Michael Fassbender was convinced he'd wrecked his chance to appear in Inglourious Basterds after clashing with director Quentin Tarantino during his audition.
The actor spent hours practising for the role of Colonel Hans Landa in the World War II drama, and was dismayed when he arrived at his tryout only for Tarantino to ask him to read a different part.
The Pulp Fiction director even had to step in during the audition and give the actor some tips for the role of Lieutenant Archie Hicox - and Fassbender admits he thought he'd blown his big chance.
He says, "I was really gunning for the Landa part, to be honest. I can't really separate these two characters, Landa and Hicox; I'm going to have to throw all my eggs into the Landa basket. So I did about 25 hours' work on Landa, learning French and German accents."
But when Fassbender arrived at the audition, Tarantino was wary of casting him as a German officer because one of his biggest previous roles was as Englishman Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights.
He adds, "When I got to the audition in Berlin, Quentin and I chatted for a bit. Then he said, 'Okay, let's take a look at Hicox.' I was like, 'What about Landa?' And he goes, 'Well, I cast my Landa on Tuesday.' 'Are you sure?' 'Yeah, I'm sure, man.'
Then there was a pause, and he goes, 'Look, man, any guy that gets cast as Heathcliff is not f**king German enough to play my Landa, alright?' And I thought, 'I'm not going to argue with Quentin Tarantino about who he wants to cast, that's for sure.'"
After reading the part, Fassbender was advised by Tarantino not to play it "like Michael Caine" - and the actor was convinced he had failed the test: "I thought I'd made a balls of the audition, to be honest, and I was totally depressed when I left."
Fassbender was eventually cast as Hicox, while Austrian actor Christoph Waltz scored the role of Landa.
Tagged in Michael Fassbender