German actor MICHAEL FASSBENDER starved himself for two months to win the role in new movie HUNGER.
The star went through with the extreme film preparation - where he dropped from 166 pounds (73 kilograms) to 125 pounds (57 kilograms) - to play Irish Republican Army (IRA) hunger striker Bobby Sands who died in Maze Prison, Belfast, Ireland in 1981.
Speaking at the film's premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in France on Wednesday (14May08), director Steve MCQueen revealed he was desperate for the movie to appear real.
He says, "This film is about a person who, in order to be heard didn't eat. I knew from the beginning that we had to do it for real. What was taken away was the muscle.
"You could see the skeleton on (Fassbender's) rib-cage and the hallows in the side of his head."
And Fassbender - who was born in Germany but raised in Ireland - admits the role was challenging.
He says, "I'd be lying if I said it wasn't tough."
Sands was jailed for weapons offences and was one of the IRA's most prominent martyrs during the 1970s.
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