GUIDING ‘LIGHT’
Fassbender drawn to story of ordinary couple navigating life
NEW YORK — In “The Light Between Oceans” (opening Friday), Michael Fassbender was honored to play an old-fashioned hero.
His Tom Sherbourne, a traumatized World War I veteran, has retreated to a solitary life as an Australian lighthouse keeper. Everything changes when he meets and later marries Alicia Vikander’s highly strung Isabel.
Isabel miscarries several times and suffers terribly in their isolation. When a boat drifts to their shore, they find an infant in the arms of a dead man, presumably the father.
Isabel insists that this is a “miracle” and they must keep the child and say it is theirs.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t work out that way: Tom is charged with murdering the man in the boat to steal the child.
“Even through the absolute hardship they’ve had trying to have children, when they discover the child, Tom knows in his heart of hearts that the best thing to do is notify the authorities,” Fassbender, 39, told the Herald.
“I was just so moved by (bestselling novelist M.L. Stedman’s) story. Here’s such a rare, old-fashioned human story about ordinary people trying to navigate life. There wasn’t a clear sort of villain and good guy. It was just ordinary people who make decisions that are very damaging and costly. For me, Tom’s a hero because he lives by his choices.”
Even when Tom looks to be hanged, Fassbender said, “He never wavers with his love for Isabel. He’s loyal to the end with her — and almost dies through that loyalty. He’s a man of his word.”
Fassbender and Vikander have never discussed their relationship, but many assume they’ve been a couple ever since the New Zealand filming on Cape Campbell.
“I said to (writer-director) Derek (Cianfrance) early on, ‘This girl frightens me. She’s so fierce and brave as a performer.’ It kind of bowled me over and really made me feel like I had to come to work in the morning. We had a great chemistry from the beginning, and really relied on one another, pushed one another, supported one another. That’s really the ideal scenario.
“Then we had fun as well, which I always think should be important.”
‘IT WAS JUST ORDINARY PEOPLE WHO MAKE DECISIONS THAT ARE VERY DAMAGING AND COSTLY.’ — MICHAEL FASSBENDER