Michael Fassbender Talks About 'Slow West,' the Steve Jobs Movie, and His Own Broken iPhone

Michael Fassbender in ‘Slow West’ (A24)

It’s a bit shocking when Michael Fassbender displays a busted-up, partially shattered iPhone, and even more so when he casually offers that the smashed device is actually a relatively archaic, five-year-old iPhone 4 — and a device the actor says he’s “stubbornly holding on to.” After all, the 38-year-old Oscar-nominated Irish actor just inhabited the mind and turtleneck of Apple founder in the biopic Steve Jobs, one of the buzziest, high-profile films of the year.

“There’s a lot of things about technology that would probably shock you, about my adeptness about dealing with technology,” Fassbender joked in an interview with Yahoo Movies this week. “I’m the worst person at it, so it was the perfect match for me to play him.”

In many ways, Fassbender, an avid motorcyclist who prefers to shun technology and ride out on long, exotic adventures, is more like his cowboy-bounty hunter character in Slow West. The directorial debut of John Maclean — former lead singer of the trippy, High Fidelity-endorsed pop-rock outfit the Beta Band — the wry western debuted at Sundance, where it won the World Dramatic Competition (the film hits theaters on May 15, and is available now on DirecTV).

In Slow West, Fassbender plays Silas, a gruff (and frequently funny) man of mystery who aids a young Scottish immigrant named Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee) across the wide open Colorado territory as Cavendish searches for his endangered girlfriend. The movie is an unorthodox mix of stark western scenery and quietly off-kilter comedy, an absurdist experiment dressed up as a John Wayne picture. Fassbender, who has perhaps the year’s busiest schedule, took time out to speak with Yahoo Movies about the film, Steve Jobs, the next X-Men adventure, and more.

Did you learn any cowboy skills while you were filming in New Zealand?
Riding a horse — I learned how to do that a little bit better. It’s always kind of tough, to try and pass yourself off as someone who rides a horse every day. And working with horse people, you see how they ride. I’m not afraid of being on horses and I have in the past for films or TV shows and as a kid, but it’s tough, to get it right… I’ve got a lot of respect for horse people that can do it correctly.

The term “horse people” sounds funny, like a half-man, half-horse.
It does. It’s usually “horseman,” but we’re living in politically correct times. And I’ve also worked with an amazing horse lady in South Africa, and she was incredible, so I’ve always thought there’s horsemen and horsewomen. So I say “horse people.”

A couple months ago there were photos of you as Steve Jobs, and I wish I had been able to avoid it until closer to the movie.
Well, it’s hard. You try to keep things under wraps, but there’s photographers around hiding in various places, and long lenses, and there’s only so much [you can do]. You can try to protect it, and it’s a shame, but that’s just the nature of the world, really. And it’s impossible to kind of stop it, so there’s no point worrying about it.

Michael Fassbender, left as Steve Jobs, and Steve Jobs in ad for NeXT Computers

How’d you get involved in that movie?
I got approached by Danny Boyle. He sent me the script and asked me if I was interested. I read the script and it’s amazing writing — amazing — and Danny’s a phenomenal director, and just a wonderful person. So I jumped on board. It’s really that simple.

Was there any trepidation, because he’s such a famous person who really just sort of passed away?
There’s always trepidation I think when you’re playing real people and representing them in a way on screen, for sure. But like I said, I think the writing was exceptional. I think it was a really intriguing way to tell the story about someone who is so famous and has changed all of our lives. I thought it was a really original approach on the biopic.

It’s a look at three key moments of his life and career, right?
Is it?

That’s what I’ve read! And it’s like I said, people always wonder about specific plot details so far in advance.
I’m just sort of like, “I’ll just keep quiet on it all and then it can’t be traced back to me.” But if you say so!

It’s a role that a lot of people wanted to play or were going to play it. There’s a lot of backstory.
That’s not something that really helps or aids me. I either decide to do it or don’t, and if I do decide to do it, I’ve got to do the work by myself.

OK, another upcoming project: Assassin’s Creed. Is that really going to be a movie?
That’s going to be a movie, it’s going to happen. We’re going to start filming in September.

Where are you going to shoot?
I can’t tell you that.

Well I guess there’s a lot of versions of that game, so the setting would give which version you’re doing away.
Yep. We’ve been working on it for a while and we really want to get it right. I’m really happy that [director]Justin Kurzel (The Snowtown Murders, Fassbender’s upcoming Macbeth) has come on board, and so has Marion Cotillard.

I’ve read that X-Men: Apocalypse is going to be Jennifer Lawrence’s last X-Men film. Do you think you’ll do more of them after this?
Well, I don’t know. It all depends. We’re all contracted for three, so I guess that’s why Jennifer said it’s her last. But you never know what happens.

There’s gotta be something comfortable about working with the same people, but I imagine you’d want to try other stuff.
It’s a great bunch of people. We all got on really well from the beginning, so that’s lucky. Otherwise, it’d be a nightmare. So I’m really looking forward to seeing all of them next week [when he begins production]. I haven’t seen James [McAvoy] in a year, I’d say. The last time I saw James was when we were premiering the last X-Men. That was over a year ago.

I recently realized First Class is four years old. I thought I’d just seen it.
It seems like it was longer for me.

I don’t do quite as much as you do in between.
I don’t know. You guys are working all the time, aren’t you? How many weeks do you get off a year?

Eh, two or three.
That’s it?!

That’s America.
That’s worse than me! I got more than three weeks off last year. It’s tough for you. The workload is big in this country, isn’t it? Where’d you go on your vacation last year?

Florida and Montreal. We drove to Montreal.
That’s nice. I like driving.

You’re a motorcycle guy, right?
I am. I ride a motorcycle, though at the moment I don’t even have a motorcycle. My dad has taken my bike and readjusted the saddle. My dad stole my motorcycle, essentially.

Why?!
Because he’s a thief! And that’s what thieves do.

Is he a motorcycle rider, at least?
In 2006, I got my first bike. And if ever I was going away on a job, I’d leave the bike back in Ireland with him. And then he started riding, so he bought his first one in 2008. And so he’s been riding ever since. And then I left my recent bike back home because I was moving around a lot, and then I said to him, “You should just take mine really,” and quickly he sold his one and took my one. I’ve got to get a new one.

It’s pretty cool that he can ride though.
He’s great, we actually did a trip together back in 2010. We did six weeks around Europe. It was cool. We did 5,000 miles together.

And you didn’t kill each other?
We had our moments, but it was relatively fine. There was one night we had an argument for pretty much through the whole trip. At times it was relaxing, but we did ride for 11 hours through Holland and Germany straight through in the rain without any wet weather gear. There were times where it was a little nasty. But it makes the cold beer at the end of the day and dinner all the more appreciated.