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The Year in Review 2012
January
The year started off extremely hot and kept up the momentum from the end of 2011 as Shame was premiering in many cities. In the six years of watching Michael’s career, never have I witnessed him being seen everywhere, being talked about by everyone, and winning so many awards and nominations for his performance in a single role. In January, he won Best Actor at Los Angeles Film Critics and Best British Actor at the London Film Critics’ Circle, was nominated for Best Actor at the Golden Globes and BAFTA, and won the ‘Spotlight of the Year’ award from the National Board of Review. Michael was on at least five magazine covers at once, and even featured in People magazine for the first time. He made his American talk show debut on David Letterman and the Charlie Rose show, all in promotion for Shame, and some promotion of Haywire too. Michael was the special guest at the Hackney Picturehouse in his London neighborhood for a Q&A about Shame. He was everywhere and did everything by the book that an actor of his caliber is expected to do in the PR game countdown towards the Oscar nominations. I wrote ad nauseum about my opinions about the Oscars, shared my educated speculations, predictions, hopes, dreams, and wishes… and then on January 24th the most majorly Fuck Ya’ll Bitches was served to us on a silver platter. Michael Fassbender did not receive a well-deserved nomination for an Oscar. I said fuck you to AMPAS on Jan. 24th, and I’m going to close out the year by saying it again, Fuck You AMPAS. The blog entry for that day received a record 103 comments.
“… for AMPAS to not recognize him speaks volumes about their lack of maturity, their ignorance to mature themed Indies, discrimination against male nudity, and most importantly, how completely out of touch they are with reality, with real films that make people think and empathize with characters.” - Simone
My disgust with this snub gave birth to Fassinating Fassbender’s Plan B announced on Jan 26th.
February
Michael is in London for the final premiere of A Dangerous Method. He is having a blast at the 34 restaurant in the Mayfair section of London; he is photographed getting a piggyback ride out of the restaurant, and he jokingly gives The Finger to photographers with his patented smile. Fox Searchlight attempts to explain their handling of the marketing of Shame and basically say that the film’s NC17 rating killed its chances of being viewed by voters. At the Irish Film & Television Awards, Michael wins Best Actor for Shame. Meanwhile in the States, Shame is opening in other progressive cities and continuing to receive praise, and he joins the Haywire cast to promote the film at the Berlin Film Festival. Michael kicks ass on Top Gear and comes in third place overall in celebrity track driving. And it is announced that his production company will produce the Irish myth Cuchulain in the near future. Filming for The Counselor is announced, and to continue his developing working relationship with director Ridley Scott, the Your Film Festival is announced to occur in conjunction with the Venice Film Festival.
March
Things calm down a bit and we just start to see some images for the first time of Michael’s and Liam Cunningham’s short film ‘Pitch Black Heist’ which won the BAFTA for Best Short Film. It was produced with the help of Michael.
Michael and Nicole Beharie are spotted for the first time in New York as boyfriend and girlfriend. And Prometheus promotion starts to pick this month. Michael and Charlize Theron attend the Human Rights Campaign where she was honored, and they also both attend the Wonder Con. Haywire opened in theaters this month. And Plan B is shipped off to London!
April
April is FF’s Fassy History month and there are activities I create for readers to do throughout the month to celebrate Michael’s birthday. Michael is in London, so it’s perfect timing for Plan B to get to him! He’s in town to receive his Best Hero award from Jameson Empire Magazine awards. And that delicious nude photo shoot from the French magazine, Obsession is unveiled. On April 2nd, Michael’s 35th birthday, Plan B is unveiled. Michael was very amazed and honored to receive his award from Fassinating Fassbender.
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| Emilie's Fassy photo |
Prometheus promotion in Paris and Michael looks gorgeous, and our dearest Emilie goes ga-ga over meeting him. Pitch Black Heist is added to the short film roster at the Tribeca Film Festival. We are introduced to his David character in Prometheus from smart viral video promos. And FF’s Pinterest board is created this month! Michael is featured in a gorgeous cover article for Esquire UK.
May
Promotion for Prometheus picks up like crazy, and the film and interviews are nearly everywhere! And this month, I finally get to visit Ireland on a much needed holiday adventure. The US GQ June cover story features one of the BEST interviews ever and I was pleased to learn of Michael’s true feelings about the Oscar crap. I love this guy, he’s the real deal!
Since learning that Daddy Fassbender receives Google alerts about his boy and is in charge of letting Michael know “there’s something on the internet”… FF declared May 18th as Mr. & Mrs. Fassbender Day for being the Original Fassinators since 1977! So, I reckon, from here on out, I’ll designate May 18th as their day for being the OFs!
This tumblr gif wins, ‘Fassy Tumblr Gif of the Year’– I swear his lips look like they're saying 'Why don't you come back to my place' as he giggles... click the link to see the entire series.
You can ad lib and pretend he’s chatting you up in a bar and inviting you back to his place. Yeah…
I have a minor fit over the media’s obsession over Michael’s Private (the other P word), it’s borderline sexual harassment and some of you agreed with me. However, the other more fun P word, was the Monaco Grand Prix where Michael was in fine form doing his second favorite thing after acting, being a Grand Prix fanboy.
June
Michael is in prime Prometheus promotion mode and he makes his first appearance on the Jimmy Fallon show. I miss the London premiere by just half an hour en route from Ireland back to England for a few days. I saw Prometheus in London and gave it a B+ grade. Michael is all over the place in promoting the film, even the stupid MTV Movie Awards. Upon my return home, I create the Killarney Care Package contest. Prometheus opens to good reviews and a very strong #1 box office debut. In late June, Michael starts filming ’12 Years a Slave’ down South in Louisiana.July
Oh yeah! We’re going to see Michael as the lead in Assassin’s Creed! This has the potential to be a trilogy and it’s a popular video game that has a strong cult following. That W magazine cover pictorial did not impress most Fassinators. We apparently prefer to have Michael in a photo shoot all by his damn self (see GQ May/June). Some poor girl asked me if I knew of an official unofficial Michael Fassbender website. I believe I responded appropriately. The counselor filming is well under way and Michael looks splendid!
August
Emilie has accepted the responsibility of being an admin here at Fassinating Fassbender. Due to some sociopath fandom fuckery this month, we need eyes and ears in a different time zone than me and Dionne. She’s been great! Subsequently, anonymous posting has been terminated. Michael and Nicole are seen enjoying themselves at the end of summer in London and parts of Europe. I removed the FF tumblr page in protest, and consider creating a FF online store. The shocking death of Ridley Scott’s brother Tony closes down filming of The Counselor for several weeks. TGIFassy begins as a regular Friday feature. And as if Michael isn’t already very busy, another film is announced, ‘Jane Got a Gun’ co-starring Natalie Portman.
September
In celebration of our fourth year, A Fassinating Store opens up at Zazzle.com. Filming resumes in Spain for The Counselor, and The Daily Mail is the only tabloid type online magazine that has the interest to write about Michael’s private life with pictures of him and Nicole in Italy. The Your Film Festival is presented to a winner by Michael at the Venice Film Festival. It is announced that Michael will star in Frank about an eccentric rock band singer. And Michael is honored with another award as Best Actor at the GQ Awards in London.
A mind blowing independent Fassinator Fandom investigation leads to the identification of the sociopaths who have been polluting and harassing the fandom this year.
October
Prometheus comes out on DVD/Blu-ray. Filming begins in Texas for Michael as ‘some dude’ in ‘some movie’ by Terrance Malik. Never have so many fans felt ‘meh’ about a filming project due to the bullshit lack of substantive information about said film to pique our interest. This film also stars the delicious Ryan Gosling, but we don’t know jack shit about his character either. We’re just, like, bewildered by the secrecy. Some fear that Michael will be cut out of the film as that is Malik’s modus operandi for many top actors in his past films. Let’s just wait and see. BUT, Dionne got to meet Michael in Austin, and now her life is complete! I realign with tumblr again but this time to focus on things more than just Michael.
November
Wow, Michael and Colin Firth in one movie called ‘Genius’? This is genius! The Daily Mail writes an article instructing dudes how to get arms like an A-lister such as Michael Fassbender. They may be an error prone scandal filled newspaper, but they do get it right sometimes. I add the term ‘Fassinator’ to Urban Dictionary. Michael is deemed OUR Sexist Man Alive after People farted out "All-American" meat and potatoes eating Channing Tatum as their winner. And the most interesting picture taken on set of that ‘unnamed confusing ass Malik’ film is of Michael gently man massaging Ryan Gosling’s lovely shoulders. Yeah. And Michael proving once more to have a hard on for all things Formula One, it has been announced that he would be the voice of a Formula One documentary.
At first I was going to pass on checking this out… but then again, I remembered that I would pay to listen to Michael read the ingredients on the box of organic biscuit mix, so, I will watch this documentary when it comes out! And where else on November 19th would Michael be but at… the Formula One World Championship race? Doh! And in late November, Michael is spotted in London with a shaved head again. Hmmm… I love his hair, the longer, messier, and fluffier the better. But who am I kidding, we’ll take Fassy any way he came. For the next X-Men film, Ian McKellen will be featured in it as the elder Magneto in ‘Days of Future Past’. And this film promises to be more heavily about Magneto.
December
Michael is home for the holidays, but is taking care of work business too. He visits his old drama school in Dublin, Gaiety School of Acting. And he was spotted at a pub supporting Prometheus co-star Idris Elba who was a guest DJ. Michael has been nominated for a Best Supporting Actor in Prometheus at the London Critics’ Circle (they love him!). And FF recognizes the Best Media Coverage of 2012 as: The Hollywood Reporter for Best Cover photo; Esquire UK for Best Photo Session; GQ US for Best Interview. And as Michael is filming Frank in parts of the UK in December, he will move on to New Mexico in mid-January to continue filming there.
This is what happened in 2012 that Fassinating Fassbender covered for Michael Fassbender. And I did this while working full-time and going to grad school. I do this because I love writing about Michael and supporting his career, and interacting with fellow fans. The Pinterest board is coming along fine, the new tumblr page is fine as well. In the new year, there will be no more contests I'm sorry to say, and the FF newsletter will just be used for very important and breaking news. I want to re-design the blog a little bit, and feature guest writers who want to share their unique perspective of being a Fassinator, meeting Michael, and sharing exclusive photos. The year 2013 will mark FF’s 5th anniversary and I aim to showcase something very special. The new year appears to be yet another busy year for Michael as we sit back and watch his stardom continue to rise.
Thanks for reading Fassinating Fassbender this year and I look forward to you coming back year after year!