The last time Michael Fassbender went through an Oscar campaign, it was two years ago and few people were paying attention to him. Mostly because it seemed like he was going through the motions, plus he barely walked red carpets and didn’t even show up to some major events. That campaign – for 12 Years a Slave – came two years after Michael thought he would get an Oscar nomination for Shame. Fassy talked about how he felt burned by the Shame situation of actually putting in some Oscar campaign effort and it not paying off. So he barely put in any effort for his first Oscar nomination, and he became a non-factor that year.

But, as I’ve said several times over the past few months, Fassy has been more approachable and dare I say, campaign-friendly this time around. He hasn’t been shaking hands at every screening, but he shows up when he’s invited, he poses happily, he’s more talkative and giving. I think he’s sort of found a way to campaign his own way, where he doesn’t get his hopes up and he just goes to these shows to be professional and have a good time. There are worse ways to handle it. So when I saw the headline “Michael Fassbender is baffled by Aaron Sorkin’s Oscar snub,” I thought “Oh, God, he’s going to bitch about it and come across as unprofessional!” But he doesn’t. He just sounds nice here.

Michael Fassbender wasn’t himself when he found out he was nominated for Best Actor on Thursday morning. The actor told EW he learned about his Oscar nomination while in the makeup chair for Assassin’s Creed (due out Dec. 21). In the video game adaptation, Fassbender plays two characters, Callum Lynch and the character’s ancestor Aguilar, and when he heard about the Best Actor nom, he was in the middle of changing from one to the other.

“I just feel very lucky, very privileged,” Fassbender says about the nomination. “It’s been such a great year for cinema, even films that haven’t been nominated.”

This marks the second nod for Fassbender in three years; he was also honored with a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his role in Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave. Asked if things felt different this time around, Fassbender said no. “I don’t think it ever changes,” he says. “The first time, again, I was very humbled by the consideration. It’s the same this time, especially considering the company that I’m in and the performances that haven’t been considered. It’s always very exciting. … Well, not always, just the twice.”

While Fassbender was pleased to his about the nomination for his Steve Jobs costar Kate Winslet, the snub of screenwriter Aaron Sorkin left him confused. “It’s baffling, but that’s why I was saying that I feel privileged. You can never take these things for granted,” he says. “I’m just baffled by that.”

[From EW]

Well, at least he didn’t say he was sleeping! I appreciate that he wasn’t trying to play that game. He was at work, which is probably the best thing for him. Fassy also told EW that after he wraps on Assassin’s Creed, he’s off to Norway of all places to film Tomas Alfredson’s The Snowman, then after that, he’ll be doing Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant, the sequel to the awful Prometheus.

Fassy also chatted with USA Today about his nomination this year – he was asked about whether he had spoken to his girlfriend about their his-and-hers nominations and he said, “I haven’t really spoken to anyone. I’ll call people once I wrap tonight.”

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.