D Wednesday, January 20, 2010 metrolife 15 Picture:Corbis :60second interview Michael Fassbender Irish actor Michael Fassbender, 32, has starred in two of the most acclaimed independent films of recent years: Hunger, about Bobby Sandss 1981 hunger strike, for which he lost 16kg, and Cannes prizewinner Fish Tank, which is out this month on DVD Interview by Andrew Williams Your Fish Tank co-star Katie Jarvis is a teenager with no previous acting experience. What was she like to work with? She was very raw and intuitive. Theres no bulls*** or frills with her. What were you like when you were her age? I was pretty clueless and irresponsible when I was 17. I had long hair and wanted to be the guitarist in a heavy metal band. When I realised I wasnt good enough to be a guitarist, I decided I wanted to be an actor. Some acting workshop classes had just started where I lived in Killarney. I felt at home with them so I joined the company doing pantomime and pub theatre, then went to study acting in London. Did director Andrea Arnold really show you the script for Fish Tank one day at a time? That sounds quite unusual. Yes, she didnt want to show the script to the actors. She gave me an outline of n n n the story beforehand. Id seen her film Red Road and knew she dealt with delicate subject matters really well. She doesnt judge the characters when she writes them. Its about human behaviour in an honest way. The audience walks away with a lot to chew on. What was the physical process like of playing Bobby Sands in Hunger? I went to Belfast six weeks before filming to make sure I was handling the subject matter with the respect it was due. My mums from the north of Ireland and so many of the films about the Troubles are embarrassing and insulting to the people who lived there. I wanted to make sure I was well prepared. The hardest part was a dialogue scene, which lasted 15 minutes. The weight loss was just calorie counting, it wasnt the main challenge of the piece itself. Both Fish Tank and Hunger have been massively acclaimed. What impact has that had on your n n Was there any point when you considered giving up acting? No, but there were long periods when I thought no one would ever hire me. I got to know the catering trade quite well. I thought about opening a bar but I was never going to throw in the towel. I thought if I kept knocking at the acting door long enough, eventually someone would let me in. Whats the worst job you had? Market research. I preferred labouring. Market research was just mind-numbing. We had to phone people on a Saturday and Sunday and ask their opinions about the postal service. Have you ever been attacked by an animal? My aunts poodle bit me when I was ten. It bit me in the a*** when I was walking out of the door. Dont turn your back on a poodle thats the tip for the day. If you were a kangaroo what would you keep in your pouch? A bottle of whiskey. n n n n There were long periods when I thought no one would ever hire me. I got to know the catering trade quite well career? I get offered lots of independent things but the stuff that involves lots of money and big studios still has a serious pecking order involved. Its all about what fan base you have. Ive been lucky to work with fantastically talented people, which always stacks the odds in your favour. Im still just chipping away. Was filming Jonah Hex a laugh? I always wanted to do a Western so it ticked that box its boys with toys and cowboy costumes. I play a sociopath who likes stabbing people. Did you spend much time with co-star Megan Fox? We just had one scene together. She plays the love interest and I try to bring a nasty end to her. We had to do pretty physical stuff and she just rolled up her sleeves and got on with it. It was an ambitious script for the money they had so everybody had to do their jobs. She was great. n n features@metroherald.ie In Focus A terror terrain? West Africa: The attempted bombing of Northwest Flight 253 has led to speculation on the rise of militant Islam in the region by STeFAn SIMAnoWITz Business as usual: Although Islamic extremists are operating in the Sahara, their presence has not dampened the festivities of Malis annual Festival au Desert Festival in the desert n The three-day Festival au Desert is staged in early January each year in Essakane, an oasis 65km north-east of Timbuktu in Mali. The event was first held in 2001 to celebrate the end of a civil war which blighted Mali during the 1990s. It also commemorates a ceremony in 1996 where more than 3,000 firearms were burned, effectively ending the conflict. The journey to the festival site, near Timbuktu, can take up to five days and involves a boat ride up the River Niger. Around 800 Westerners join 5,000 Malians and nomadic Tuareg tribesman, whose return to the area in the early 1990s sparked an increase in violence. The music festival has attracted stars including Damon Albarn and Robert Plant, and this year the line-up included DJ Paul Oakenfield. www.festival-au-desert.org n Intrepid cinema buffs might prefer to take in a flick or two at the Sahara International Film festival, which runs from April 26 to May 2. Held in a refugee camp deep in the Algerian desert, the sandy wilderness is transformed into a week- long gala of screenings, launches and concerts attended by an array of international stars, such as Javier Bardem. www.festivalsahara.com T he press release from the organisers of the annual Festival au Desert stated that, Following recent events in the north of Mali, the festival will make its camps in the desert sands only minutes from the centre of the city of Timbuktu. For visitors who expected the event to take place in its usual remote location of Essakane, the news came as something of a disappointment. But coming in the wake of a series of kidnappings by Islamic militants of Westerners in the area, the relocation was understandable. The region of West Africa has been described, albeit somewhat lazily, as the new front line in the war on terror, and has been further tarnished by the revelation that foiled Christmas Day airline bomber, Abdul Farouk Umar Abdulmutallab, is Nigerian. There is no evidence linking Nigeria with al-Qaeda, but the media was happy to include it in the swathe of territory between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans we should look to as the source of the failed bombers fanaticism. The presence of militant Islamic groups in the Sahara and Sahel regions of Africa is beyond dispute but its important to keep their significance in perspective. And while the past year has seen an increase in activity by a group calling itself al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), incidents in this vast expanse remain rare. On November 25, a Frenchman was abducted by gunmen near the eastern Malian town of Menaka. Days later, three Spaniards were seized in northern Mauritania. On December 18, two Italian tourists disappeared near the Mauritania-Mali border. It is thought all six are being held hostage in the deserts of northern Mali by Islamic militants and fears for their safety have been heightened by the execution in Mali of British tourist Edwin Dyer last May. In recent years, Muslim radicals have kidnapped Europeans in the Sahara on several occasions but their motive has mostly been ransom money. In 2003, an Islamist group kidnapped 32 European tourists in Algeria, holding some of them for six months, and in 2008, AQIM kidnapped two Austrians in Tunisia they later turned up in Mali after a ransom was paid. But since 2009 there has been a subtle shift towards attacks rooted in ideology. In Mauritania in August a suicide bomber struck outside the French Embassy, killing two guards, and in June, an American teacher was shot dead. In 2003, the US launched the Pan-Sahel Initiative, amid fears the Sahel region of Africa might become a stronghold for al-Qaeda operatives. Intended to give assistance to Mali, Niger, Chad and Mauritania in seeking out possible Islamic terrorists, it was superseded in 2005 by the Trans-Saharan Counter- terrorism Initiative, backed by US Congress to the sum of 350million. As a result, Mali and Niger have received US aid and training to combat terrorism despite the fact that, until recently, there was little evidence of Islamic extremism in either country. Some critics argue the strategy has been counterproductive, with heightened militarisation of desert areas leading to resentment and encouraging the very extremism it was intended to prevent. But, although jihadists are operating in the deserts of the Maghreb, there is little evidence of grass-roots support for Islamic extremism. I havent met anyone who has the slightest sympathy for al-Qaeda, says Guy Lankester, who runs a tour company From Here 2 Timbuktu. Ive crossed the Sahara dozens of times and only encountered warmth and respect from the people Ive met, be they Falani, Songhai, Soniuke, Sahawari or Tuareg. Lankester, who took a group of 16 travellers to the Festival au Desert earlier this month, was determined not to be cowed by a few extremist incidents and, judging by the ticket sales for the event, this was the prevailing attitude. Despite the relocation, it was business as usual at this years festival, which saw the nomadic Tuaregs gather beside the river Niger with people from around the world for a feast of music, dance and celebration. In the wider region, life also goes on as before, peaceful and content. If this is the new front line in the war on terror, no one told the locals. Stefan Simanowitz is a journalist and broadcaster working mainly in Algeria, Mali and Niger index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html