Michael Fassbender is gearing up to promote Alien: Covenant, which comes out on May 19th (wow, that’s happening a lot sooner than I was expecting). Covenant is kind of a sequel to the pile of dog poop that was Prometheus. Prometheus is a great example of Hollywood thinking “we’ll just get a bunch of big names together to reboot this franchise and it will be amazing!” and no one thought to double-check the actual script, which was inane. I have higher hopes for Covenant, just because it seems like a return to Alien/Aliens vibes. Fassbender returns in this film as another android, Walter. So, he chatted with Australia’s Daily Telegraph about the film, camomile tea, and how he’s better looking than Tom Hiddleston. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:

He’s not ready to become a full-time surfer: “Definitely not. I’m pretty bad but I’m enthusiastic. The shark alarm went off there last time and I have a healthy fear of them. If I’m in a very sharky spot I try to leave my imagination on the beach.

What he’s most afraid of: “Mob mentality and xenophobia.”

Whether CGI will make actors irrelevant one day: “Probably. With [the development of] virtual reality, the experience of going to see a movie will be different because it’s almost like the video-game world and movie-going experience sort of meet. So you go to watch Alien: Covenant and you are David, you choose one of the characters that you want to be, and you experience it that way.

How it feels to turn 40: “I felt a little shaky … No, I felt good, but birthdays always make me feel a little bit weird anyway. Maybe it’s the idea that I’m getting older.

How he copes with stress: “Chamomile tea.”

Why he keeps his private life so secretive: “Number one, I think it’s effective for me as an actor because I want to be able to disappear into the characters I play. I don’t want the audience to be distracted by whatever else is seen of me in the real world. I would consider myself a private person. I work in a medium where we rely on the public to go see it. But my own life is for me.

How often he gets mistaken for Tom Hiddleston: “Happens all the time. I can see the similarities, but I’m better looking than him [laughs]. Other than that, yes. I like Tom.”

[From The Daily Telegraph]

I know he was just joking around, but is that a thing? Do people really confuse Fassbender and Hiddleston? That is… unfortunate. They are completely different kinds of dudes with completely different accents and vibes and everything. The one thing I’ll give you is that Fassbender can do a pretty posh-sounding British accent so maybe that reminds people of Tom? Oh, I’ll also give you this: they’re both sort of gingery, but obviously Fassbender is full-ginger and Tom tries to hide his ginger-ness. But still, it’s like comparing apples to oranges. Apples being well-hung Irish-German sex maniacs who could have sexual chemistry with mailboxes, and oranges being twee, posh, vaguely asexual Englishmen who cry to GQ about breaking up with Taylor Swift. I’m just saying, it’s difficult to assess what different people will find attractive. Hiddleston is like a delicate, pretty bird who weeps after sex. Fassbender is like the handsome con-man who will steal all of your money but only after he bangs you properly.

Photos courtesy of WENN.