Michael Fassbender: Shame sent me cuckoo

06 February 2012Michael Fassbender felt so overwhelmed while shooting Shame that he feared he was going "cuckoo".

The actor plays a sex addict on the edge in the Steve McQueen-directed movie. Michael threw himself into the role, which required full frontal nudity and explicit sex scenes. He admits that playing such a complex character took its toll once the cameras had stopped rolling.

"One particularly bad day... when I got back to my trailer, I was a bit confused, and very raw," he told the March edition of UK magazine Marie Claire. "I did think to myself, 'Oh, man. You're going a bit cuckoo!'"

The 34-year-old star's latest big screen outing sees him in another controversial movie, A Dangerous Method.

In the film, Michael plays Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung - whose relationship with Sigmund Freud becomes strained when he embarks on a romance with a patient.

Keira Knightley plays Russian love interest Sabina in the film - and some scenes involved Keira and Michael's characters indulging in S&M.

"It's always embarrassing and awkward when you do stuff like that. You try to keep the atmosphere light. I always hope the other person feels relaxed and trusts I'm not going to take the p**s," Michael explained. "It's like, 'Did that hurt? This is going to leave a mark!' I didn't want to actually hit her. So I was concentrating on hitting the mark, and not actually hitting Keira."

Michael - who was born in Germany and spent his childhood in Ireland - had his own personal experience of therapy. He attended counselling sessions with a former girlfriend.

"It was something I thought I would try out," he added. "And I do think it's a very helpful process, if there is an improvement at the end of it." © Cover Media