Fresh off the overwhelming success of X-Men: Days of Future Past and 12 Years a Slave, the first image of Michael Fassbender’s in his latest project, Slow West, has surfaced. The film – which also features The Road’s Kodi Smit-McPhee – was actually shot towards the back end of last year and sees Fassbender team up with director John Maclean, with whom he has previously collaborated on two short films.
For those unfamiliar with Slow West, here’s the official plot synopsis:
Set at the end of the 19th Century, SLOW WEST is an American western filtered through the eyes of European filmmaking. The story centers on 17 year old Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee) who has traveled from Scotland to Colorado to be reunited with the woman with whom he is infatuated. He is quickly confronted by the dangers of the frontier and so teams up with a mysterious traveler named Silas (Michael Fassbender), who agrees to protect him for cash. Jay’s journey is fraught with danger, double-crossing and violence as he comes to realize that America is not easy on the innocent.
The picture – as seen above – comes courtesy of a fan site dedicated to the hugely talented actor, who was last seen donning a paper mache head in the wonderful indie flick Frank, which marks the latest point in Fassbender’s glittering – not to mention varied – career.
From low-budget horror films like Eden Lake to the Cormac McCarthy picture, The Counselor, he has proven that he is a performer of immense talent with a particular knack to inhabit any number of characters. This is indeed cemented with his recent Oscar nomination for 12 Years a Slave and similarly strong performances in Steve McQueen’s earlier films, Hunger and Shame (the latter saw him earn a Golden Globe nomination, but no luck at the Academy Awards).
His co-star Kodi Smit-McPhee has also enjoyed a similarly promising start to his fledgling career – albeit not to the same tune of Fassbender’s meteoric rise to superstardom. He shot to prominence in John Hillcoat’s moody drama, The Road, in which he outshined veteran actors such as Viggo Mortensen and Robert Duvall. He also appeared in the child vampire film, Let Me In, which was a successful yet flawed interpretation of the modern horror classic, Let the Right One In. You can also catch him in the soon-to-be-released Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.
Our question to you is this: are you excited to see what Fassbender and Smit-McPhee can do with MacLean’s Slow West? Whatever your thoughts and views are, let us know in the comments section below.
