Michael Fassbender gave one of the strongest movie performances of the past few years in the late 2011 release “Shame,” but it is easy to imagine that the 35-year-old British actor might now have some regrets about appearing in the Steve McQueen-directed drama.
Because he agreed to go full frontal in this searing story of a Manhattan businessman’s sex addiction, Fassbender triggered a wave of silly and insulting commentary that shows no signs of diminishing.
On the Golden Globes, George Clooney tossed off a vulgar joke about Fassbender’s body that the star wouldn’t have dared to make about an actress.
Fassbender was stopped on a red carpet by an MTV reporter who asked him to identify penis shots of other major actors who have shown the full monty in movies (a small fraternity).
Now, in the current issue of GQ, the cover story on Fassbender runs through all of the sexual innuendos connected to “Shame” once again — even though the star was ostensibly being interviewed to hype the summer sci-fi movie “Prometheus” opening June 1.
GQ is one of my favorite magazines, but the movie star covers are generally dismal affairs by writers who like to suggest a closer than usual relationship with their interview subjects.
The Fassbender piece has a quintessential GQ lede: “If he’s going to take me home with him, Michael Fassbender first needs a moment alone.”
The actor should have been at the very least Oscar-nominated for “Shame” but the tough sexual content and the taboo NC-17 rating took its toll and he was shut out.
It would have been nice if those actors who don’t have the guts to make serious films about sex had endorsed Fassbender’s bravery with a nomination.
And the media people who continue to harp on the star’s brief exposure of his genitalia should grow up.
Somehow people managed to make great movies for years without gratuitous nudity. Bogart and Bacall never needed to get naked and we never needed to see what Clark Gable was packing downstairs to admire their films and performances.