The two previously worked together on McQueen’s 2008 feature Hunger, focusing on Irish republican Bobby Sands who goes on hunger strike in prison. For Hunger, Fassbender embarked upon a strict diet to ensure his body would look authentically starved. As if we needed any more proof that the German-born actor doesn’t mind getting physically stuck into a role, Shame (out in cinemas now) sees him bearing all in the interests of authenticity.

Do not be fooled into thinking that because the film centres around sex addiction, it is all glamorous hotel rooms and raunchy scenes. Shame features none of the enjoyment of sex and all of the sordid, empty searching that addiction brings. You will not find the storyline of a typical film here. Instead, Steve McQueen has created a character profile of a high-flying, successful New Yorker who has everything, and nothing – deep, right?

Fassbender, also known for appearing in Inglourious Basterds, Jane Eyre and 300, plays Brandon, who lives in a fantastic apartment and is the top man at work. However, he has a secret life that he hides behind the expensive coats, stylish scarves and high-flying job. His life revolves around an addiction to sex. Whether or not you believe that this type of addiction really exists is irrelevant, as it becomes apparent that this compulsive behaviour could be about many different things.

The loneliness of being at the top, the disappointment of realising that you have everything and are still not satisfied, the feeling of being trapped by circumstance. As all of these themes are dealt with it becomes clear that Brandon’s position is more universal than his unusual predicament. He brings to light all the indulgences and extravagances flawed human beings use to cover up their true characters and desires.

Fassbender gives a performance that is so relentlessly believable that it makes for some awkward viewing at times. When Brandon’s equally messed-up sister Sissy, fantastically played  by Carey Mulligan, bursts into his life, Brandon is forced to hide the way he has been living. This is the first time he sees himself as he really is, when forced to confront his life and realise that he is ashamed of it. There are some moments of tenderness between the siblings, but all the way through the film it is clear that they have huge underlying issues.

Brandon’s problem now is that for him, sex has become a sordid affair that has lost any romance it might have had. Gone is enjoyment or intimacy, rather he is desperately looking for a satisfaction that he cannot find. The sex scenes are sad and desperate, showing Brandon at his most vulnerable yet also at his most alive. As sex has become something he needs, it can no longer make him happy. In one scene, you see the desperation on his face as he begins to break down and realise that he is not being satisfied.

On a date with a co-worker who Brandon actually likes and respects, the physical side of their relationship comes to nothing. He is unable to think of her in the same way that he sees one-night stands and prostitutes, he has forgotten how to be romantic, and no longer seems to desire it. In a key scene set in a bar, Brandon’s boss (James Badge Dale) leers over women while Brandon is quiet and appears respectful, not making any moves. Brendan feels the need to hide his desires, while his sleazy boss who does not have a sex addiction, experiences no shame about wanting to hit on women.

As well as a startling character study and boundary breaking piece of cinema, Shame is a stark portrayal of New York. One particularly spectacular scene follows Brandon as he jogs through the city at night, filmed in one long smooth shot that ends on a broken traffic signal – symbolism at its best. Shame‘s New York is a city that really never sleeps and has everything a high-flier could want. But if that person is ultimately flawed, then there is nothing that the city can give them, apart from an unforgiving playground to indulge in their sordid pleasures.

In the end, Shame is not so much about the storyline as it is an exposé of a character and how the people around him affect his inner world. It is a film that deals with its subject matter brilliantly and will leave you sitting in your seat well after the credits have finished rolling.

The British actress who made her screen début as Keira Knightley’s younger sister, Kitty Bennett in the 2005 adaptation of Pride & Prejudice, took on her most demanding role to date in Steve McQueen’s Shame.

The film, in which she was required to bare all in her first scene, has been described all around as bold, powerful and disturbing. She plays Sissy, the singing sister of sex addict, Brandon (Michael Fassbender), whose carefully constructed life falls apart when she barrels into his life for an indefinite stay.

The role seems outside of Mulligan’s usual comfort zone, if you take into account the characters she has played in the past. These include her Oscar-nominated turn as Jenny, in the 1960s coming-of-age drama, An Education and her role as Kathy in the drama, Never Let Me Go.

And Mulligan clearly agrees, stating her admiration for her co-star, Fassbender. Speaking to GQ she says he “has no insecurity, or if he does he hides it away somewhere where you can’t see it.”

In comparison, how would she describe herself? “I haven’t seen myself naked in the mirror for probably a decade. I’m very prudish,” she admits.

Despite this, she felt her starring role as Nina in the Royal Court production of The Seagull in 2007 gave her the confidence she needed.  She is very proud to have pulled off the characters, who she says share an “uncompromising nature”.

She had a job convincing McQueen she was right for the part though. When asked about working with both Fassbender and the director, she was very complimentary:

“The standards they set are so high, so that in itself was terrifying. Add to that the particulars about the character, the music and the singing and all that stuff, it was a pretty big leap.”

You can catch Shame in UK cinema’s now.

Here is the trailer:

Facts

• His father is from Germany and his mother is from Northern Ireland.
• He was born in Heidelberg, Germany but grew up in Killarney, a beautiful town in the south west of Ireland, near the Ring of Kerry.
• He speaks fluent German.
• His surname is a variant of ‘Fassbinder’, which is the German word for a binder or repairer of casks and barrels.

Michael Fassbender’s acting career began properly in 2001, when he began to appear in British productions such as Hearts and Bones and then got a small part in Band Of Brothers. He moved on to Holby City in 2002, before acting in a few on-off TV dramas. He played Azazel in the TV series Hex and in 2003 he even voiced Dracula in Book at Bedtime, a radio play for BBC Northern Ireland.

Big films

300 (2006) This is the role that first brought Michael Fassbender to the attention of film lovers, as well as introducing him to mainstream America. In this film he plays Stelios, a Spartan soldier with a highly-skilled fighting technique. Apart from muscle-touting, Fassbender does a good job of portraying the angry, powerful warrior and demonstrated that he has a range to do battle scenes.

Speaking of range, Hunger (2008) is the film that really launched Fassbender into the realm of respected actor. In order to play the part of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands, he starved himself for ten weeks. Hunger is set in the Belfast of 1981, when the Special Category Status of prisoner was being withdrawn, prompting IRA men in the city’s Maze prison to protest. Bobby Sands was the first of ten men to starve himself to death and Fassbender bravely took on this role. He won many awards for this film, including Best Actor at the British Independent Film Awards and Best Actor in a Lead Role in a Film at the Irish Film and Television Awards.

Inglourious Basterds (2009) His German roots must have helped him out when he played soldier Lt. Archie Hicox, an Englishman who goes undercover as a German. It is interesting that in the film he plays a man with an English accent who has to try and sound German, when in real life he is fluent in the latter language. If some people had still managed to miss the fact that he is a great actor, then this was rectified with Inglourious Basterds.

Centurion (2010) Here Fassbender plays Quintus Dias, the only survivor when his Roman garrison is attacked by Picts. Set in Roman Britain in AD 117, this powerful action film shows off Fassbender’s acting ability in scenes of violence, a role for which his performance in 300 must have given him lots of practice.

Jane Eyre (2011) As Mr. Rochester in Jane Eyre, Fassbender gives a stunningly strong performance. He injects some fantastic masculinity into the film and reminds us that he is a flexible actor who does not just do well in fight scenes, but also in emotional romances. He plays the development of Mr. Rochester’s character very well, from his initial unwavering fierceness to when his emotions start to soften and he lets Jane in.

X-Men First Class (2011) In playing Magneto, Fassbender was able to add to his fanbase, although it is unlikely that he has managed to slip under the radar of most film lovers, having appeared in some of the biggest films in recent years. His performance as a young Magneto is very strong and is definitely enough to attract the attention of anyone who had previously been unsure about him.

Upcoming films

Shame (13th January, 2012) Directed by Steve McQueen, Shame tells the story of sex-addict Brandon (Fassbender) whose life is full of indulgence. Set in New York, it deals with the nature of ‘need’ and the experiences that shape our lives. Oh, and there is a controversial full-frontal nude scene with Fassbender.

A Dangerous Method (10th February, 2012) Continuing with the controversy, Fassbender spanks Keira Knightley, in this film directed by David Cronenberg. He plays Carl Jung, friend and rival to Sigmund Freud as their relationship develops and eventually psychoanalysis is born.

Prometheus (1st June, 2012) Fassbender will play an android called David in the film directed by Ridley Scott, that will take audiences to remote and dark corners of the world as explorers try to save humanity.

With Fassbender’s suave good looks and his acting career going from strength to strength, there are even rumours flying about that he may be considering playing James Bond after Daniel Craig. There is no doubt that he would do the role justice and with his Irish accent, he would surely give Scottish Sean Connery a run for his money. We’ll keep you posted!

Blumberg was nominated for an Oscar for his work on the script for The Kids Are All Right, which starred Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo and Mia Wasikowska. Thanks for Sharing will see him reunite with Ruffalo, who will star in the comedy drama alongside Tim Robbins and Joely Richardson.

Paltrow will be taking on the role of a successful business woman named Pheobe, who falls for Ruffalo‘s character whilst attending a group for recovering sex addicts. Robbins and Richardson play a married couple, who also attend the group.

Sex addiction certainly seems to be something of a hot topic within the film world at the moment, with Steve McQueen‘s Shame, which is currently screening at the Venice Film Festival, following a similar theme. Paltrow has also made an appearance in Venice, where her latest film, Contagion, made its début.

We’ll keep you posted!

The last time McQueen teamed up with Fassbender they produced the 2008 film Hunger, a poignant depiction of the 1981 Irish hunger strike, which went on to win the prestigious Caméra d’Or award at the Cannes Film Festival.

Naturally, there was much excitement when it was announced that they would be reuniting for Shame, a film which will reportedly tell the story of sex-addict in New York who is struggling to cope with his addiction.

Over the weekend, The Irish Film and Television Network have reportedly announced that they will be joined by Never Let Me Go‘s Carey Mulligan, as well as James Badge Dale, who starred in The Departed. Mulligan is rumoured to be playing Sissy, Fassbender’s troubled, blues-singing sister, whilst Badge Dale’s is most likely to be playing his boss.

The film will be scripted by McQueen as well as Abi Morgan, who penned the big screen adaptation of Monica Ali’s novel, Brick lane. Fassbender is currently working on Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class, but filming for Shame will reportedly get underway before Mulligan begins shooting for Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby.

McQueen will also be delaying his upcoming biopic of African musician and activist, Fela Kuti, in order to release Shame before the end of 2011. We’ll keep you posted!

Change your name to Alan Smithee…

There are people queuing up to credit their work to Alan Smithee. There’s no gratitude for the glory though, for not only is Alan pure fiction, but these projects are some of the industry’s biggest duds. Coined in 1968, the name is the official pseudonym used by directors wishing to disown a film – normally after final cut had been taken out of their hands. It’s now been discontinued, but there are still plenty of films up on Alan’s CV – Kiefer Sutherland gave him one of his early directorial works, Woman Wanted, while Michael Mann was so unhappy with a TV edit of Heat that he passed his title over to him too.

Make friends with Kevin Smith on MySpace…

After the release of Jersey Girl, Kevin Smith probably needed all the mates he could get, but it was still a personable gesture when he announced that all of the ‘friends’ in his MySpace network would be credited in his 2006 flick Clerks 2. The exceptionally long list meant some theatres killed their projectors early, but the complete selection of names can still be viewed on the DVD credits – and Smith has announced that he could try something similar in the future, so buddy him up while you can.

Win an Oscar…

Although Colin Farrell was originally down for top billing in Miami Vice, when Jamie Foxx won a coveted Oscar for Ray it was decided that he should received the credit instead. So as to not put Farrell out too much, studio bosses offered a little comprise in that while Foxx’s name was to appear first in the opening credits, the Irish actor would still receive top billing in the closing credits. The choice was ultimately Foxx’s though.

Be willing to demean yourself…

Don’t mind being known as ‘woman who urinates herself’? It worked for Anne Sellors

Pretend you’re someone else…

Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker films (Naked Gun, Scary Movie) have often included fictional production members – as was the case with Monty Python. No one else is going to claim the name, so you might as well.

Become a movie maverick and thus appear on everything…

Is there a closing sequence that doesn’t feature Harvey Weinstein’s name? Such is his power, he only needs pick up the phone and lands a credit.  Meanwhile, surely the ‘executive producer’ title was only created to appease talent with ambitions behind the camera (Tom Cruise has the credit for almost every movie he’s starred in).

Make friends with the closing credit designers – they know a few tricks…

Steve McQueen and Paul Newman both tried to obtain top billing for The Towering Inferno. To keep both actors happy, the credits were arranged diagonally with McQueen at the lower left and Newman at the upper right, which meant both guys appeared to have top billing depending on whether you read from left to right or top to bottom.

Don’t become a writer…

With script rewrites so widespread in movieland, being a writer is a competitive job – especially if you’re looking for a film credit. For instance, between 1993 and 1997, the writing credits on 415 films (one-third of those submitted) were decided through adjudication by the Writers Guild. Traditionally, it’s the last writer to have worked on a project that gets the credit – even though the initial scribe could’ve been the person who got the film green lit by the studio.

Learn to cook, sew or drive…

All sets rely on an array of skivvies to keep maintain a smooth running – the jobs might be humble (best-boy doesn’t actually mean the film’s top guy), but they’re essential cogs in the machine, so credit is given where credit is due. Craft services and catering are probably some of the most popular employees on set – film-making is thirsty work.

Start at the bottom…

Even Spielberg had to start out as production assistant in the 60s. The hours might be long and the short-term rewards slim for runners and assistants, but it’s still the most legit way to get yourself a credit.