FAMILY GUY

Since we last saw Michael FassBender’s Erik Lehnsherr, he’s settled down...

Where do we meet Magneto in the ’ 80s?

Well, there was something really interesting in the comics, which was the story of Magda [ Magneto’s wife] and I really wanted to explore that; I always thought it was a really fascinating part of his history. So that’s what we have in this one. Simon Kinberg and I were on a flight to Moscow, and the Magda story was something we discussed on the plane heading over. He’s decided to disappear, essentially. The last time we saw him was on the White House lawn. Since then, he went into hiding, met Magda, and they fell in love and started a family. He works in a steel factory. But he’s not using his powers. He’s almost doing manual labour as a penance. He’s left his world domination days behind him! There’s a really interesting arc for him. It’s very emotionally anchored.

Do you ever have moments on set where you suddenly think, “I can’t believe I’m getting paid to do this”?

There are times – I looked at Oscar the other day and we’re both dressed up as superheroes and I was like, “We’re grown men, you realise that?” Then I walked back to my trailer with my polystyrene coffee cup and my cape behind me blowing in the wind! Yeah, there’s an element of that. But you’ve got to go for it, because if you don’t then it’s going to fall flat. You just have to re- engage the eight- year- old and just let yourself go, and really commit.