Slave movie boosts Fassbender profits

Co Kerry man, Michael Fassbender’s role as a vicious slave owner in the Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave helped propel accumulated profits at the movie star’s firm UK firm past €500,000 last year. 

New accounts just filed by Fassbender’s Barrelmaker Ltd with Companies House in the UK, show that the firm’s accumulated profits increased by 23% from £329,002 to £405,462 (€507,219) in the 12 months to the end of December last.

The boost in fortunes for the Fassbender firm coincided with the worldwide release of the 12 Years a Slave that won Best Movie at the Oscars this year and has so far generated $187m at the box office.

The Steve McQueen-directed movie was the latest in a string of box offices hits that Fassbender has starred in.

In 2012, Fassbender starred in Prometheus after playing the lead role in Shame for which he received numerous awards and nominations, including a Bafta award for Best Actor and a Golden Globe nomination.

Fassbender’s latest box office smash was the recently released X-Men: Days of Future Past.

The returns for Barrelmaker show that cash at the firm jumped last year from £311,700 to £426,892.

Fassbender’s high-flying career also includes prominent roles in the Oscar-nominated Inglorious Basterds; X-Men — First Class; playing Bobby Sands in the 2008 Hunger; and a role in Stephen Spielberg’s Band of Brothers.

Born in Germany, Fassbender, moved with his family to Killarney, Co Kerry at the age of two, and attended Fossa National School and St Brendan’s College in Killarney.

The 36-year old did his first acting in Killarney with a local theatre group, Bric Rua.

In a recent press interview reflecting on his success as a movie-star, Fassbender said: “Every day I wake up and I’m thankful because when I started out, my ultimate goal was to work with great filmmakers, great actors and tell great stories. And that’s what I feel I’m doing. I am so spoiled. I get to travel the world and I got to choose my profession.”