Michael Fassbender recalls his “awful” Mad Max: Fury Road audition: “I couldn’t wait to get out of there”

Before Tom Hardy secured the title role in Mad Max: Fury Road, Michael Fassbender was another of the actors up for the part. When reminiscing about the audition, the former X-Men star reveals a genuine ordeal where nothing seemed to go right for him, least of all in front of director George Miller.

On the Happy, Sad, Confused podcast, Fassbender was asked about trying out for the 2015 blockbuster. Calling the whole incident “awful,” he recalls getting off on the wrong foot by arriving late, only for things to continue getting worse.

“I was going to Warner Bros in the [San Fernando Valley], not complicated,” he starts. “I got lost, and I ended up getting to the audition almost an hour late. I was not in the correct headspace, they were kind of [rolling their eyes].”

Michael Fassbender talks BLACK BAG, X-MEN, INGLORIOUS BASTERDS, Mad Max audition – YouTube

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The audition was with Miller, who directed and co-wrote the script alongside Brendan McCarthy and Nico Lathouris, and an acting coach. Having trained in London, Fassbender acknowledges that his approach grinded against the guidance of this coach, creating obvious friction.

“I felt like you’re teaching granny how to suck eggs here, this guy really got on my nerves,” the Assassin’s Creed actor states. “He was like, ‘I want to say this phrase, get out of the room, but I want you to physicalize it Michael.'”

He then makes a hilarious motion with his arms, as if he’s tossing a log down a hallway. It only exacerbated an already failing situation.

“I couldn’t wait to get out of there,” he says. Hardy got the job, and the rest is history. Although Fassbender didn’t get to roving around the wasteland, the same year Fury Road came out saw him earn a nomination for Best Actor at the Academy Awards for portraying Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in the film of the same name.

A reminder that all creative people have bad days, regardless of the amount of success they appear to enjoy. Fassbender’s next upcoming movie, Black Bag, directed by Steven Soderbergh, arrives in theatres starting March 14, 2025.

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