"Jonah Hex" Villain Michael Fassbender Likens His Role To The Riddler

"Jonah Hex" Villain Michael Fassbender Likens His Role To The Riddler

In an interview with MTV, "Jonah Hex" bad guy Michael Fassbender talks about his inspiration for his character, Burke.

By MarkCassidy - Aug 10, 2009 01:08 PM EST
Filed Under: Jonah Hex
Source: splashpage.mtv.com

In the upcoming DC Comics adaptation,"Jonah Hex", Fassbender plays Burke, a tattooed henchman at odds with Josh Brolin's titular gunslinger. He told MTV that when he was suited and booted in his characters costume, he knew exactly how to play the part...

"Burke on the page was a certain sort of character, but then when I arrived in New Orleans and met up with Michael Wilkinson and Christien Tinsley, who did the tattoo, they really gave me all of the information I needed," he said.

"I put on this three-piece suit, and then I was going through hats, and I just put on a bowler hat, and I was like, that reminds me of 'Clockwork Orange,' and that reminds me of Frank Gorshin's Riddler," he continued. "So that would be my physicality -- I wanted to try and make him quite angular and quite rakish, and I definitely got the inspiration through the hat. So I found it all in that bowler hat, to be honest."

So how does his character differ from the main villain of the piece played by John Malkovitch?

"I knew that [director Jimmy Hayward] wanted quite a sort of boisterous, colorful character to go against John Malkovich's," he explained. "So that's sort of why I thought of the Riddler in the 1970s -- I thought there was something kind of off the wall about that -- and then there's also something very sinister and dangerous about the 'Clockwork Orange' element. So I just sort of mashed them together."

Fassbender also feels that to play an effective villain, you need to find a balance between the fantasy world your in and how a real person would react in it..

"I kind of like wanted to keep the comic book style. But it always has to come from a real person," he said. "If you're doing fantasy, in order to take this person on that journey to a fantastical world which is already outside of the realms of reality, the people that occupy that world should be real or coming from some sort of reality."

You might remember Fassbender as Stēlios in "300". And some useless information...He is related on his mother's side to Michael Collins, one of the leaders of Ireland's war of independence!

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LEEE777
LEEE777 - 8/10/2009, 1:58 PM
Chuck @ It will be THE BOMB!!! ; )

Nothing like HEX has ever been made for the Big Screen!!!

Gonna be great!

Cool piece @ ROR!
jman1977
jman1977 - 8/10/2009, 2:00 PM
I think this movie will do well, Megan Fox and Josh Brolin are a couple big names that will get people into the theaters. Also we have not seen a solid western in a loooong time(3:10 to Yuma, but that was not Comic Book releated) All the craze is Comic releated these days. So I think it will be a hit.
LEEE777
LEEE777 - 8/10/2009, 2:01 PM
We all like a bit of FOX! ; )

superdog
superdog - 8/10/2009, 2:04 PM
alot of fox
longbowhunter
longbowhunter - 8/10/2009, 2:04 PM
I cant honestly say I've read any Jonah Hex books. I have heard good things about the current series though. Still, I'm sure I'll see the movie solely due to the fact its based on a comic.
LEEE777
LEEE777 - 8/10/2009, 2:10 PM
Longbow @ Your a DC man, you should, excellent stories in the current one! ; )
Watchtower31
Watchtower31 - 8/10/2009, 2:20 PM
I'd take a lot of fox with a side of this Bad Ass movie thats going to be [frick]ing awesome.
TheGuillotine
TheGuillotine - 8/10/2009, 2:31 PM
Nice find Ror!

Megan addition:

longbowhunter
longbowhunter - 8/10/2009, 2:35 PM
Right on LEEE. My favorite local comic shop is have a 50% off sale. I'll try and pick up some of the more recent issues.
MarkCassidy
MarkCassidy - 8/10/2009, 2:41 PM
It probably won't make a lot of money but so what, as long as its a good movie I'll be happy. But a teaser would be nice! Im looking for the Con footage everywhere, its hard to believe the Iron Man footage leaked but this didn't
CrookedJaw
CrookedJaw - 8/10/2009, 2:46 PM
yeah, this guy definitely had the character down. I was in a scene with him during shooting and he's making the character a menacing killer, but one who gets a kick out of what he does...and his tatoos and everything look awesome...this movie was lookin to turn out really good
LEEE777
LEEE777 - 8/10/2009, 3:08 PM
LONGBOW @ Good man!!! You'll luv 'em! ; )

SirPrize @ HEX is ORIGINAL!!! What you want more Remakes???

This movie is going to be a GOLDEN NUGGET!
MarkCassidy
MarkCassidy - 8/10/2009, 3:09 PM
lmao, is that your word for this one Leee? I love it! Jonah Hex..Golden Nugget of next year!
LEEE777
LEEE777 - 8/10/2009, 4:24 PM
JONAH HEX IS THE GOLDEN NUGGET OF NEXT YEAR!!! ; D

SirPrize @ Hell yeah, id luv to see BUCKAROO BANZAI remade!!! Just think what they could do with that today!
longbowhunter
longbowhunter - 8/10/2009, 5:33 PM
I've never seen that movie. Wasnt that one of Jeff Goldblume's earliest roles?
KillerOfSaints
KillerOfSaints - 8/10/2009, 8:26 PM
The Jonah Hex espisode in Batman:TAS was one of the best
metalix92
metalix92 - 8/11/2009, 5:39 AM
I personally think Johnny Depp would play the riddler amazing ... if you look at the different ways he can act i.e. jack sparrow, sweeny todd ... he would play riddler perfect!!! am I the only person who thinks this??? I have not ever herd of "jonah hex" so I can't judge :/
georgia49th
georgia49th - 8/11/2009, 11:32 AM
3:10 To YUMA WAS Pretty successfull
I believe Jonah Hex will supprize everybody and do very well
this movie is going to be sort of a origin movie to introduce Jonah to the world ,it's going to be interresting on there take of it , they claim there relyin on source material.
the director is a fan of Jonah Hex himself
so will we see jonah's father selling him to apaches will we see the apaches giving Jonah the Mark of the demon?
we shall see in 2010.
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