Michael Fassbender, who plays Erik lensherr in Ex Men: Apocalypse aka Magneto, talks about his experience in this film. Excerpts
How did Bryan Singer and Simon Kinberg pitch this movie to youIJ
With Simon, he and I were on a plane to Moscow for a screening of Days Of Future Past and we just started spit balling some ideas around and I mentioned to Simon that the Magda story (Magneto’s wife in the comics) was always something that interested me; how he had lost this family and maybe there was something to be addressed there.
So we find Erik in Poland with this family and he’s happy.
Absolutely happy and doing a very honest job, clocking in at 9, clocking out at 5 and just providing for the family. A very simple cottage in the country... It’s the first time we see him content, and at ease, having some sort of harmony in his life. But it doesn’t last long, of course. It’s the X-Men! He kind of loses everything, so he really is back to square one. He’s at his lowest point, and when Apocalypse turns up. So this idea of the mutants having a God or a forefather, I thought that was a pretty cool concept that we got to play with there.
How much Polish do we see you speakingIJ How hard was it to learnIJ
I’m excellent at Polish. I can sing in Polish, I can dance in Polish, I can cook Polish meals! No, I’m pretty bad. If a person is a native Polish speaker, they’d be appalled, but I tried my best.
So here comes Apocalypse. What is it that he does to Erik’s powersIJ
Through his own power, Apocalypse can magnify others; everyone experiences that if they come into contact with it, even Professor Xavier. Charles says he’s never experienced such power before, but when Apocalypse accesses his power, he takes it to a whole new level. That’s what he does to Erik, he accesses a deeper strength and power than he would’ve had without it and will ever have again.
Apocalypse is set in the 1980s. James McAvoy said Charles goes full Miami Vice. What is Magneto’s styleIJ
I love what James does with Charles. It’s so against what you would normally think for the character. He’s fantastic, he really embraced the 70s, now he’s got this lilac V-neck jumper, which I think he wears exceptionally well. Unfortunately, Erik is sort of out of the fashion loop, until the end of the movie when he’s the Tubbs, I suppose, to James’s Crockett. I’m wearing a turtleneck with a suit. I missed out on it, because Erik’s just a working man in Poland, so it’s very much Polish style, jeans and workman shirt.
You have the new recruits in the cast. How was it working with them, and introducing them to the team that’s already in placeIJ
I know everybody says: ‘We all get on so great” but it’s really true and I think the example was set by Hugh and the previous cast. When we came on board, we didn’t get to meet any of them except Hugh, who’s an amazing human being. I think it was really important for us to make sure that the new people
coming in felt at home and that they had space to do their thing, to find their characters and express them the right way.