Magneto Loves Metal

In 2011, actor Michael Fassbender — an up-and-coming star, and rightfully so — was spotted wearing an Iron Maiden t-shirt at the Toronto International Film Festival, where his sex addiction drama, Shame, was screening.

And while you might assume the Oscar nominee is one of those doofuses who wears band shirts because they look cool, not because he likes the band, it turns out that Fassbender is a dyed-in-the-wool metal fan.

Appearing as a guest DJ on California’s KCRW yesterday, the X-Men star opted to play, amongst other songs, Metallica’s “Master of Puppets.” Host Travis Holcombe then asked Fassbender about his selection:

Michael Fassbender: Okay, well, we’re sort of into teenage years now and Metallica was a big influence on me.

Travis Holcombe: I mean, would you consider yourself a bit of a metal head growing up then?

MF: Yeah, I mean, at the time when I was growing up, music kind of defined your group, you know.

Nowadays, people just listen to everything, it’s great, but back when I was at school, high school, you were a goth or you were into grunge or you were into punk or you were into metal and that kind of defined your style — in what you wore and the groups you hang out with.

I think in places, you know, growing up in the countryside, I think music is a very big deal for teenagers and especially in places away from cities. It’s kind of the one outlet you can get. There’s not a lot of options other than, you know, fields and mountains which are beautiful and great, but in terms of any action it was found through some sort of music. So yeah, heavy metal was big.

I did a quick internet search to see if Fassbender was on record as a metalhead anywhere else, and it turns out, he is! Earlier this year, VH1 reported that “Metallica, Sepultura and anything off Slayer’s Reign in Blood” are amongst the actor’s favorites.

No word on whether or not he checked out Burzum or Malevolent Creation in order to prepare for his role as a racist in 12 Years a Slave.

Semi-related: the reason Fassbender is making the rounds is because he has a new movie out, Frank, which isn’t about metal, but is about music — specifically, a musician who wears a giant paper maché head at all times, even when he bathes. I saw it a couple of weeks ago and it was pretty good… and it certainly says a lot about Fassbender’s talents that he can spend 99% of the movie with his face obscured and still give a top-notch performance.

Here’s the “band” from Frank, The The Soronprfbs (yes, the movie’s running joke is that no one can pronounce it), performing on The Colbert Report a few weeks ago. Believe it or not, that really is Fassbender under there.