Standing Tall

Romantic hero, sex addict, hunger striker — the sky’s the limit for Kerry actor Michael Fassbender. A glittering array of performances has taken him from obscurity to being man of the moment, says Helen Barlow

IRISH actor Michael Fassbender may have lost out to George Clooney at the Golden Globe Awards last weekend, but he is still a contender when the Oscar nominations are announced on Monday. They are, after all, the ones that really count.

Fassbender is the man of the moment. He has made six highly respected films in 20 months, and with Ridley Scott’s Prometheus in the can, is being hailed as a rare talent. The 34-year-old graces the current cover of industry trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, which quotes one studio chief saying of him: “In our world, the real deal doesn’t come along very often.”