For me, addiction comes down to basically where a pattern of behaviour has developed and that pattern of behaviour is becoming a very damaging cycle. It's sort of damaging your relationships, friends or lovers, it's damaging your own personal health and it's damaging for you and your workplace.

Michael Fassbender

Everyone's crazy anyway. And those who think they aren't, are the ones who are even crazier - because they're in denial.

Michael Fassbender

denial crazy thinking

I keep everything very simple. I like telling stories.

Michael Fassbender

telling-stories simple stories

Big things have small beginnings.

Michael Fassbender

humble-beginnings cinema bigs

We feel a lot of pressure about looking silly or appearing weak, whatever that means, or being a failure. You have to keep in your head: what's the worst that can happen?

Michael Fassbender

pressure silly mean

What I find really interesting is to try and mix it up, to push myself and try different things. I don't want to stay in my comfort zone. I want to take risks and keep myself scared.

Michael Fassbender

risk trying interesting

I quite enjoy the lines on my forehead because they show my life. That’s my history and I like to see that in other people. Like this wrinkle is due to some girl who broke my heart. I don’t want to escape it in any way.

Michael Fassbender

wrinkles girl heart

I remember hearing that the spirit was always next to you, so I would always make room in my bed for the spirit ... I'd make room for the teddy bears, Jesus and me. And then I'd wake up in the morning, and I'd squashed 'em all.

Michael Fassbender

bed morning jesus

There's so much going on in the world. There's so much information being thrown at us - so many things are being sold to us, and we're being told how we should appear and how to be more successful, blah, blah, blah. How does that manifest itself? In the pressures, the stress, this need to escape.

Michael Fassbender

stress successful doe

I believe that if you go and see a film you should have to sort of invest something yourself and you have to do a little bit of the work as an audience member, so when you leave the cinema you should be having those conversations either with yourself - if you're crazy like me- or with friends afterwards.

Michael Fassbender

crazy should-have believe

[As an actor] I have ideas, but things should always be fluid. You should always be ready to follow an instinct. Something might reveal itself on the day.

Michael Fassbender

actors might ideas

I love to go into a movie and have no idea what's going to happen in it.

Michael Fassbender

no-idea happens ideas

I’m aware of my weaknesses and THE BEAST WITHIN.

Michael Fassbender

beast-within beast weakness

Any good kitchen should be stocked up in oysters, shouldn't they?

Michael Fassbender

kitchen oysters should

As an audience member, those studio films are fun. I like an adventure tale, and I also like to go see something that has more of a social pulse. I like to keep learning and trying new things. And if the scripts are good, it doesn't really matter.

Michael Fassbender

fun trying adventure

If I'm playing a murderer, I don't go out and start murdering people.

Michael Fassbender

murderer ifs people

Trying to identify and understand, as opposed to judging, is very important for me, in approaching characters.

Michael Fassbender

important judging character

"X-Men" is not really about mutants; it's about humanity. I think it's about the human race. We're an absolutely destructive race. It seems that we can't seem to get beyond this level of tribalism that has been around for thousands of years. Anything we fear we tend to destroy.

Michael Fassbender

race men thinking

You want society to accept you; but you can’t even accept yourself.

Michael Fassbender

x-men accepting-yourself want

We did a lot of that in drama school: intellectualising and maybe justifying your position. 'I am a thinking actor and I have thought this through' - well, just do it. I much prefer the doing aspect.

Michael Fassbender

drama school thinking

Why not provoke some thought and get people talking about things? I like characters that are flawed because we all are. When people break up in a script, you think, Oh, right, there must be tears shed here. But maybe the fact of the matter is that they're both laughing.

Michael Fassbender

breakup break-up character