Fassbender dives into role

Irish actor Michael Fassbender has admitted to an unlikely inspiration for his latest role playing a robot in Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel — Olympic diver Greg Louganis.

The actor, who plays android David in the sci-fi epic Prometheus, said he was inspired by performances including David Bowie in The Man Who Fell To Earth as well as the Olympian who famously banged his head on the diving board at the 1988 Olympics.

Fassbender, who described the character as “childlike”, said he based his character’s robotic movements on Louganis’s “weird walk” that he said “made me laugh”.