Michael Fassbender Was Considered For A Role In 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'
When I think about Michael Fassbender, the first performance that comes to mind is his work as the doomed English soldier Archie Hicox in Inglourious Basterds. If I dwell a little longer, I'll usually get lost in the trio of desperate characters he played for director Steve McQueen in Hunger, Shame, and 12 Years a Slave. Sometimes, I'll even remember X-Men: Apocalypse, where Fassbender did everything in his power to bring steely dignity to a movie that didn't know what to do with him. Then I'll remember Steve Jobs and how damn good he is in this film and how I'll never forgive you (yes, you) for not seeing it.
My larger point is that the guy is a real powerhouse who has shown an ability and willingness to float between projects both large and small, treating the arthouse and the blockbuster as if they exist on the same playing field. So it's not surprising to hear that he was considered for a role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
The news comes our way through Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast (via Collider), where he spoke the Oscar-nominated actor on the eve of Assassin's Creed theatrical bow. He doesn't say much on the matter:
We talked about a role. We had a conversation. I'm pretty sure I was busy doing something else in the summer he was kickstarting that.
And this is the part where everyone can start speculating. My first instinct is that Fassbender may have been up for Poe Dameron, a role that would have been well-suited for Fassbender's hardened charisma. It probably would have been very different than Oscar Isaac's take (more of a "Space James Bond" than a "Space Fonzie"), but I can picture it. The other possibility is General Hux, mainly because Fassbender would wear the hell out of a First Order uniform and can sneer with the best of 'em. However, Hux is a minuscule role in The Force Awakens, and it's hard to imagine Fassbender taking on a supporting role like that.
Most likely, Fassbender probably met with Lucasfilm while The Force Awakens' script was still in flux and that the role he was being considered for was very different than anything in the finished film, even if the character's name was the same. After all, J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan collaborated on a massive overhaul of the movie's screenplay after Michael Arndt departed the project.
In any case, there's nothing stopping Fassbender from popping up in a Star Wars movie in the future. Plus, he's already a regular in another classic science fiction series and will return as the android David in next summer's Alien: Covenant. Assassin's Creed is in theaters now.