Irish actor Michael Fassbender (300, Hex, Murphy’s Law) has signed to star as Bobby Sands in the forthcoming Irish feature film ‘Hunger’ a depiction of the final six weeks of the IRA hunger strikers life, who died in the Maze prison in 1981.
‘Hunger’ is written by Enda Walsh (Disco Pigs) and is to be the feature directorial debut of Turner Prize-winning video artist Steve McQueen. Produced by London based Blast! Films, the film is being co-financed by Film4, the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland and the NIFTC. Variety reports this week that rights to the film have been picked up for world sales by Becker Intl. at the Cannes Film Festival.
Born in Germany, Fassbender was raised in Killarney, Co. Kerry, where his family own and run a local restaurant. The actor is fast making a name for himself in the industry following a starring role as Stelios in the Zack Snyder epic ‘300’ this summer and is currently filming ‘Town Creek’ with Joel Schumacher.
"'Hunger' will be a film with international contemporary resonance. The body as a site of political warfare is becoming a more familiar phenomenon. It is the final act of desperation; your own body is the last resource for protest. One uses what one has, rightly or wrongly,” says McQueen.
’Hunger’ is scheduled to begin shooting on location in Northern Ireland in September 2007.
Laura Hastings-Smith (The Lives of the Saints) and Robin Gutch (Death of a President, Soundproof) are producing.
