Michael Fassbender offered the lead in dark thriller Prisoners

The intense demand for Michael Fassbender is showing no sign of slowing down, with The Playlist confirming that the actor has been offered the lead role in Prisoners .

The movie, which is based on a 2009 Black List script by Aaron Guzikowski, has previously had the likes of Christian Bale, Mark Wahlberg, Hugh Jackman and Leonardo DiCaprio interested at various points.

Bryan Singer and Antoine Fuqua have hovered over the director's chair, but the most recently attached name was Denis Villeneuve ( Incendies ), who was hired to direct Prisoners earlier this year.

It certainly has an attention-grabbing premise: frustrated by the pace of the police investigation, religious deer hunter Keller Dove (the part offered to Fassbender) kidnaps and tortures the man he believes abducted his daughter and her friend.

While Fassbender could own that role, it's not yet clear if he'll sign on, particularly when you consider how rammed his schedule is looking.

He has recently completed work on some of the most anticipated movies in production, including Ridley Scott's Prometheus , David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method , and Steve McQueen's Shame .

Already on the cards for Fassbender's future is Brendan Gleeson's directorial debut, At Swim-Two-Birds , and a Jim Jarmusch vampire flick, and he had to walk away from Danny Boyle's Trance recently (to be replaced by James McAvoy).

He probably should try to schedule in a day off at some point though…

Matt Maytum
Editor, Total Film

I'm the Editor at Total Film magazine, overseeing the running of the mag, and generally obsessing over all things Nolan, Kubrick and Pixar. Over the past decade I've worked in various roles for TF online and in print, including at GamesRadar+, and you can often hear me nattering on the Inside Total Film podcast. Bucket-list-ticking career highlights have included reporting from the set of Tenet and Avengers: Infinity War, as well as covering Comic-Con, TIFF and the Sundance Film Festival.