Free Michael Fassbender by Jim Maloney

was an artist on set to advise him and they spent a lot of time ensuring that he looked professional in his approach to the canvas. He even had to be taught how to hold a paintbrush correctly.
    Michael was surprised to find that Ozon actually operated the camera as well as directing. He told Michael that he was unable to visualise what he was doing if he’s not looking through a lens. The pair discussed whether Esmé and Angel genuinely loved each other or if their relationship was just a move to benefit him financially. They decided that he never really loved Angel but had convinced himself that he did. ‘Esmé is the black sheep of the family,’ Michael explained. ‘He lives to enjoy his life on a sensual level with women, gambling and drink, but he’s frustrated and insecure. He’s a contradiction. He tries to appear blasé but he actually cares very deeply about his work, which everyone else thinks is rubbish.
    ‘She’s such a strong personality and so different, even nerdy, and all those things appeal to him,’ he said. ‘She awakens something in him that other women never have when it comes to his work. She trusts him and lets him into her world, which knocks him off balance, unsettles him and therefore interests him.’
    But Angel is also manipulative, unpleasant and egotistical. This initially worried Michael because he felt she needed some redeeming qualities. ‘When I first read the script, I longed for her to do something nice,’ he said. ‘It was something that concerned me right up till we started filming but, once I saw the way François filmed it and Romola played her, I realised that you couldn’t help admiring Angel. Her belief in herself and determination to do what she wants to do in a world dominated by men is quite something. If you walk away from the film unmoved, with no admiration or pity for her, you’ve missed the main idea of the film.
    ‘I think you have to feel sorry for her. Here is this creature constructing her life as she does her books: she decides what love should be, what her life should be, how important her status in society is, but I don’t think she gets any genuine pleasure or nourishment out of any of it. I mean, look at the sex! She does it because she thinks that is what is required, rather than from any real desire.’
    Following a formal press conference for Angel in Rome, Michael was interviewed by the pretty Italian actress Marina Limosani for TV. At least, she was trying tointerview Michael but it was a long-winded procedure because he does not speak Italian and she only understood a little English, so a middle-aged Italian man interpreted her questions to Michael and then interpreted his replies in Italian straight to camera. It would have been difficult for anyone to engage properly with the questions under such circumstances: there are long, awkward pauses in the footage and Michael looks a little bemused. But it is also clear that he has other things on his mind – he flirts outrageously with a coquettish Marina.
    As she introduces him to the viewers he interrupts her with a question of his own: ‘What’s your boyfriend’s name?’ She grins and blushes while he smiles and laughs. The sexual tension between them is evident as he continues to glance at her while the straight-faced interpreter talks to camera. She flicks her hair back and bites her bottom lip, looking a little embarrassed. With the interpreter carrying on oblivious to what is going on behind him, Michael jokingly tries to sneak a look at the questions on her sheet of paper. She pulls it away and they both grin and he whispers, ‘I can’t read Italian.’
    Later, a high-spirited Michael puts his arm around the interpreter and playfully remarks, ‘I love this guy.’ At the end of the interview he puts his arms around them both and encourages them to join him as he launches into a few lines from Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro , singing the aria Se vuol ballare , in which Figaro vows