercial for SAS airlines,” he continued, as he pushed the bacon to the side. “In the spot, I wake up in a pink room next to a beautiful blonde girl and get out of bed naked. From that point forward, it’s been in all of my contracts: He must be naked in this film.”
Fassbender, 34, dressed in a pair of worn jeans, a blue button-down shirt, and a leather bomber jacket, laughed again. He is Irish and has a lilting flair for leavening the serious with humor. Though in person Fassbender’s blue eyes contain mischief and an infectious lightness, they mask what is often a brooding, secretive darkness on film, along with a startling intensity."
Fassbender smiled: “I must admit—I initially thought it might be fun. You hear ‘sex,’ and you think…sex!” he said. “But this was definitely the hardest job I’ve done. I can usually shake a character off, but I couldn’t shake Brandon. He had no sensual enjoyment in his life, and since we filmed the movie so quickly, I found myself living in his skin. Keeping him close to me was exhausting, cold, horrible.” He pushed away his food. “As Brandon, I never ate. He had one container of Chinese food in his fridge. All that sex and he didn’t have any pleasure.” Fassbender paused. “That sad container of noodles tells you more about Brandon than any nudity.”